Analysis of peatland development and degradation processes in Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

In this paper we report the first results of an analysis of the progression of changes in the Air Hitam Laut peat dome in Jambi, Indonesia, since the 1970's. We used high resolution SPOT 1, 2, 4 and 5 and Landsat 1, 3, 5 and 7 images to map the land cover status in nine occasions between the 1970's and 2009. The results revealed dramatic changes in the study area since the 1970's with a general trend from pristine peatswamp forests towards degraded unmanaged landscape and large scale industrial plantations. The analysis of the change dynamics gives support to the commonly proposed progression of events from selective logging via land clearance and fern/shrub period to industrial plantations. However, our results suggest that the entire process from pristine forest to managed land cover types takes typically up to ten years and some areas remain in the extremely degraded state with no indications of further development. If these findings can be confirmed as a general trend in insular Southeast Asia in future studies, it will enable improved modeling of future developments in peatland land cover and land use, and their implications towards greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.