Part 1

• Eef Vermeij International Institute of Social History
• Jiraporn Laocharoenwong Chulalongkorn University
• Julie Jolo University of the Philippines Diliman
• Napak Serirak Universiti Brunei Darussalam

  The creation of ‘protected areas’ fundamentally changes how local people see, use and relate to their surroundings. Although displacement is one of the most controversial issues, it is not a universal phenomenon. In Brunei Darussalam, it has been argued that the Ulu Temburong National Park enclosed an area that never had permanent settlements. Nevertheless, local residents from nearby longhouses, who are mostly identified as Iban people, used to hunt, fish, and forage for forest products within the present boundary of the park for a certain period. Some of these areas had also been cleared for shifting cultivation, particularly rice planting, which has been virtually totally stopped and has now been rarely mentioned.

  It could be argued that after the discovery of large hydrocarbon reserves and especially when offshore oil and gas production began in the 1950s, hydrocarbon rents provided the country with steady revenue. Hydrocarbon wealth could generate an expenditure for infrastructural development and public services, particularly education and healthcare, and create a national cultural identity of the Malay Islamic Monarchy (Melayu Islam Beraja). Following and along with the drastic socio-economic transformations spurred by hydrocarbon wealth, an announcement to establish Ulu Temburong National Park in 1991, has resulted in changes in local livelihoods depending on the rivers and, more or less, the longboats.

  Within the boundary of the park, the establishment of Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre (KBFSC) for transnational rainforest research has provided some local people an opportunity to become wageworkers for biodiversity conservation by working as forest guides, general assistants, housekeepers and boat drivers. In a similar vein, the development of ecotourism has also provided employment opportunities for local residents such as becoming tourist guides and doing logistics and accommodation work. Still, during their day off, some local Iban residents would occasionally seek an opportunity to travel upriver to perform their perceived traditional livelihoods.

• Roel Frakking Utrecht University
• Tintin Wulia University of Gothenburg
• Ward Berenschot KITLV

Part 2

• Eef Vermeij International Institute of Social History
• Julie Jolo University of the Philippines Diliman
• Napak Serirak Universiti Brunei Darussalam

  The creation of ‘protected areas’ fundamentally changes how local people see, use and relate to their surroundings. Although displacement is one of the most controversial issues, it is not a universal phenomenon. In Brunei Darussalam, it has been argued that the Ulu Temburong National Park enclosed an area that never had permanent settlements. Nevertheless, local residents from nearby longhouses, who are mostly identified as Iban people, used to hunt, fish, and forage for forest products within the present boundary of the park for a certain period. Some of these areas had also been cleared for shifting cultivation, particularly rice planting, which has been virtually totally stopped and has now been rarely mentioned.

  It could be argued that after the discovery of large hydrocarbon reserves and especially when offshore oil and gas production began in the 1950s, hydrocarbon rents provided the country with steady revenue. Hydrocarbon wealth could generate an expenditure for infrastructural development and public services, particularly education and healthcare, and create a national cultural identity of the Malay Islamic Monarchy (Melayu Islam Beraja). Following and along with the drastic socio-economic transformations spurred by hydrocarbon wealth, an announcement to establish Ulu Temburong National Park in 1991, has resulted in changes in local livelihoods depending on the rivers and, more or less, the longboats.

  Within the boundary of the park, the establishment of Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre (KBFSC) for transnational rainforest research has provided some local people an opportunity to become wageworkers for biodiversity conservation by working as forest guides, general assistants, housekeepers and boat drivers. In a similar vein, the development of ecotourism has also provided employment opportunities for local residents such as becoming tourist guides and doing logistics and accommodation work. Still, during their day off, some local Iban residents would occasionally seek an opportunity to travel upriver to perform their perceived traditional livelihoods.

• Roel Frakking Utrecht University
• Tintin Wulia University of Gothenburg
• Ward Berenschot KITLV

Abstract