WHEN FORESTS BECOME A LIVING SPACE

For communities living in the Mantangai peatland area, Kalimantan Tengah, nature is more than just a landscape delineating settlements and forests. The surrounding rivers, swamps, land, and vegetation have long been integral to daily life. From these spaces, communities obtain food, build social ties, and pass down knowledge on adapting to seasonal changes.

In Sei Ahas and Katimpun Villages, Mantangai District, and Tambak Bajai Village, Dadahup District, Kapuas Regency, this relationship is reflected in two longstanding activities: fishing and farming. Both are not merely household economic activities, but practices that demonstrate how communities understand and utilize their surrounding environment.

A study on peatland communities in Upper Mantangai noted that *meiwak*, or fishing, is practiced by both men and women. The catch includes species such as *behau*, *tampahas*, *tahuman*, *karandang*, *bapuyu*, *kakapar*, and *saluang*. The catch is used to meet household consumption needs and sold to supplement income.

The diversity of these fish species underscores the importance of peatland waters to community life. The rivers, swamps, and surrounding water bodies are not merely transportation routes or parts of the landscape, but food production areas that sustain households.

However, this living space is no longer the same. The study notes that community fishing grounds have narrowed alongside landscape changes and the conversion of the peatland ecosystem into oil palm plantations. Habitat alterations have also affected fish populations. Communities now even have to fish around plantation areas, reporting significantly reduced catches in both quantity and quality.

These shifts demonstrate that ecosystem degradation extends beyond the loss of vegetative cover or altered land conditions. Its impact is directly felt in daily life: diminishing food sources, shifting fishing locations, and the increased effort required by communities to meet household needs.

Farming, food, and inherited knowledge

In addition to fishing, farming is an essential part of life for the Dayak Ngaju community in Upper Mantangai. This practice has been passed down through generations to meet household food needs.

In practice, farming encompasses more than planting and harvesting rice; it involves knowledge, procedural stages, and cultural values. Research on farming communities in Mantangai District indicates that traditional farming systems are closely tied to seasonal cycles, land conditions, and the use of simple tools.

Each stage of land management is guided by knowledge developed from community experience. Land clearing, planting, and harvesting each follow distinct procedures and traditions. Research on Upper Mantangai notes, for instance, that farming practices include rituals associated with land clearing and rice planting.

One prominent tradition is *handep hapakat*. This tradition is a form of mutual cooperation where one family assists another in farming activities, with this assistance returned reciprocally without monetary compensation. Through this practice, agricultural work extends beyond individual households to become a space for maintaining social cohesion and solidarity among families.

Amid changing times, values like *handep hapakat* remain essential to understand. Community knowledge is preserved not only in land cultivation techniques, but also in how people collaborate, share labor, and maintain relationships within the community.

This knowledge has been shaped through long-term interaction with the environment. Communities recognize seasonal shifts, understand land conditions, and adapt their livelihood activities to available resources. In this context, local knowledge is not merely a cultural heritage, but an integral part of managing their living space.

When living spaces change

The transformation of the peatland landscape in Mantangai is inseparable from a long history of land interventions. The Upper Mantangai area was part of the one-million-hectare Peatland Development Project (PLG) in Kalimantan Tengah. Following the failure of the project and recurring forest and land fires in the area, attention toward peatland ecosystem restoration has intensified.

At the same time, communities have faced changes in how they access and manage livelihood resources. Land pressures, infrastructure development, and the expansion of monoculture agriculture have constrained farming communities. Research on farming systems in Mantangai District notes a transition from shifting cultivation toward sedentary agriculture.

This transition involves more than an alteration of farming techniques. As farming land becomes increasingly constrained, communities also face changes to their food sources, livelihoods, and the cultural practices traditionally tied to these activities.

On the other hand, various empowerment and peatland restoration programs have been introduced to the communities. These programs carry important goals, such as safeguarding ecosystems, reducing fire risks, and improving community welfare. However, their success is not determined solely by the activities carried out or the assistance provided.

A 2023 study published in the journal *Empower* on community empowerment in Upper Mantangai provides a critical perspective. The study found that several empowerment approaches tended to be dominated by the implementers' ideas. In such situations, the local community's ecological knowledge and way of life risk being overlooked.

These findings also indicate impacts on livelihood sustainability and shifts in community cultural values. When programs are designed without adequately considering the community's relationship with the peatland ecosystem, empowerment efforts risk alienating residents from generational life practices.

This insight is critical because communities are not newcomers to the peatland landscape when restoration programs begin. They have lived within it, utilized its resources, and developed knowledge over generations. Therefore, restoration efforts should view communities not merely as beneficiaries, but as knowledge holders and decision-makers.

Restoring peatlands, strengthening community knowledge

Peatland ecosystem restoration requires more than technical interventions. Water management, vegetation cover protection, fire prevention, and land restoration are critical components of this work. However, the sustainability of these efforts also depends on enabling communities to maintain livelihoods aligned with ecosystem conditions.

The experience of communities in Upper Mantangai shows that the relationship between people and peatlands is multifaceted—spanning fishing, farming, collaborative labor, and passing knowledge down to future generations. When ecosystems change, all these interconnected relationships are affected.

Therefore, peatland restoration programs must create space for communities to engage across planning, implementation, and evaluation stages. Local knowledge regarding fishing grounds, land conditions, seasonal changes, and community-developed resource management practices serves as vital input for determining appropriate interventions.

Community engagement must also go beyond mere participation in activities or training. Communities need the platform to voice their needs, make choices, and participate in decision-making regarding the management of their living space. Thus, empowerment programs move beyond aid distribution to strengthen community capacity to manage resources and shape their own livelihoods.

Ultimately, protecting peatlands is not only about maintaining an area's ecological functions. It encompasses the lives nurtured within it, the knowledge passed down, and the social bonds forged through human interaction with nature.

In Mantangai, the story of peatlands is also the story of communities striving to sustain their living space amid change. Restoring the ecosystem means ensuring that their knowledge, traditions, and livelihoods retain a vital place in the landscape's future.