Spatial-temporal forest canopy density in Indonesia’s new capital city and its surrounding area

Abstract

Monitoring the condition of the forest in Indonesia’s New Capital City, Nusantara (IKN), and the surrounding area as a buffer is crucial to realizing the Forest City concept. Forest canopy density can be used to understand and measure forest conditions using satellite imagery efficiently. The main objective of this study was to investigate the spatial-temporal dynamic alterations of forest canopy density across IKN and its buffer. Forest canopy density is based on Landsat 8 imagery for 2015-2020, processed in the cloud using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) and compared using a hemispherical photograph and LiDAR. Google Earth Engine is powerful for creating forest canopy density maps, although Canopy density from Landsat 8 tends to be lower than hemispherical and Lidar, so a correction factor is needed. The correlation between forest canopy density and hemispherical photography can provide valuable insights into the structure and composition of a forest ecosystem. For land types covered with forest, consistently in 2015 and 2020, it dominates dense forest canopy density (>60%). The forest area in the IKN and its surroundings experienced a decrease in forest canopy density by logging. In contrast, some areas experienced increased forest canopy density representing disturbed forest growth.