Aceh Deforestation and Land Cover statistics 2009

SUMMARY 

The LIF GIS section has completed a new forest cover and partial land cover update of the 2006 forest cover map for all the Kabupaten in Aceh province (with the exception of Kepulauan Simeuleu, Sabang and Pulau Nasi " which are still in progress). The 2009 update, which covers all areas in mainland Aceh shows that there was a 96,332 ha of net forest loss in Aceh where forest cover was removed, and the land converted to non forest uses.

In this analysis, care has been taken to ensure that the observations in change in forest land are real changes rather changes that result from differences in data processing methodologies, or different levels of map accuracy caused by the use of different sets of satellite imagery as the basis for interpretation.

The new update was produced by standard screen visual interpretation of mid infra red (MIR) composites of SPOT 2007 10 meter resolution images, then comparing and updating this with MIR composites of Landsat data from various dates in 2009. The 30m Landsat data was pan sharpened to 15meter resolution to improve data quality.

The forest cover maps produced and field checked by FFI based on year 2008 Landsat were also incorporated and this data itself was in turn updated with the new 2009 Landsat data.

New Landsat data is made available continuously, the technique for analysis gets refined and we get feedback regularly from the field. All this means that the results presented here are not "final" " they are being improved on continuously. (With this paper we also invite colleagues and partners to comment and improve where they see the need.)

 Nevertheless, we consider the results presented here as reliable enough to provide a safe base for discussions regarding various kinds of follow-up action.

1. Comparing 2006 and 2009 data

Estimating the real changes in forested area.

Expressed as a compound deforestation rate in percent per year (2006: 100%) over four years, the rate is about 0.77%

Although any comparison between separate estimates of deforestetation  is fraught with methodological difficulties owing to differences in data quality etc, it is still significant that for the period from 2000 to 2006 the deforestation rate has been estimated to be in the magnitude of 1.2 to 1.5 % per year. The indication from this present analysis" and the uncertainty here is underlined " is that deforestation still proceeds, but that it seems to be slowing down. It is also lower than the national average deforestation rate. (See Dephut Penghitungan Deforestasi Indonesia 2008)

Deforestation per Kabupaten 2006 - 2009.

 Areas that were forested in 2006 but are no longer forested in 2009 are as follows per Kabupaten, (forested here meaning covered by primary forest, swamp forest, logged over forest etc as in Table 2 above).

the difference between the totals in Tables 3 and 4 is mainly explained by the changes recorded under "miscellaneous".

Areal Pengunaan Lain APL  non-forest land, outside the state forest area. The other categories in the table are all inside the state forest:

Hutal Lindung HL: protection forest

Hutan Produksi HP: production forest

Taman Nasional TN; national park

Cagar Alam: nature reserve

Hutan Produksi Terbatas HPT: limited production forest

Suaka Margasatwa: wildlife reserve

Taman Buru: hunting park

The above table gives additional detail to the information in Table 4 by showing deforestation by Kabupaten and official forest function or zone area. According to the new statistics there has been an alarmingly high rate of forest loss in HL in both Pidie and Gayo Lues.

There have also been significant forest losses in HP areas in five Kabupatens.

 All data, maps and statistics are available on request.