The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

Analysis of Regional Palm Oil Expansion Using Satellite ImageryIn order to quantify the threat of deforestation in the projectregion, a remote sensing and GIS analysis was conducted toassess the extent and rate of deforestation and conversion to oilpalm. For the purpose of this analysis, a study region wasdelineated to include ~464,000 hectares north and east of TPNPincluding the Rimba Raya Project Zone. Interpretation anddelineation of plantation boundaries was conducted using annualLandsat ETM+ image scenes (30 meter resolution) in ENVI imageanalysis software and ArcGIS. Results are summarized in the map(Figure 28) and Tables below.Palm oil plantation development in the TPNP / Rimba Raya regionbegan before 2000 (Figure 29), at which time there wereapproximately 61,330 ha of palm oil, representing 13.2% of theanalysis study area (Table 17). By 2003, oil palm plantation areahad increased slightly to 64,280 ha, representing 13.9% of thestudy area. After 2003, oil palm expanded significantly. In total,during the 2000 – 2008 study period, 102,518 ha of new palm oilwere developed, representing a 167.2% increase over the landarea of palm oil in 2000. As of 2008, there were 163,850 ha ofpalm oil comprising 35.3% of the study area.Figure 28. Palm oil encroachment on Tanjung Puting NationalPark, based on January 2008 SPOT5 satellite imagery.Land cover rate of conversion to palm oil was not significantbetween 2000 and 2003. Compared to plantation extent in theprevious year, there was small change in 2001 and 2003 and nochange in 2002. Between 2000 and 2003, a total of 2,949 ha ofnew palm oil were developed representing a conversion rate of983 ha per year (0.21% average annual rate of conversion in thestudy area) (Table 18).103