PERBURUAN ENGGANG DI KALIMANTAN AWAL ABAD KE-20: SUDUT PANDANG SISTEM DUNIA

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explain why hornbills in Kalimantan are endangered. The writing of this article applies historical methods starting from heuristics, criticism, interpretation to historiography by applying environmental history methodology, so this article also aims to explain the relationship between humans and the natural environment in the past that influenced each other. The theory applied in this article is the world system theory that integrates cultural and material aspects. In addition, this research uses the concept of insiders and outsiders to map the actors in the hunting and exploitation of North Kalimantan forests. Hunting and exploitation of timber in the forests of North Kalimantan in the 19th-20th centuries are the main factors why hornbills are endangered. Through this research, it was concluded that this long-standing system led to the introduction of materialism into the cultural aspects of the view of hornbills and Borneo forests. Until the early 20th century, hunting could be suppressed, but not completely stopped due to the established world market system. As an ecological consequence, the forests of North Kalimantan and Borneo as a whole can be referred to as peripheral areas that bear the ecological burden of hunting and trade sent to core areas such as China through international trade. Hornbill hunting in Kalimantan (Dutch Borneo) during the first three decades of the 20th century coincided with extensive exploitation of its Diptocarpaceae forest habitat. Using historical methods including heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography within an environmental history framework this study traced how these activities led to habitat reduction and threatened hornbill populations. It explains the patterns of past interaction among humans, hornbills, and Kalimantan forests, along with their subsequent changes. This study argues that hornbill hunting and tree logging were not merely extractive activities but reflected the reinforcement of core-periphery relations under Dutch colonial influence. The global trade “world-system” yielded material benefits for core regions (several European and East Asian countries) and imposed ecological consequences on the periphery, including forest degradation and disruption of local subsistence. Therefore, the endangered status of the hornbill and the continued exploitation of Kalimantan’s timber into the 21st century represent a continuation of a long and complex historical process. An environmental history perspective is essential to illuminate these previously overlooked dimensions.