Abstract
In the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, agricultural expansion has been a significant factor in the decline of forest coverage. As forests are essential for rural populations’ livelihoods and a healthy environment, this study presents the dynamics of this transformed forest landscape resulting from changes in farming, land accessibility and policy changes. A multitemporal dataset consisting of two ALOS/AVNIR-2 images in 2007 and 2011 were used to compare changes in land cover, and the panchromatic image of 2012 Worldview-1 acquired at 100 km2 was used to access specific land-use patterns. Qualitative research methods ranging from an ethnographic method to qualitative data analysis were performed for gathering in-situ information to understand human-induced changes in land use. The results illustrate three triggers found at the local level, actively changing the forest landscape: (1) indigenous people transforming the swidden farming system to the mono-cropping system without external support and agricultural market information, (2) chaotic property market resulting from migrants purchasing existing farms or forest lands from indigenous people via land brokers, and (3) the introduction of land concessions by government via the 2001 Land Law, which allows agricultural cooperation to develop plantations.
Highlights
The decline of forests and woodlands in most developing countries has occurred primarily as a result of converting the land for crop production (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], 1997)
In the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, agricultural expansion has been a significant factor in the decline of forest coverage
We developed Digital Terrain Models (DTM) from the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map (GDEM), and identified elevation points produced in 2002 by the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction for orthorectifying images
Summary
The decline of forests and woodlands in most developing countries has occurred primarily as a result of converting the land for crop production (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], 1997). The proportion of forest cover in Cambodia ranged from 73-74% of country landmass between 1969 and 1990 (Savet & Sokhun, 2003), and decreased to 57% between 1990 and 2010. The proportion of agricultural land expanded from 26% to 31% between 1997 and 2007 (Broadhead & Izquierdo, 2010) and to 32% in 2011 (FAO, 2014). Agricultural expansion is a significant factor in Cambodia’s deforestation (Poffenberger, 2009) and has directly impacted forest cover (Broadhead & Izquierdo, 2010). Deforestation has had negative ecological and environmental consequences (Zhao et al, 2006) through the release of CO2 (Detwiler, 1986; Houghton, 1999; Searchinger et al, 2008), impact on water quality (Johnes & Heathwaite, 1997; Sliva & Williams, 2001; Tong & Chen, 2002), alteration of regional climates (Zhang & McGuffie, 2001), and a loss of biodiversity (Haines-Young, 2009; Reidsma et al, 2006)
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