Environmental Carrying Capacity for Spatial Planning of Lemo Sub-Watershed, North Barito Regency, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Environmental carrying capacity is frequently used to describe environmental resilience against natural resource utilization. The Lemo Sub-watershed (DAS) in North Barito Regency, Indonesia, is highly vulnerable to pressure from businesses and activities using the natural resources in coal mining, forestry, and plantations. The objective of this study was to quantify the environmental carrying capacity of the Lemo sub-watershed based on the land and water capacity. The status of environmental carrying capacity obtained in this study would then be employed to develop regional spatial planning policies to protect and manage the environment in the watershed. The land capability was determined using a spatial method based on geographic information systems. The land carrying capacity was measured using total local commodity production data and decent living needs. Furthermore, water availability was obtained using the coefficient of land use runoff and annual rainfall data. In contrast, the water demand was calculated from the conversion results to the needs for a decent living. The spatial analysis results showed that the Lemo sub-watershed with 54,810 ha has 8 land capability classes. The suitability evaluation showed a mismatch between land use and land capability, where 6.68% of the Lemo sub-watershed area was not suitable for the spatial pattern plan of the regency (SPPR), 45.65% was not in line with the SPPR outline policy. The land carrying capacity status showed a deficit, where the land requirement was 43,484 ha compared to land availability based on the total agricultural commodity production with an area of 6,765 ha. However, the status of the Lemo sub-watershed carrying capacity becomes a surplus when the land availability refers to the North Barito Regency SPPRSP Map with a 53,005 ha for cultivation areas. Results of the study imply it is still possible to utilize natural resources in the Lemo sub-watershed further.