See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/366397628

Local Community Perception On Environmental Changes and The Implication

on Food Security in Selected Forest Management Unit, Sabah

Thesis · December 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32481.58726

CITATIONS READS

0 69

1 author:

Amirah Liyana Ibrahim

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
7 PUBLICATIONS 6 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Social Forestry, Climate Change and Sustainable Forest Management View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Amirah Liyana Ibrahim on 19 December 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 LOCAL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND THE
IMPLICATION ON FOOD SECURITY IN SELECTED
FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT, SABAH

AMIRAH LIYANA BINTI IBRAHIM

THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

FACULTY OF TROPICAL FORESTRY

UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA SABAH
2021
 UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS

JUDUL : LOCAL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL

CHANGES AND THE IMPLICATION ON FOOD SECURITY IN
SELECTED FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT, SABAH

IJAZAH : SARJANA SAINS

BIDANG : PERHUTANAN

Saya AMIRAH LIYANA BINTI IBRAHIM, Sesi 2019-2021, mengaku membenarkan

tesis Sarjana ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Malaysia Sabah dengan syarat-syarat
kegunaan seperti berikut:-

1. Tesis ini adalah hak milik Universiti Malaysia Sabah

2. Perpustakaan Universiti Malaysia Sabah dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan
pengajian sahaja.
3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran
antara institusi pengajian tinggi.
4. Sila tandakan ( / ):

SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau

kepenting Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA
RAHSIA 1972)

TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan

oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan Oleh,

______________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

AMIRAH LIYANA BINTI IBRAHIM (Tandatangan Pustakawan)

MS1811019T

WalterJL
_________________________________________________________________

Tarikh : 27 Disember 2021 (Dr. Walter Lintangah)

Penyelia
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the material in this is my own except for quotations, equations,
summaries, and references, which have been duly acknowledged.

19 July 2021 …….………………………………………

Amirah Liyana Binti Ibrahim
MS1811019T

ii
 CERTIFICATION

NAME : AMIRAH LIYANA BINTI IBRAHIM

MATRIC NO. : MS18110191T

TITTLE : LOCAL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL

CHANGES AND THE IMPLICATION ON FOOD SECURITY
IN SELECTED FOREST MANAGEMENT UNIT, SABAH

DEGREE : MASTER OF SCIENCE

FIELD : FORESTRY

VIVA DATE : 19 JULY 2021

CERTIFIED BY;

Signature

SUPERVISOR
Dr. Walter Lintangah _______________

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My first thanks go to ALLAH (S.W.T) for uplifting my spirits with His blessing and
guidance in the completion of this thesis. Without His will, this study would not be
completed.

My endless gratitude towards my dedicated supervisor, Dr. Walter Lintangah

for his support, guidance, wisdom, and utmost patience in mentoring me throughout
the writing of my thesis. His devoted commitment to ensure I finished my writing
throughout my study is one of the sources of my strength to accomplish this thesis.
I am forever indebted with the people of Kampung Mangkuwagu, Kampung Sinua
and Kampung Salarom Taka for their kindness and cooperation during data
collection. Their kindness and contribution are ingrained on my heart. I am also
thankful for CIFOR for financially assisting me throughout my study as well as the
Sabah Forestry Department and Forest Research Centre (FRC) in Sandakan that
provides me with valuable information for my thesis. I am also thankful to my friends,
especially those who helped me during fieldwork activities, Izzah, Roy, Vera, Vila,
and Liza. Special thanks to my friend, Vincent, Nurul and Pitui, for helping with my
data and their continuous moral support. Finally, I would like to dedicate my
thankfulness to my family for their moral and financial support and my best friends
who never failed to motivate me.

Amirah Liyana Binti Ibrahim

19 July 2021

iv
 ABSTRACT

This study examines the local community’s perception on environmental changes and
how it implicates their food security. The environmental changes concerned are
climate changes and landscape changes. The food security discussed in this study
focused on forest resources and agriculture activities. The local communities residing
nearby forested areas depend on the forest for its ecosystem’s services and access
to land for livelihood purposes. Their socio-economic activities include collecting and
gathering forest resources as well as practising rain-fed agricultural activities for
sustenance and subsistence. Extensive scientific studies have shown that the
agriculture sector is vulnerable to climate variations, but little research has been done
on the Indigenous community’s perception of how it implicates their crop production.
Thus, this study seeks to add to the literature on the Indigenous community’s
perception of climate change and how it implicates their food security by conforming
to the climate change impact on their crops production through their perception.
Moreover, even though forest dependency level differs across Indigenous
communities, it remains significant in Indigenous communities’ food security by
providing food supply and reserve land to farm. However, the legislative measures
imposed on forest reserves managed under the Forest Management Unit (FMU)
restrict the domestic uses of forest resources as well as unauthorized access, the
Indigenous community's traditional practices of collecting and gathering forest
resources are hindered, and lands for farming become limited. Therefore, this study
investigates how forest management can implicate the Indigenous community
traditional practices that support their food security from their experience. Further,
this study seeks to provide more evidence on how forest contributes to the
Indigenous community’s food security. Survey data was collected on 133 households
from three different districts, with each village selected being located nearby FMU.
Random sampling was applied to select households from three selected villages and
sampled households belonging to three different indigenous communities. 35% were
Sungai, 30% were Dusun, and 35% were Murut. The study employed a mixed-
method to collect the data. Qualitative data from Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and
key informants’ interviews were classified, transcribed, tabulated, and analyzed using
thematic analysis, while Mann-Kendall, Kruskal-Wallis statistics and the Spearman
Correlation test was used to analyze quantitative data by R statistic and SPSS version
28. Results showed 97% of the respondents practice subsistence farming that
including paddy farming, and perceived drought, flooding and unseasonal
temperature in the past ten years (2009 - 2019) has decreased their number of
harvests. Moreover, forest conservation programs nearby the Indigenous
community’s establishment reduce land availability to farms and discourage collecting
and gathering forest resources practices. Finally, socio-demographic background
showed significant correlations with Indigenous communities’ dependency on forest
resources. Recommendations based on the results are adopting policies and
strategies on climate change that support the Indigenous community’s adaptive
capacity against climate change and promoting an effective Free, Prior, Informed,
Consent (FPIC) system in any development projects.

v
 ABSTRAK

PERUBAHAN PERSEKITARAN DAN IMPLIKASI TERHADAP KESELAMATAN

MAKANAN BERDASARKAN PERSEPSI KOMUNITI SETEMPAT DALAM UNIT
PENGURUAN HUTAN TERPILIH DI SABAH

Tesis ini mengkaji persepsi komuniti setempat tentang perubahan persekitaran dan
bagaimana ia mempengaruhi keselamatan makanan mereka. Perubahan
persekitaran yang dibincangkan tertumpu kepada perubahan iklim dan perubahan
lanskap. Keselamatan makanan yang dirujuk oleh tesis ini adalah makanan yang
diperolehi daripada hasil sumber hutan dan aktiviti pertanian. Majoriti daripada
komuniti Orang Asal bergantung kepada hasil hutan dan akses kepada tanah untuk
bertani sebagai aktiviti sosio ekonomi. Kajian saintifik telah membuktikan bahawa
sektor pertanian mudah terpengaruh dengan perubahan cuaca tetapi hanya
sebahagian kecil kajian yang membincangkan tentang persepi komuniti Orang Asal
dan bagaimana mereka melihat perubahan iklim mempengaruhi hasil pertanian
mereka. Justeru, tesis ini berhasrat untuk menambah literatur tentang komuniti
Orang Asal terhadap bagaimana perubahan cuaca mempengaruhi keselamatan
makanan mereka yang dihasilkan daripada aktiviti pertanian. Walaupun
kebergantungan hutan berbeza di antara komuniti Orang Asal, kepentingan hutan
dalam membekalkan makanan dan tanah untuk bertani masih signifikan. Meskipun
begitu, Unit Pengurusan Hutan (FMU) melarang sebarang aktiviti memasuki kawasan
hutan simpan dan menghadkan penggunaan hasil hutan secara domestik sekaligus
mengurangkan aktiviti tradisional Orang Asal dan menghadkan tanah untuk bertani.
Maka, tesis ini menkaji bagaimana pengurusan hutan mampu mempengaruhi aktiviti
tradisional komuniti Orang Asal yang bergantung kepada hasil hutan. Selanjutnya,
tesis ini mengkaji tahap kebergantungan komuniti terhadap sumber hutan untuk
keselamatan makanan mereka. Data survei telah dikutip daripada 133 buah rumah
daripada tiga daerah yang berbeza di mana setiap kampung terletak berdekatan
FMU. Persampelan secara rawak telah dilakukan untuk memilih rumah di dalam
sesebuah kampung di mana setiap kampung mewakili komuniti Orang Asal yang
berbeza. 35% merupakan orang Sungai, 30% Dusun dan 35% Murut. Kajian ini
menggunakan kaedah campuran di mana data kualitatif telah di diperolehi melalui
Perbincangan Secara Berkumpulan dan kaedah temu bual bersemuka yang mana
kemudian diklasifikasi, dibuat transkripsi, dijadualkan dan dianalisis menggunakan
analisis tematik. Data kuantitatif pula diperolehi melalui borang soal selidik serta data
meteorologi dan dianalisis menggunakan Mann-Kendall analisis, statistic Kruskal
Wallis dan Korelasi Spearman. Hasil kajian mendapati 97% responden terlibat dalam
aktiviti pertanian dan melihat perubahan cuaca dalam jangkamasa 10 tahun lalu
(2009 - 2019) telah menurunkan hasil pertanian mereka terutamanya padi. Selain
itu, program konservasi hutan telah mengurangkan tanah yang terdapat untuk
mereka bertani serta mengurangkan aktiviti mengutip hasil hutan. Akhirnya, terdapat
hubungkait yang signifikan antara pembolehubah sosio demografi dan tahap
kebergantungan komuniti Orang Asal terhadap sumber hutan. Rekomendasi kajian
ini adalah mempromosikan polisi dan strategi yang meningkatkan tahap adaptasi
komuniti Orang Asal terhadap perubahanan cuaca. Konsep ‘Persetujuan Atas Dasar

vi
Informasi di Awal Tanpa Paksaan’ yang efektif perlu dipromosi dalam
memperkenalkan apa projek pembangunan.

vii
 LIST OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii
iii
CERTIFICATION
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
v
ABSTRACT
vi
ABSTRAK
viii
LIST OF CONTENTS
xi
LIST OF TABLES
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiv
LIST OF GRAPHS
xv
LIST OF SYMBOLS
xvi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
xvii
LIST OF APPENDICES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 4
1.3 Research Question 6
1.4 Research Objectives 6
1.5 Justifications 7
1.6 Conceptual Framework 9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Food Security and Food Insecurity 14

viii
 2.1.1 Food Security and Food Insecurity Definitions 14
2.1.2 Indigenous Community Food Security 16
2.1.3 Forest Contribution to Food Security 16
2.1.4 Current Policies on Food Security in Malaysia 17
2.2 Environmental Changes 18
2.2.1 Climate Change, Climate Variability and Climate Events 19
2.2.2 Climate Change in Malaysia 21
2.2.3 Climate Change impact on Food Security 22
2.2.4 Perception on Climate Change 24
2.2.5 Current Policies on Climate Change in Malaysia 25
2.3 Forest and Sustainable Forest Management 26
2.3.1 Household dependency on Forest for Food Security 26
2.3.2 Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and Forest 27
Management Unit (FMU)
2.3.3 Sustainable Forest Management and Food Security 28
2.4 Landscape, Land Use and Development 30
2.4.1 Land Use Changes and Development 30
2.4.2 Agricultural Development 31
2.4.3 Land Governance and Food Security 32
2.4.4 Land governance and customary practices in Sabah 34
2.4.5 Perception of Land Use changes and food security 35
2.5 Indigenous Community in Sabah 36
2.5.1 Issues related to Climate Change 37
2.5.2 Issues related to Land-use Changes 39
2.5.3 Issues related to Forest 40
2.5.4 Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy 41

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Study Area 43
3.1.1 Kampung Mangkuwagu, Tongod 44
3.1.2 Kampung Sinua, Sook 46
3.1.3 Kampung Salarom Taka, Nabawan 48
3.2 Research Design 49

ix
 3.2.1 Sampling Framework 50
3.2.2 Data Sources 53
3.2.3 Qualitative Data 53
3.2.4 Quantitative Data 58
3.3 Data Analysis 62
3.3.1 Qualitative Data 62
3.3.2 Quantitative Data 65

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
4.1 Socio Demographic 69
4.1.1 Household Income 70
4.1.2 Household Sources of Income 71
4.1.3 Average Expenditure on Food 76
4.1.4 Agriculture Practices 76
4.2. Community Experience on Climate Event, Landscape Change, and its 78
implication to Food Security
4.2.1 Climate Events and its impact on food security 78
4.2.2 Climate Analysis 84
4.2.3 Landscape Changes and its impact on food security 85
4.3 Forest Dependency for Food Security 92
4.3.1 Accessibility and availability of resources 93
4.3.2 Utilization patterns of Forest Resources 99
4.3.3 Household dependency on Forest Resources for Food 100
4.4 Difference in Forest Dependency Level 101
4.4.1 Differences In Utilizing Forest Resources for Source of Income 102

4.4.2 Difference In Rating Forest Resources Significance for 106

Utilization
4.4.3 Differences In Rating Forest Ecosystem for Agricultural 110
Purposes
4.4.4 Differences In Dependency on The Forest For Food 112
Consumption

x
 4.4.5 Correlation Of Differences with Socio-Economic, Demographic 114
Characteristics

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION

5.1 Climate Change and Its Implication on Food Security 116

5.1.1 Drought 118
5.1.2 Unseasonal Temperature 119
5.1.3 Flooding 120
5.1.4 Climate analysis 121
5.2 Landscape Changes and Its Implication on Food Security 122
5.2.1 Agriculture Development 122
5.2.2 Forest Conservation 124
5.2.3 Infrastructure Development 126
5.3 Forest and Food Security 127
5.3.1 Availability, Accessibility, And Utilization and Stability of Forest 128
Resources for Food
5.3.2 Forest Management Strategy and Access to Forest 131
5.4 Socio-Economic Factors Contribution to Different Level of Forest 133
Dependency
5.4.1 Dependency on Forest Resources for Source of Income 134
5.4.2 Level of Significance on Forest Resources for Utilization 136
5.4.3 Level of Dependency on Forest Resources for Food 137

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
6.1 Conclusion 138
6.2 Recommendation 141

REFERENCES 142

APPENDICES 175

xi
 LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1: The Percentage of Ethnicity in the study areas 52

Table 3.2: Total samples from each community from the Household 52
Survey

Table 3.3: Total FGD Participant group from each study site 52

Table 3.4: The matrix of parameters used to identify community’s 57

perception on climate and landscape changes

Table 3.5: Development of Household Questionnaire 59

Table 3.6: Identified themes and indicators adapted from literature 64

review

Table 4.1: The summary of socio-demographic profile for each study 70

site

Table 4.2: The percentage of the respondents' involvement from 72

different sources of income in Kampung Mangkawagu

Table 4.3: The percentage of respondents’ involvement from different 73

sources of income in Kampung Sinua

Table 4.4: The percentage of the respondents' involvement from 75

different sources of income in Kampung Salarom Taka

Table 4.5: The percentage of respondent involvement in subsistence 77

farming in study sites

Table 4.6: The percentage of respondent involved in wet paddy 77

farming

Table 4.7: The percentage of respondent involved in hill paddy farming 77

List of perceived problems related to climate during FGD

Table 4.8: session 79

Summary of perceived climate-related events and its

Table 4.9: implication according to respective study sites 79

List of themes, its indicator, and examples of narrations

Table 4.10: from all study sites 80

Model Summary of Durbin Watson value

xii
Table 4.11: 85
Trend Estimation of rainfall in three districts
Table 4.12: 85
The list of development and projects in each village
86
Table 4.13: Agriculture development projects, type of change and their
impact on the local community across study sites 87
Table 4.14:
Forest conservations projects, type of change and their
impact on the local community across study sites 89
Table 4.15:
Infrastructure development projects, type of change and
Table 4.16: their impact on the local community across study sites 91

The mean value of forest dependency for food in each study

Table 4.17: site 101

Normality test on sources of income across study sites

Table 4.18: 102
Hypothesis test summary on the different forest
dependency across study sites based on the indicators of 103
Table 4.19: sources of income

Pairwise comparison of respondents on selling handcrafted

Table 4.20: products 104

The percentage of respondents selling handcraft products

Table 4.21: and mean of income 104

Pairwise comparison of respondents on the involvement of

Table 4.22: ecotourism 105

The percentage of respondents involved in ecotourism

Table 4.23: activities and mean of income 105

Normality test on utilization pattern of forest resources

Table 4.24: across study sites 106

Hypothesis test summary on the difference in utilization for

Table 4.25: forest resources 107

Pairwise comparison of the utilization of forest resources for

Table 4.26: medicine 107

Pairwise comparison on the significance level of utilizing

Table 4.27: forest resources for construction purpose 109

xiii
Table 4.28: The frequency and percentage of the respondents’ rating 109
and the rating average on significance level of utilization of
resources for construction

Table 4.29: Normality test in significance level of forest ecosystem 101

services

Table 4.30: Hypothesis test summary on the difference between the 111
level of significance on forest ecosystem services

Table 4.31: Pairwise comparison on the level of significance of forest 111

providing habitat for wild pollinators and predators of
agriculture

Table 4.32: Normality test on dependency on forest for food 113

Table 4.33: Hypothesis test summary on the difference between 113

dependency on the forest for food resources

Table 4.34: The correlation table between socio-demographic details 114

and differences in dependency level for the forest for
various purpose.

xiv
 LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1.1 Author’s illustration of the study’s framework 9

Figure 3.1 Location of the study sites on Sabah's map 43

Figure 3.2 Location of Kampung Mangkuwagu nearby the Forest 45

Management Unit (FMU 17) Sg. Mangkuwagu Forest
Reserve

Figure 3.3 Location of Kampung Sinua adjacent to the Trusmadi Forest 47

Reserve (FMU10)

Figure 3.4 Location of Kampung Salarom Taka, adjacent to the nearest 49

forest, FMU14

Figure 3.5 Focus Group Discussion Procedures 54

Figure 3.6 Six Steps on Thematic Analysis 63

xv
 LIST OF GRAPHS

Page

Graph 4.1 Monthly average of household income for all study sites 71

Graph 4.2 The percentage of the respondents monthly average 72

income from different sources in Kampung Mangkawagu

Graph 4.3 The percentage of the respondents monthly average 73

income from different sources in Kampung Sinua

Graph 4.4 The percentage of the respondents average of monthly 75

income from different sources in Kampung Salarom Taka

Graph 4.5 Household average monthly expenditure on food 76

Graph 4.6 The rating average of availability and accessibility of 94

resources from different sources in Kampung Mangkawagu

Graph 4.7 The rating average of availability and accessibility of 96

resources from different sources in Kampung Sinua

Graph 4.8 The rating average of availability and accessibility of 98

resources from different sources in Kampung Salarom Taka

The mean level of significance of the respondent’s rating

Graph 4.9 based on the Likert scale for each utilization of forest 100
resources

The percentage of rating average of utilization patterns of

Graph 4.10 forest resources for medicinal purpose 108

Comparison of the mean level of significance on forest

Graph 4.11 ecosystem services between the study sites 112

The mean value of dependency on the forest for food in

Graph 4.12 each village 113

xvi
 LIST OF SYMBOLS

S - M-K Test statistic

∑ - Sum of values
Ho - Null Hypothesis
Hi, - Alternative Hypothesis
𝒙 - Data points
𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏 - Signum function
= - Equals to
> - More than
≤ - Less or equal to
< - Less than
𝒁 - Variables
|𝒛| - Modulus of real
𝑽𝒂𝒓 - Variance
𝒏 - Data size
𝒕 - Number of point value
𝑸 - Slope
𝑵 - Number of pairs of time series elements
𝒋 - Data point
𝒌 - Data point

xvii
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASFCC - ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate

Change
CLC - Community Learning Centre
DOSM - Department of Statistic Malaysia
DSSAT - Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer
ECA - Economic Commission for Africa
EPD - Environmental Protection Department
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization
FELCRA - Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority
FELDA - Federal Land Development Authority
FGD - Focus Group Discussion
FMU - Forest Management Unit
GCM - Global Climate Model
IMP - Industrial Master Plan
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change
LCCF - Low Carbon Cities Framework
MEA - Millennial Ecosystem Assessment
MESTECC - Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment, and
Climate Change
MMD - Malaysia Meteorological Department
MNRE - Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
NAP - National Agriculture Policy
NT - Native Title
OP - Occupational Permits
OPS - Ozone Protection Section
PDSI - Palmer Drought Severity Index
PFR - Permanent Forest Reserve
PPRT - Program Perumahan Rakyat Termiskin
RISDA - Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority
RSIS - Rajaratnam School of International Studies
SFD - Sabah Forestry Department
SFM - Sustainable Forest Management
SFMLA - Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement
SLDB - Sabah Land Development Berhad (SLDB)
SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Science
SSL - Self Sufficient Level
STR - Sariska Tiger Reserve
SUHAKAM - Suara Hak Asasi Manusia
TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority
UCLA - University of California, Los Angeles
UNDP - United Nation Development Program
UNFCC - United Nation Framework for Climate Change

xviii
 LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix A: Focus Group Discussion Questionnaires 174

Appendix B: Note Taking and Observations Sheets for FGD 179

Appendix C: Household Survey Questionnaire 183

Appendix D: Photographs from fieldwork 196

xix
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Background

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2006), food security refers
to the physical and economic access to retrieve safe and nutritious food in adequate
amounts to supplicate their energy intake and preference that lead to a healthy
lifestyle. Meanwhile, food insecurity refers to the inability to access nutritious food in
sufficient amounts (Ishak & Othman, 2005). The food security discussed in this study
focuses on the indigenous communities in Sabah who reside in rural areas,
particularly nearby forested cover. 62% out of 3.2 millions of Sabah’s population are
indigenous people consisting of several ethnic groups, for instance, Murut,
Kadazandusun, Bajau and Malay (DOSM, 2010). The indigenous communities in rural
areas usually hunt wild meat, collect and trade forest products, fish, practice swidden
farming, and cultivate wet and hill paddy, vegetables, and fruit trees (SUHAKAM,
2013; Lasimbang, 2007). The commonly used forest resources are fuelwood, wild
vegetables, medicinal plants, timbers, and wild meat (Hussain et al., 2019). The
indigenous community’s food security is largely contributed by their traditional food
system, which is obtained through gathering forest resources, hunting, fishing as well
as farming (FAO, 2021).
 In Sabah, the indigenous communities’ daily food source comes from their agriculture
as well as sourcing it from the forest nearby their establishment (Tongkul et al., 2013).
Utilizing forest resources for their daily needs and practising agriculture activities becomes
means of survival for the indigenous communities (Maid et al., 2017). Therefore, the provision
of lands to support their farming activities and access to forest resources are two important
components to realize the indigenous communities’ food security.

Sabah’s indigenous population, who typically reside in rural areas, are largely
smallholder farmers, cultivating their own food through a variety of agriculture activities such
as shifting cultivation, planting fruits trees, vegetables, paddy farming and cash crops (Masron
et al., 2013). As these agriculture activities are mostly rain-fed agriculture, particularly paddy,
climate change negatively affects the amount of agriculture harvest (Daba, 2018). Climate
change is predicted to be hazardous for developing countries such as Malaysia (IPCC, 2014).
A study has shown Malaysia is undergoing climate changes, proven by the increment of warm
nights in the country (Kwan et al., 2011). The country is anticipated to have a rising
temperature between 0.6 o
C and 4.5 o
C by 2060 (IPCC, 2001). This scenario will affect
numerous climate variabilities, such as the time and the quantity of precipitation and water
availability (Mishra et al., 2014). With the fluctuation in precipitation trends, climate-induced
events such as floods and droughts will become more frequent (Poudel et al., 2017). Changes
in precipitation trends will also exacerbate the vulnerability of agricultural activities, which
depend on rainfall (Poudel et al., 2017). These weather patterns are likely to be severe in
developing and least developed countries such as Malaysia herself (Baas & Ramasamy, 2008;
UN, 2018). Furthermore, shifts in weather structure are evidently affecting food and
agricultural productivity as the fluctuation in temperature will affect food provision and
resource availability (Reynold, 2010).

In addition to that, residing nearby forests gives the indigenous people access to the
forest resources, which provide cash income, meet their daily needs, and serve as safety nets
(Shackleton et al., 2007). Forests act as a safety net for indigenous people by providing a
balanced diet with diverse nutrition and supplying food during lean seasons (Vira et al., 2015).
There is no dispute over forest significance in supporting the indigenous people’s livelihood,
particularly on food security. There are more than two billion people across the world that rely
primarily on the forest for sustenance and energy requirements (Díaz et al., 2019). However,
the contention over access to forest and its resources would escalate between the local
communities and authorities explicitly with the community residing nearby the Forest

2
Management Unit (FMU). The hostility of the indigenous people heightens when they are
restricted from utilizing forest resources in protected forest areas (Wells et al., 1992).

In 2018, the total Sabah Forest reserve was 3.5 million ha which is equivalent to 49%
of Sabah total landmass (SFD, 2018). As stated by the Sabah Forest Enactment, forest reserve
is to protect forests and reduce forest degradation; thus, the enactment means only restricted
access to the forest reserve and its resources is allowed unless prior approval is obtained from
the government (State of Sabah, 2020). The gazettement of the forested area as a forest
reserve for the sake of conservation has discouraged the farming practice of the community,
such as shifting cultivation, thus lowering their agriculture activities (Maid et al., 2017).

Although most indigenous communities' way of life includes forest and its resources,
the level of forest dependency varies across indigenous communities. Dependency levels on
forests and their resources are influenced by socio-economic factors (Bhayannarayana et al.,
2012). Socioeconomic characteristics such as education, household size, and age can be the
key factors in determining household dependency on forest resources (Bhavannarayana et al.,
2012). For instance, larger household sizes or families indicate higher needs of subsistence
which compel higher reliance on forest resources more (Mamo et al., 2007). The level of
education also influences forest dependency level as higher levels of education can generate
alternative livelihood without depending on forest (Masozera & Alavalapati, 2004).
Additionally, another variable that influences forest dependency is the state of poverty. Poor
households are found to have higher levels of forest use in comparison to prosperous
households (Mahapatra & Tewari, 2005). Particularly in Asia, it is found poor households
derive income from the forest by selling its resources which makes up 10% to 20% of their
total household income (Mukul et al., 2016). Likewise, studies from North and South America
showed that forests contribute 14% to 20% of the rural household total income (Uberhuaga
et al., 2012; Cordova et al., 2013). It is theorized that income correlates with the level of
forest dependency; an increase in income would significantly decrease the level of forest
dependency (Cordova et al., 2013). Hence, socio-economic factors, as well as differences in
local circumstances, would result in variation of forest dependency level.

1.2 Problem Statement

3
There is a lack of studies on conforming climate change impact on the agriculture sector
through community’s perception. Despite numerous scientific evidence on climate change
affecting the agriculture sector, fishing and livestock, the information on the communities’
experience and perception of climate change is limited (Daba, 2018). Sabah rural communities
are typically impoverished indigenous people that depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture
activities for sustenance. Indigenous people suffered from food insecurity due to inadequate
infrastructure facilities as well as low adaptation ability to the natural hazard (Tiwari et al.,
2012). These communities are vulnerable to climate change as climate change is proven to
induce the frequency of incidences such as floods, droughts, landslides, and erratic rainfall
(Poudel et al., 2017). Consequently, these climate events would negatively affect the local’s
food security by decreasing their agricultural production (Hussain et al., 2016). Local’s
experience and perception are vital in reflecting the effect of climate change at the ground
level. A case study in Kelantan surveyed paddy farmers' perception of climate change and
found the farmers are experiencing variation in temperature and rainfall, which conforms to
the climatic history of the area (Nik Abdullah et al., 2018). Furthermore, the effects of climate
change at household level food security are rarely discussed in the literature (Poudel et al.,
2017). Studies conducted to identify the impact of climate change on food security are
commonly modelled according to crop yield and its increment pattern of crop production (Parry
et al., 2004). Thus, this study seeks to add to the literature the local’s perception of how
climate change affects their food security by confirming the impact on their agricultural
productivity.
Furthermore, there is a lack of study in representing indigenous communities’
perception of the introduction of the development projects in their establishment and its
implication on food security. Development projects introduced in rural areas termed rural
development aimed to benefit the community by uplifting their quality of life (Kapur, 2019).
For some part, it is particularly true that the introduction of infrastructure projects such as
road networks and schools provide easy access in and out of the village as well as education
opportunities (Manggat et al., 2018).

Road infrastructure also gives easier access to the outside market, which allows
purchasing food and other goods from outside (Hoddinott, 1999). However, it is common for
rural development to be narrowly construed as economic expansion and urbanization without
integrating the indigenous people way of life (Aiken & Leigh, 2015). Often, the development
schemes and agriculture projects aimed as poverty alleviation strategies are introduced at the
expense of customary lands (Cooke M, 2008). Customary lands are vital for the indigenous

4
communities as land is the center of their socio-economic activities and the main component
of agriculture activities which is utilized to grow food for consumption or cash crop for income
(Nuar & Lunkapis, 2019; Quiggin, et al., 2019). Consequently, development projects may
cause land scarcity that reduces land access to farms which threaten the indigenous
communities’ food security (Othman, 1992). Therefore, this study identifies the indigenous
communities’ perception of development projects and how they perceived their implication on
their food security.

Subsequently, the need to provide access to land and forest resources to ensure
indigenous people food security is prominent yet often overlooked. The interrelations between
tree products and forest services that support food security and encourage a nutritious diet
are rarely discussed at the forestry level (Vira, et al., 2015). The indigenous community’s way
of life that includes shifting cultivation is often considered environmentally devastating, hence,
preventative measures are applied to reduce forest dependency on its resources and reserves
to farm (Cramb, 2011; Aiken & Leigh, 2015). Moreover, the indigenous communities' state of
impoverishment and lack of physical access due to economic and social conditions exacerbate
the tendency to experience food insecurity (Liew et al., 2017). Studies have found low socio-
economic status are one of the common risk factors for food insecurity (Zalilah & Khor, 2008).
This is usually true for rural communities living in the proximity of forests (Jain & Sajjad,
2015). However, the forest is able to support the indigenous community’s food security as it
provides diverse nutrition and food during the lean season (Vira et al., 2015).

Not only forest reserves supply resources for consumption, but it also provides
reserves for indigenous communities to farm (Nuar & Lunkapis, 2019). Lands or reserves to
cultivate are important to rural communities as most of them are poor smallholder farmers
and dependent on agriculture for sources of food and income (Quiggin et al., 2010; Barret et
al., 2009). Therefore, this study seeks to provide further evidence on how forest contributes
to the food security of the indigenous communities, particularly at the household level.

1.3 Research Questions

1. What are the implications of climate change on agriculture production based on their
experience?

5
2. What are the implications of the introduction of landscape changes to the indigenous
communities’ livelihood and food security?
3. What are the resources available and accessible from the nearby forest, and how do
the communities utilize them?
4. Is there any significant difference among indigenous communities’ level of dependency
on the forest in the different Forest Management units?

1.4 Research Objectives

1. To identify indigenous communities’ perception of environmental changes and their

implications on agriculture practices.
2. To investigate the indigenous communities’ perception on the introduction of
landscape changes in terms of development projects and their implication to food
security and livelihood.
3. To determine the indigenous communities’ dependency on the forest for their food
security.
4. To analyse the different levels of forest dependency for food security in different Forest
Management Unit (FMU).

1.5 Justifications

Indigenous communities’ are largely smallholder farmers. Their perception of the implication
of environment changes to their agricultural production gives valuable information for relevant
stakeholders to construct effective mitigation and adaptation strategies against climatic
events. With the growing number of populations, the demand for resources and food for
consumption will increase (FAO, 2017). In Malaysia, the population is estimated to grow up
to 43 million people residing in this country by 2050 (FAO, 2012). Consequently, robust growth
in population has coerced food production to double to match the minimum consumption
(Liamzon, 2010). Malaysia is predicted to struggle in fulfilling demands specifically on rice in
2050, where the demand would spike up to 824.5%, estimated by the current rice supply
(Paul, 2013). Particularly in Sabah, the state is yet to be self-sufficient in supplying an
adequate amount of food for the locals especially staple food such as rice and therefore still
dependent on imported foods (Suzuki et al., 2017). Therefore, understanding smallholder
farmers' views can give an insight into the effectiveness of existing adaptation strategies on

6
agricultural activities and improve accordingly with the problems shared by the farmers (Daba,
2018). It is found that perception-based evidence integrated into management’s decision
making can improve the course of governance and effective policy making (Bennet, 2016).
Thus, this study provides the smallholder farmers insights on the impact of climate change
and landscape change on their food security.

In addition, indigenous communities’ perception on the effect of development projects

introduced in their establishment on their food security should be represented and accounted
for before the implementation of a development project. This is because development such
as industrial premises, housing as well as forest conservations limit available farmland (Hart,
1968). Malaysia has experienced a reduction of available land for agriculture due to
industrialization, infrastructural and residential projects (Azizan & Hussin, 2015). In addition,
indigenous traditional lands areas are often included in the gazettement of forest reserves and
alienated for logging and oil palm plantation, which limits their land to farm (Toh & Grace,
2005).

The limited access to available lands constrained their opportunities to improve

agricultural activities and food security for better nutrition intake (Vira et al., 2015). Access to
land through secure land tenure will enhance food access, and availability as agricultural
harvest is dependent on land availability to create food for the indigenous communities (Azizan
& Hussin, 2015; Barret et al., 2009). Administrating rural development must take indigenous
communities’ need for land access to achieve food security (Maxwell & Wiebe, 1999).
Therefore, this study hopes to provide indigenous communities perception of development
and how it affects their food security through land accessibility to grow food.

Moreover, understanding what contributes to the indigenous communities' level of

dependency on forest resources can help policymakers implement effective forest
management policies that simultaneously help elevate indigenous communities’ livelihood
while reducing their dependency. In general, indigenous communities’ well-being depends on
village economic access, forest cover and land fertility for successful agriculture activities
(Dewi et al., 2005). Forests serve as a safety net for indigenous communities, particularly
when resources are limited and act as gap fillers between seasons (Paumgarten, 2005).
However, the level of reliance, utilization of forest resources, and dependency on the forest
resources for consumption are different according to the indigenous communities’ background
and location (Babulo et al., 2008; Bwalya, 2013). Indigenous communities' differences in the

7
socio-economic background as well as forest management administered to the forest nearby
their establishment cause variation in their level of dependency (Jain & Sajjad, 2015). For
instance, indigenous communities with better access to education opportunities are proven to
be less dependent on forests (Fonta & Ayuk, 2013). In terms of forest management, Sabah’s
differentiated forest administration according to the classification of forest reserve status,
whereby protection forest (Class 1) prohibits any uses of forest resources and unauthorised
access (Toh & Grace, 2005). In comparison, Production forest (Class 2) allows domestic uses
but prohibits any clearing land activities (Toh & Grace, 2005). Hence, this study seeks to
provide evidence on the indigenous communities’ level of dependency on forest resources for
food security from different FMU and socio-economic backgrounds.

1.6 Conceptual Framework

Figure
1.1:

Author’s illustration of the study’s framework

Figure 1.1 illustrates the conceptual framework of this study which focused on the implications
of environmental changes, namely climate variability, landscape changes and FMU, to the
indigenous communities’ food security. For this study, food security is discussed in the context
of indigenous traditional food systems, where food sources are obtained from forest and

8
agriculture practices (Vira et al., 2015; FAO, 2021). The traditional food of indigenous
communities refers to the foods acquired from the environment, such as forests and
agriculture practices (Receveur et al., 1997). In Sabah, the indigenous food security is
contributed through their traditional food system, namely hunting, collecting forest resources
and plant food sources through agriculture (Hastin et al., 2013; Jualang et al., 2016). For
instance, the majority of the Dusun practice hill paddy farming and are known to collect edible
forest resources (Awang Kanak, 2021).

Edible vegetables harvested from the forest become an important source of nutrients
and for medicinal purposes (Hastin et al., 2013; Awang Kanak & Abu Bakar, 2020). In addition,
common food sources for the Lundayeh communities are from hunting wild animals using
spears and cultivating food through farming (Ganesan et al., 2020). Therefore, this study
looks at the implication of environmental changes to the indigenous communities’ food
security in the context of their traditional food system, where food is obtained from farming
practices and collecting resources from the forest.

As the indigenous communities’ traditional food system also comes from agriculture,
climate changes in terms of extreme weather events, temperature, and rainfall variability can
reduce food production and harvest from agriculture as well as aquaculture and fisheries
(Gbegbelegbe et al., 2014; Devereux, 2007; Niles & Brown, 2017; Myers et al., 2017; Kais &
Islam, 2018). By definition, climate change is the alteration in climate influenced by human
activity, disrupts the composition of the world atmosphere and is observable in natural climate
variability over time (UNFCCC, 2018). Meanwhile, climate variability is the changes in the
mean conditions of climate, fluctuation in the occurrence of wind and precipitations extremes
observable at temporal and spatial scale inclusive of short-term inconsistencies that occurred
annually, not narrowed on a singular weather event (Lambrou & Nelson, 2010). Variability is
factorized by climate change which shifts the mean climatic pattern expressed through
conversion in nature and frequency on annual conditions, particularly extremes weather
conditions (Smit et al., 2000). As climate change increases, climate variability would also
increase, leading to the increment in temperature anomalies (Lim et al., 2004). In this study,
both definitions are used regularly. In Malaysia, studies have shown the agriculture sector is
susceptible to climate change as its amount of harvest decreases by 10% to 15% annually
due to the fluctuation of rain (Norshidi, 2018). Shifts in weather structure contribute to
declining food and agricultural production as temperature increment indirectly affects habitat
ecosystem, reservation of food and resources availability (Reynold, 2010). Evidently, climate

9
change and variability have a significant impact on food security (Islam & Wong, 2017).
Hence, this study seeks to confirm the impact of climate change on the indigenous
communities based on their perception.

Landscape changes caused by development projects can reduce the land available for
the indigenous community to farm, thus affecting their farming practices. Indigenous people
are often situated in the land they inherited from their ancestors, termed as customary land,
and it is vital in supporting their livelihood and socio-economic activities (Telapak, 2011). In
Malaysia, land available for agriculture is decreasing and replaced by industrialization,
infrastructural and housing purposes (Azizan & Hussin, 2015). Subsequently, Sabah’s
indigenous communities are typically deprived of their customary land when it is converted as
forest reserve or alienated for logging and oil-palm plantation by the state (Toh & Grace,
2005). As most of these indigenous communities populated rural areas are poor smallholder
farmers, agriculture has become one of the main sources of their livelihoods and sources for
food (Quiggin et al., 2010). The indigenous communities’ insecure rights to lands, forests and
trees constrained their opportunities to improve agricultural activities, food security and better
nutrition intake through innovation and to venture into the agroforestry system (Vira et al.,
2015). Allowing access to land through securing land tenure will enhance food access and
availability for the indigenous communities (Azizan & Hussin, 2015). Consequently, food
security is associated closely with agricultural land as agricultural harvest depends on the
availability of land to create food (Barret et al., 2009). Thus, this study identifies what type of
landscape changes the indigenous communities experienced in terms of development
interventions and their perception of its impact on their food security.

Administration of forest management to the indigenous communities’ surroundings

would decrease access to forest resources and its benefit towards their food security. In
general, indigenous communities’ traditional food system often rely on forest resources such
as wild vegetables, fruits, edible plants, as well as timber for construction and fuelwood
(Sunderland et al., 2013; Vira et al., 2015; FAO, 2021). The use of forest and its resources
varies according to its classification, which is authorized by the State government through
Sabah Forestry Department (SFD, 2018). The classifications of forest administration termed
as FMU are based on management history, relationship to administrative districts and natural
perimeter (Mannan & Awang, 1997).

10
 The classification of forest reserves served as guidelines to administer forest
management when the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) policy was introduced in 1997
(Mannan & Awang, 1997). Currently, there are 38 Sustainable Forest Management Licence
Agreements (SFMLAs) in Sabah, overseen by the SFMLA holders, with the State government
under the Sabah Forestry Department. The total of Sabah Forest reserve is 3.5 million
hectares, with 45.7% (1.6 million hectares) are Total Protected Areas (TPA) and 48.5% (1.7
million hectares) classified as Commercial Forest Reserve (Class II) (Thien, 2019).
Consequently, unauthorized access into forests is restricted under the forest enactment,
limiting the practices of collecting and utilizing forest resources without prior consent from the
forestry department (State of Sabah, 2020). This challenges the indigenous community’s
livelihood as they depend on the forest resources for livelihood and food for consumption
(Maid et al., 2017). Thus, this study investigates the impact of forest management restrictions
on the indigenous communities’ agricultural practices and food security.

11

View publication stats