Ecology of Sulawesi. Tony Whitten
periods, and the development of dialects. The Sulawesi people themselves use region, religion and style of farming as the major criteria for determining ethnic groups. For example, someone from Central Sulawesi may refer to Christian Mamasa speakers of South Sulawesi as 'Toraja', but call Islamic Mamasa speakers 'Bugis' or 'Mandar' (Davis 1976). Similarly, the term 'Bugis' can mean seafaring Makassarese and Mandarese as well as the coastal Bugis (fig. 1.39; table 1.16). About 80% of the population of Sulawesi is Islamic and 20% Christian but there is considerable variations between regions (fig. 1.40).
Figure 1.39. The distribution of the major ethnic groups. Numbers refer to table 1.16.
From Davis 1976
The population is distributed unevenly across Sulawesi, with the area around Ujung Pandang having more than 300 people/km2, much of the rest of the southwest peninsula, Minahasa and Sangihe-Talaud having 100-299 people/km2 and Toli-Toli, Mamuju, the eastern arm and the east of Southeast Sulawesi having less than 30 people/km2 (fig. 1.41).
Figure 1.40. Percentage of population following Islam by county.
Based on Anon. 1981a
1 - Formerly called 'Bare'e'
2 - The group now commonly called 'Toraja'
From Davis 1976
Figure 1.41. Population density of Sulawesi by county.
After Anon. 1981a
PRESENT STATE OF NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
Man began converting natural forest to other forms of vegetation many-hundreds of years ago but this process has accelerated greatly since the early 1970s when commercial logging, transmigration and estate crop projects began to receive enormous government support. The Sulawesi mainland now comprises an irregular patchwork of natural forest within and between areas of cultivation (fig. 1.42). The forest cover per inhabitant in Sulawesi is more than in Sumatra, Java and Bali, or the Lesser Sunda Islands (table 1.17), but this is at least partly due to the high proportion of land in Sulawesi on slopes which are unsuitable for agricultural development projects (table 1.18). For example, 83% of Sulawesi comprises slopes of 15% or above, compared with only about half of Sumatra, Kalimantan or Irian Jaya. Small islands have lost most of their natural vegetation: for example, Sangihe and other small northern islands were largely deforested by 1920 although Karakelang still has some forest cover (Heringa 1921). Likewise the forests of the small southern islands had all been converted to agricultural uses by 1915 with the exception of small areas of Tanahjampea and Kalaotoa (van Schouwenburg 1915, 1916a, b, c).
Figure 1.42. Extent of cultivated land (black) in 1982.
Adapted from Whitmore 1984b
From Anon. 1982b
Calculating land areas under different forms of land use is best conducted by the interpretation of satellite images. This was done for Sulawesi (Hadisumarno 1978), but the images used were made in 1972 and the usefulness of the information is now somewhat limited to historical comparisons. More recent analyses of land use over relatively small areas have been made by a number of government departments. An excellent series of maps showing land system and suitability, land use and land status was completed in 1987 for the primary use of the Transmigration Department, but these have had great value for others concerned with land use planning and resource management. Meanwhile, different methodologies, definitions and criteria used by different agencies tend to produce somewhat different figures for the land use of Sulawesi and elsewhere (table 1.19). This makes comparisons between tables confusing but does not necessarily affect the comparability of data within tables. Thus it can be seen that Sulawesi had less forest cover than either Sumatra or Kalimantan, and also relatively less land covered with estate crops (p. 487). The percentage of the land under wet rice fields is comparable to the percentage in Sumatra. See the Introduction for more recent data.
A comparison of land area, forest area, rice production and timber exports between the four Sulawesi provinces is instructive (table 1.20). In 1985 North and South Sulawesi were similar, as were Central and Southeast Sulawesi, in their ratio of land to population (about 1 ha/person and 4 ha/person respectively), but the difference in land capability and intensity of use is reflected in the greater rice production in South and North Sulawesi compared with the other two provinces. Southeast Sulawesi generally comprises poor agricultural soils and consequently rice yields are low. Timber ceased being exported out of the natural forests of Southeast Sulawesi in 1979 and out of North Sulawesi in 1981, and it is clear that Central Sulawesi was by far the most important timber producing province. Timber revenues in fact supplied more than 95% of the provincial income in Central Sulawesi. Logging continues in all provinces, of course, to supply local needs.
From Suwardjo et al. 1985
Obtaining definitive data concerning the area of land covered by different categories of forest is as difficult as obtaining accurate data on land use and leads to discrepancies between the figures produced by different departments (tables 1.21 and 1.22). It is well known that some Forestry land no longer has trees growing on it by virtue of inadequate protection, and this is one of the major causes for the discrepancies; there is clearly a difference between Forestry land and forested land. In any case, the percentage of land under some form of legal protection in Sulawesi is less than the percentage on hilly and mountainous slopes which for soil conservation reasons alone should be protected. Estate crops are not allowed on suitable slopes over 25% but some of the steep land has been deforested by second-stage shifting agriculturalists who have, for various reasons, abandoned the traditional or first-stage swidden agriculture practices (p. 570). This land clearly requires legal and enforced protection.
After Suwardjo et al. 1985
Areas with high agricultural potential have clearly been utilized more than areas with low agricultural potential. Thus, nearly all of wet lowland forest on volcanic soils has been felled compared with only 10% of similar forest on ultrabasic soils (table 1.23). Unfortunately none of the remaining wet lowland forest is within either existing or approved nature reserves. This habitat together with wet lowland forest on limestone, dry lowland forest on limestone, freshwater swamp and peatswamp forest are the habitats with the highest priority for conservation on Sulawesi.
The provinces differ strikingly in their geology (p. 5) and so the distribution of habitats between them, and the representation of those habitats within reserves, differ accordingly (table 1.24).
Sulawesi has five National Parks: Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park (formerly Dumoga-Bone) (300,000 ha), Lore Lindu (231,000 ha), Bunaken-Manado Tua Marine National Park, Taka Bone Rate National Park and Rawa Aopa-Watumohae National Park. Lore Lindu has also been chosen as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in recognition of its biological, physical and cultural interest. Biosphere Reserves are areas with a protected core surrounded by utilized buffer zones, managed by a body having institutionalized relationships with the surrounding land and people, centres for management-related research, education and training, and having links with national and international monitoring schemes. Other conservation areas and the areas in Sulawesi under the control of the Directorate-General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation include Nature Reserves (totalling 322,731 ha on Sulawesi), Wildlife Refuges (144,788 ha), Tourist Parks (97,000