Social Implications of Measures for Soil Conservation-Experience in Indonesia

Abstract

SOIL conservation has a relatively short history in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. It was long before any general understanding of the problem of erosion was established, and it was only during the inter-war period that serious thought was given to possible methods of soil conservation. It is quite understandable, therefore, that it was not realized that the measures taken would have much greater consequences than was first thought. Soil conservation is as dynamic a process as industrialization to the people who have to deal with it directly. And these people are not in the first place irrigation, forestry and agricultural officers, but simply the inhabi-tants of the area concerned. The impact of soil conservation measures on their way of living is sometimes revolutionary, and it is to this aspect of the problem that I want to draw your attention.