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Crocker Range: National Park Sabah, Vol. 2
Socio-Cultural & Human Dimension

Edited By Ghazally Ismail & Lamri Ali
December 2001
Asean Academic Press
ISBN: 1-901919-34-X
191 pages, Illustrated, 5 3/4" x 8 3/4"
$87.50 Hardcover

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When considering biodiversity issues, we must look beyond the natural components of the ecosystem. It calls for a critical look beyond that of its flora and fauna but also the socio-cultural activities that can impact biodiversity either directly from its use and exploitation or indirectly through adverse environmental changes. Hence to some of the researchers who had participated in the Crocker Range Scientific Expedition, the word "biodiversity" signals a cultural phenomenon. There social and cultural values embedded in biodiversity. For instance, in espousing a people-orientation goal of achieving food security, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability, we need to understand the germplasm, breeding lines and varieties of food crops cultivated and consumed by the indigenous communities. Genetic diversity of both plants and animals will ensure that cultural diversity is endured. The cereal and vegetable quality, for example, must match the preferences of a given community, which are truly cultural preferences. In many traditional societies and subsistence farm households, food security is not just a matter of food production but also of investing and maintaining social relations. The second volume of this book also includes reports on the agricultural and land tenure systems of the indigenous communities living within the boundaries of the Park and how rapid changes in the socio-cultural norms are affecting the indigenous communities in relation to their disease burden and economic status.

Crocker Range: National Park Sabah, Volume 1

Ecology; Botany; Biology
A Scientific Journey Through Borneo