Caves of Fortune? Gendered Labour Precarity and Securitisation Involving the ‘Wild’ Edible Birds’ Nest Trade in Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia

Abstract Harvesting edible birds’ nests (EBN) produced by swiftlets from caves and purpose-built dwellings has generated a new high-value, non-timber forest product-based livelihood for rural smallholders across Indonesia. Drawing on extended fieldwork, we explore the gendered labour and livelihood outcomes for households transitioning from EBN cave harvesting to domestication in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Following calls from feminist political ecology, we investigate the more visible ‘men’s work’ associated with EBN access and labour and highlight women’s pivotal, yet often overlooked, role in managing the associated household incomes and land-based livelihoods. We show how the increasing demand for ‘wild’ EBN drove significant changes in the ownership rights of caves in the region, securitisation and scarcity of the nests, and the rise in precarious labour conditions. The increasing demand for ‘wild’ EBN has intensified extraction and securitisation of caves and nests, and the precarity of work for Dayak men working as cave guards and harvesters. In response, many Dayak women—who receive and manage their husbands’ salaries—saved to scale up their household’s EBN production using purpose-built swiftlet farmhouses. Both spouses’ labour contributions were integral to securing a sustained source of income through the EBN trade, enabling income diversification and a more hopeful future for rural households.