From Forest Landscape to Agricultural Landscape in the Developing Tropical Country of Malaysia: Pattern,Process, and Their Significance on Policy |
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Authors: | Saiful Arif Abdullah Adnan A Hezri |
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Institution: | (1) Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia |
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Abstract: | Agricultural expansion and deforestation are spatial processes of land transformation that impact on landscape pattern. In
peninsular Malaysia, the conversion of forested areas into two major cash crops—rubber and oil palm plantations—has been identified
as driving significant environmental change. To date, there has been insufficient literature studying the link between changes
in landscape patterns and land-related development policies. Therefore, this paper examines: (i) the links between development
policies and changes in land use/land cover and landscape pattern and (ii) the significance and implications of these links
for future development policies. The objective is to generate insights on the changing process of land use/land cover and
landscape pattern as a functional response to development policies and their consequences for environmental conditions. Over
the last century, the development of cash crops has changed the country from one dominated by natural landscapes to one dominated
by agricultural landscapes. But the last decade of the century saw urbanization beginning to impact significantly. This process
aligned with the establishment of various development policies, from land development for agriculture between the mid 1950s
and the 1970s to an emphasis on manufacturing from the 1980s onward. Based on a case study in Selangor, peninsular Malaysia,
a model of landscape pattern change is presented. It contains three stages according to the relative importance of rubber
(first stage: 1900–1950s), oil palm (second stage: 1960s–1970s), and urban (third stage: 1980s–1990s) development that influenced
landscape fragmentation and heterogeneity. The environmental consequences of this change have been depicted through loss of
biodiversity, geohazard incidences, and the spread of vector-borne diseases. The spatial ecological information can be useful
to development policy formulation, allowing diagnosis of the country’s “health” and sustainability. The final section outlines
the usefulness of landscape analysis in the policy-making process to prevent further fragmentation of the landscape and forest
loss in Malaysia in the face of rapid economic development.
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Keywords: | Agricultural expansion Development policy Forest transition Malaysia Oil palm Sustainable landscape |
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