**2. Methods: study site and data collection**

Seram island is the largest island in the Moluccas (18,410 km2 ), east Indonesia. The island is located at the north of Ambon, the provincial capital. This study was conducted in an upland community (given the fictitious name of Amanioho) in the interior mountain area on central Seram (**Figure 1**). In 2012, the population of Amanioho was approximately 320 (60 households).

There is no navigable roadway connecting the village to the coastal areas. Therefore, the villagers need to walk to the coastal areas where markets are situated. It takes 2–3 days to go to the north coast from Amanioho on foot, whereas it takes 1 day to go to the south coast.

The main economic activities include sago (starch extracted from the sago palm, *Metroxylon sagu*) extraction [19], banana and root crop cultivation, collecting non-timber forest products (edible wild plants, honey, etc.), hunting and trapping. The villagers engage in these activities for mainly subsistence purpose. The Amanioho people also engage in money-earning activities such as seasonal migrant work (clove harvest) and selling parrots and honey in coastal villages [20].

The staple food of Amanioho people is sago. It is rich in carbohydrate but contains little protein.3 Therefore, forest game resources are essential sources of protein. The main games that local people hunt and trap are cuscus (*Phalanger orientalis, Spilocuscus maculatus)*, Timor deer (*Cervus timorensis*) and Celebes wild boar (*Sus celebensis*) [21].

<sup>3</sup> Field research conducted by Sasaoka suggests that the energy gained from sago is over 70% of the total energy derived from staple foods (sago, banana, sweet potato, yam and taro) [19, 20].

Indigenous Resource Management Practices and the Local Social-Cultural Context: An Insight... http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.70104 81

**Figure 1.** Study area.

are closely related to and embedded in the social-cultural context of local communities [15]. However, few intensive case studies in Indonesia have addressed the relationship between the indigenous resource management practices based on supernatural enforce mechanism

Therefore, we illustrate how the well-structured use of forest resources (wild games) is established and maintained through the indigenous resource management practices based on supernatural enforce mechanism. After that, we investigate what social-ecological roles the IRM in Amanioho has, and how IRM practices relate to the social-cultural context of an upland community in central Seram. Then, we discuss the possible future applications for achieving

There are a few precedent ethnographic studies referring to the indigenous resource use of the Seramese. Ellen carried out a descriptive analysis of land use and settlement patterns, seeking to uncover their socio-ecological processes and decision-making sequences [16]. He also analysed the relationship between animal words and animal categories, how these categories were constructed and the language of the classification [17]. Valeri re-examined the anthropological interpretation of taboo based on his intensive study of customary prohibition, makquwoli, in the Huaulu language of central Seram [18]. These studies, however, did not address the issue related to natural resource management. This chapter also aims to fill the current gap in the

located at the north of Ambon, the provincial capital. This study was conducted in an upland community (given the fictitious name of Amanioho) in the interior mountain area on central Seram (**Figure 1**). In 2012, the population of Amanioho was approximately 320 (60 households). There is no navigable roadway connecting the village to the coastal areas. Therefore, the villagers need to walk to the coastal areas where markets are situated. It takes 2–3 days to go to the north coast from Amanioho on foot, whereas it takes 1 day to go to the south coast.

The main economic activities include sago (starch extracted from the sago palm, *Metroxylon sagu*) extraction [19], banana and root crop cultivation, collecting non-timber forest products (edible wild plants, honey, etc.), hunting and trapping. The villagers engage in these activities for mainly subsistence purpose. The Amanioho people also engage in money-earning activities such as seasonal migrant work (clove harvest) and selling parrots and honey in coastal villages [20].

The staple food of Amanioho people is sago. It is rich in carbohydrate but contains little pro-

Field research conducted by Sasaoka suggests that the energy gained from sago is over 70% of the total energy derived

 Therefore, forest game resources are essential sources of protein. The main games that local people hunt and trap are cuscus (*Phalanger orientalis, Spilocuscus maculatus)*, Timor deer

), east Indonesia. The island is

self-directed resource management by people who 'coexist' with supernatural agents.

ethnographic literature on indigenous forest resource management in Seram.

**2. Methods: study site and data collection**

tein.3

3

Seram island is the largest island in the Moluccas (18,410 km2

(*Cervus timorensis*) and Celebes wild boar (*Sus celebensis*) [21].

from staple foods (sago, banana, sweet potato, yam and taro) [19, 20].

and the social-cultural context.

80 Indigenous People

The village settlement of Amanioho is situated approximately 2–3 km from the nearest boundary of the Manusela National Park which was formally established in 1997 to conserve an area of 1890 km2 , covering about 11% of the terrestrial area of Seram island.

Several upland communities are situated in a peninsula-shaped enclave in the Manusela valley on central Seram. Amanioho is one of those communities. Almost half of the village territory of Amanioho and most of their hunting and trapping grounds are situated inside the park. Existing Indonesian laws forbid hunting and trapping inside national parks. However, the law enforcement is very weak. The local people continue hunting and trapping the game animals inside the park.

The data collection methods I used are (1) key informant interviews on norms relating forest tenure and use, (2) participatory forest mapping, (3) focus group interviews on historical trajectory of forest right inheritance and transfer, and (4) household interviews on forest use and tenure, and imposition of temporary forest use ban. All interviews were conducted by Masatoshi Sasaoka using Bahasa (a common Indonesian language) mixed with the local language, *Sou upa*.

In the key informant interviews, I conducted in-depth interviews intermittently during 2003– 2010 with the village head, the village council members and customary law leaders to gather data about forest tenure system, norms for controlling forest use and local people's view of the supernatural world.

In the participatory forest mapping, 34 villagers draw a forest map by marking the location of each forest lot in 2003 (as I explain later, forest area in Amanioho is divided into more than 250 forest lots).

In the focus group interviews, I interviewed with village elders from 10 of the 11 soa (patrilineal descent groups) in 2003 and 2004 to clarify the tenure status of all forest lots and historical trajectory of forest right inheritance and transfer.

In the household interviews, in 2004, I asked all heads of households in Amanioho about the tenure status of each forest lot, temporary hunting and trapping bans, actual forest use and its historical trajectories.
