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COPYRIGHT 2004 Plenum Publishing Corporation

KEY WORDS: birds” nests; tragedy of the commons; common property resource management: Malaysia; Sarawak.

INTRODUCTION

The exploitation of birds’ nests as food has a long history, dating back to the sixteenth century. Its trade from Borneo to China was already in existence when Dutch merchants began operating in the Malaysian and Indonesian region (Cranbrook, 1984, p. 150; Koon and Cranbrook, 2002, pp. 64-65). The nests are made out of the saliva and feathers of swiftlets. Once processed to remove the feathers, the nests are consumed in soups that are believed by many people (mainly Chinese) to have rejuvenating and cosmetic virtues. In Malaysia there are two main species of birds that produce edible nests: Aerodramus fuciphagus (producing the highly valued white nests) and Aerodramus maximus (producing black nests) (Koon and Cranbrook, 2002, pp. 2-16). They inhabit limestone caves, such as the Niah caves, which are the object of this study. In the Niah cave, the exploitation of black nests began fairly recently, less than 200 years ago (Harrisson and Jamuh, 1956; Koon and Cranbrook, 2002, p. 68; Medway, 1958). It soon became a major center of black nest production, which peaked at 18,500 kg per year in 1931 (i.e., 70% of the total production of black nests in the state of Sarawak; Cranbrook, 1984, p. 155). The fame of the Niah cave owes a lot to this huge production of nests, and also to the archeological discovery of the oldest human remains in South-East Asia (Harrisson, 1958). To protect this unique archeological site, the caves were made into a national heritage site under the authority of the Sarawak Museum, and later into a national park under the authority of the National Parks’ administration. Recently, the swiftlets have become a protected species.
Read more about Chronicle of a foreseeable tragedy: birds' nests management in the Niah Caves (Sarawak) (1) …

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