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The use of Remote Sensing and GIS to Support Sustainable Management of Tropical Forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia
Robert Aguma and Yousif Ali Hussin
Forest Science Division, International Institute for Geo-informatics Sciences
and Earth Sciences,
ITC, 7500 AA, Enschede, Netherlands,
Tel : (31)53-4874-444,
Fax: (31)53-4874379,
Email : Hussin@ITC.NL and Raguma80@hotmail.com
Abstract
Tropical forest degradation and/or deforestation are issues raising great concern among conservation scientists the world over. In particular, the rate of destruction of tropical forests, through the large extent of commercial logging has attracted a lot of attention. Moreover, many studies and reports indicate that this destruction is on the increase, given the rising demand for wood products from tropical forests, with the rising world population. As tropical forest destruction increases, so does the demand for their sustainable management from sections of people with environmental or conservation concerns. Consequently, at both international and national levels, a number of initiatives have come with suggestions of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management determination. However, most of their propositions are still very broad and rarely find appropriate applicability at the Forest management unit level. This study looks at some ecological criteria and indicators developed by one such type of organisation in Indonesia, known as Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI). The objective of the study is to demonstrate how remotely sensed data could support sustainable forest management by verifying some ecological criteria and indicators for tropical timber certification.
Introduction
The issue of tropical forest degradation/deforestation has been at the centre stage of controversy in terms of its environmental consequences for almost three decades. This has raised a lot of concern at international scale, particularly regarding the impact of logging activities on the sustainable function of forests. A study by the International Timber Trade Organization reports that less than one-tenth of tropical forests are managed on a sustainable basis. The growing international concern has led to an increasing demand for the sustainable management of forests, which has led to the development of criteria and indicators for assessing sustainable forest management.
The ecological criteria, indicators and verifiers used in this research were selected from among a set already developed by the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute or Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI). As a first step of working towards a credible forest certification system, LEI has come up with a list of criteria and indicators grouped under the three major categories of; productive, social and ecological functions. Under the ecological functions, 2 criteria and 19 indicators have been listed, categorized as: Criterion 1 (the stability of ecosystem) with 11 indicators, and criterion 2 (the survival of endangered/endemic/protected species), with 8 indicators. From the set of indicators listed under criterion 1, 2 indicators (E 1.3 and E 1.4) and five verifiers have been selected as follows:
The objective of the study is to demonstrate how remotely sensed data could support sustainable forest management by verifying some ecological criteria and indicators for tropical timber certification. Within the framework of this study, one ecological criterion, two indicators and five verifiers were selected from a list already developed by LEI. Specifically, the study aimed at using optical satellite remotely sensed images (i.e. Landsat-TM data) to detect deforestation in protected area and assess how significant these deforested area in comparison to the overall forest land in the study site. More over, an attempt was made to find if any relationship between a sustainably managed forests and spectral radiance is exist.
Table 1 Selected ecological criteria, indicators and verifiers
| Criterion |
Indicator |
Selected Verifiers |
| Stability of ecosystem |
E 1.3 The intensity of damage in the protected areas which includes the danger of forest fires |
-Size and type of damaged protected area.-Condition of damaged protected area |
| E 1.4* Condition of tree species diversity in protected area in various forest formations/types within management units |
-Tree species diversity in virgin (unlogged forest)-Tree species diversity in logged over area-Tree species diversity in protected area. |
| *This indicator and its associated verifiers have been modified to cover “tree species diversity” instead of “flora and fauna diversity” in order to fit them within the scope of this work. |
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