Perceptions of Change: Adopting the Concept of Livelihood Styles for a More Inclusive Approach to ‘Building with Nature’

Abstract

The world’s wetlands are threatened by deforestation, fires, agriculture, mining, overfishing, and human settlement. While policymakers strive for comprehensive technical solutions, sustainable solutions also require the active engagement of the people affected. To mobilize local human action, it is not enough to investigate the facts and figures of the biophysical natural landscape: we also need a better understanding of how local people perceive these changes. In this article, we adopt the concept of livelihood styles to explain the ways in which people construe a perspective of their aquatic environment with which they continuously, and according to a certain pattern, interact to make a living. Our study is based on a mixed-method study with data collected between 2005 and 2015 in the Mahakam Wetlands of Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan). We found five distinct livelihood styles: investors, boatmen, breeders, traditional fishermen, and “indolent” fishermen, that each possess characteristics related to fishing practices, and found significant differences in their perceptions of water quality changes. As such, we demonstrate that perceptions and patterns of practice are interdependently related. Understanding perceptions through a livelihood styles approach provides an opening for policymakers to build with local people and nature towards a sustainable environment, both in Indonesia and beyond.

Resilient Livelihood Styles: An enriched perspective on household livelihood resilience in the sensitive natural environments of Indonesia

“…Some scholars have argued, because of what they perceive as an overemphasis on people's agency in livelihood studies, that their ability to properly define opportunities and constraints, and understand the complexities of everyday life is severely limited (e.g. Scoones 2009;De Jong 2013;De Jong & Kuipers 2020). On the other hand, an overly narrow view on people's strategic choices runs the risk of neglecting the structural context (Kaag et al 2004).…”

“…Thus far, various authors have tried to integrate social-cultural components and move beyond the structure-agency divide (see Arce & Hebinck 2002;De Haan & Zoomers 2005;De Bruin et al 2005) but many dimensions and concepts are still underexposed or lack a satisfactory elaboration (De Jong 2013). In response, De Jong (2013) and De Jong and Kuipers (2020) introduced a more encompassing approach to livelihood styles that addresses the duality of structure and agency, one that treats people as agents in the social world. They defined livelihood styles as:…”

“…The current study proposes an enriched perspective to address the multifaceted nature of the livelihoods of people living in Indonesia's waterscapes and beyond. In doing so, we build on the ideas of Tanner et al ( 2014) but adopt a more inclusive approach to livelihood resilience by including the notion of livelihood styles as developed by De Jong (2013) and De Jong and Kuipers (2020). This allows to look at the local communities through the lens of-overt and covertsocialised norms and tendencies that guide behaviour and thinking over time, rather than pre-existing defined categories.…”

“…Rather than focussing on interventions of a technical, material or financial nature, an inclusive approach that pays proper attention to various dimensions of existing livelihoods, including the social-cultural and ecological, is necessary to be effective and for communities to be able to cope with and anticipate external shocks and stresses (e.g. Miller et al 2010;De Jong & Kuipers 2020).…”

“…In this paper, we aim to contribute to the knowledge-building on framing household livelihood resilience by presenting a case study that explores the patterns of practices used by households to shape their lives in a changing natural environment. We focus on the extent that livelihood styles, based on social-cultural, economic and geographical aspects (De Jong 2013;De Jong & Kuipers 2020), allow for adaptation both within as well as beyond existing patterns of practices. By scrutinising the ways in which these various household livelihood styles have been shaped to adapt to a changing environment, we aim to shift the focus of policymakers from looking for ways to enhance the wider society's resilience through a focus on economic objectives, towards a more encompassing approach.…”