The use of Remote Sensing and GIS to Support Sustainable Management of Tropical Forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia Study Area, Materials and Methods Labanan concession area is found in Berau regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. This province is located in the eastern Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. It lies west of the Kelai river. The entire concession area covers about 83,240 ha of which 54, 567 ha is under fixed production, 26,997 ha under limited production and 1676 ha has been left for other uses such as transmigration, camping (by the logging and cruising crew), settlement and agriculture (Fakul tas Kehutanan, 2000). The concession area is managed by P.T. Inhutani I, which is a government owned concession company. The natural vegetation of East Kalimantan is dominated by lowland mixed dipterocarp forest. Dipterocarps represent 50% of basal area and 60% of stand volume. The Berau area is characterized by high botanical diversity of the tree species. Large parts of natural forest in East Kalimantan have been logged. Two images Landsat-7 ETM+ acquired on 26th August 2000 and Landsat-5 TM acquired on 12th April 1996 were used in this research. The methodology flowchart (Figure 1) explain the general methodology and approach used in this research.  Figure 1 Flowchart of the Research Methodology According to the Indonesian national forest management guidelines an average of 8 trees per hectare are felled at 35-year interval. The forest management unit has been divided into seven five-year working plan areas called RKL (Rencana Karya Limatahun) in local Indonesian language. Thus, the forest concession land in this area divided into 7 RKLs. Each RKL divided into 5 years felling plan. By the end of the felling cycle (35 years rotation) the logging company will start logging again in RKL 1 which was logged 35 years earlier. Results and Discussions Assessment of damage within the river and other protected area This sub-chapter demonstrates the possibility of using remote sensing techniques, to assess damage within the river-protected area, and then relates this assessment with the intensity scale of indicators for Sustainable Natural Production Forest Management. Damage within the river-protected area was considered because the rest of the protected area to the south of the concession has not suffered any degradation, deforestation or observable change, which means it is still intact. This can be evidenced by the colour composites of Landsat TM 1996 and 2000, with the Middle Infrared, Near Infrared and Green bands in the Red, Green and Blue channels respectively. This colour composite gives a clear picture of the terrain properties of the southern protected area, which is rugged. Mutuagung Lestari, the certification body accredited by LEI, also reported no evidence of severe damage within the southern protected area. |