Abstract
Increasing prices and demand for biofuel and cooking oil from importer countries have caused a remarkable expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. In this paper, we attempt to monitor the expansion of oil palm plantations on peat land and in tropical forests. We measure the GHG emissions from the land conversion activities at provincial scale. Using Landsat images from three different periods (1990s, 2000s and 2012), we classified LULC of the Riau Province, which is the largest oil palm producing region in Indonesia. A hybrid method of integration, generated by combining automatic processing and manual analysis, yields the best results. We found that the tropical rainforest cover decreased from ∼63% in the 1990s to ∼37% in the 2000s. By 2012, the remaining tropical rainforest cover was only ∼22%. From the 1990s to the 2000s, conversion of forests and peat lands was the primary source of emissions, total CO2 emitted to the atmosphere was estimated at ∼26.6 million tCO2.y-1, with 40.62% and 59.38% of the emissions from conversion of peat lands and forests, respectively. Between 2000 and 2012, the total CO2 emitted to the atmosphere was estimated at ∼5.2 million tCO2. y-1, with 69.94% and 27.62% of the emissions from converted peat lands and converted forests, respectively. The results show that in the Riau Province, the oil palm industry boomed in the period from 1990 to 2000, with transformation of tropical forest and peat land as the primary source of emissions. The decrease of CO2 emissions in the period from 2000 to 2012 is possibly due to the enforcement of a moratorium on deforestation.
Highlights
Oil palm plantations in Sumatera and Kalimantan produce,50% of oil palm worldwide, and in the near future Indonesia’s government plans to double production by expansion of plantations on the Eastern side of the country [1]
Most studies have focused on identifying land source emissions at regional scale, for example, Koh et al [10] quantify the expansion of oil palm plantations in tropical peatlands in the 2000s in the Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatera, and Borneo
Given that there is no prior scientific documentation at provincial level, we investigated the patterns in the expansion of oil palm plantations, land sources for oil palm production, and GHG emissions resulting from tropical forest conversion in the Riau Province, Indonesia
Summary
Oil palm plantations in Sumatera and Kalimantan produce ,50% of oil palm worldwide, and in the near future Indonesia’s government plans to double production by expansion of plantations on the Eastern side of the country [1]. Other main factors in the GHG emission are the peatland conversion to oil palm plantations, and the increasing number of industrial forests and illegal logging operations, which may lead to increase in the risk of forest-burning. Quantifying the contribution of oil palm plantations to global GHG emissions and understanding the expansion of oil palm production areas are important. Most studies have focused on identifying land source emissions at regional scale, for example, Koh et al [10] quantify the expansion of oil palm plantations in tropical peatlands in the 2000s in the Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatera, and Borneo. Given that there is no prior scientific documentation at provincial level, we investigated the patterns in the expansion of oil palm plantations, land sources for oil palm production, and GHG emissions resulting from tropical forest conversion in the Riau Province, Indonesia
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