Assessment of oil palm plantation in South Tapanuli using remote sensing and geographic information system in the last three decades

Abstract

Oil palm plantations (OPPs) have initiated in Indonesia at the Dutch colonial era. After the reformation era, the OPPs continued to extend widely including in South Tapanuli. However, it is suspected that the expansion of new OPPs by converting natural forests. This study aimed to assess the distribution and extension of OPPs in South Tapanuli using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS). Land cover classification was obtained by using supervised classification with maximum likelihood approach in Landsat images of 1989, 1998, 2007 and 2019. The research showed that the OPPs in South Tapanuli have increased nearly 2.5 times in the last three decades that was from 7.56% in 1989 to 18.79% in 2019. This study indicated that some portion of new OPPs by converting natural forests, including in conservation as well as protection forests. This practice is expected to cause disruption of harmony in nature and the human environment, such as increased flooding during rainy season, drought during dry season, landslide as well as human-wildlife conflict. Therefore, land use must be a concern in developing new oil palm plantations in the future. Subsequently, it needs simultaneously to handle the OPPs have been planted on land that is not intended.