Integration of carbon conservation into sustainable forest management using high resolution satellite imagery: A case study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

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Abstract

Conservation of tropical forests is of outstanding importance for mitigation of climate change effects and preserving biodiversity. In Borneo most of the forests are classified as permanent forest estates and are selectively logged using conventional logging techniques causing high damage to the forest ecosystems. Incorporation of sustainable forest management into climate change mitigation measures such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) can help to avert further forest degradation by synergizing sustainable timber production with the conservation of biodiversity. In order to evaluate the efficiency of such initiatives, monitoring methods for forest degradation and above-ground biomass in tropical forests are urgently needed. In this study we developed an index using Landsat satellite data to describe the crown cover condition of lowland mixed dipterocarp forests. We showed that this index combined with field data can be used to estimate above-ground biomass using a regression model in two permanent forest estates in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Tangkulap represented a conventionally logged forest estate while Deramakot has been managed in accordance with sustainable forestry principles. The results revealed that conventional logging techniques used in Tangkulap during 1991 and 2000 decreased the above-ground biomass by an annual amount of average −6.0 t C/ha (−5.2 to −7.0 t C/ha, 95% confidential interval) whereas the biomass in Deramakot increased by 6.1 t C/ha per year (5.3–7.2 t C/ha, 95% confidential interval) between 2000 and 2007 while under sustainable forest management. This indicates that sustainable forest management with reduced-impact logging helps to protect above-ground biomass. In absolute terms, a conservative amount of 10.5 t C/ha per year, as documented using the methodology developed in this study, can be attributed to the different management systems, which will be of interest when implementing REDD+ that rewards the enhancement of carbon stocks.

Highlights

▸ Landsat-based development of biomass model for tropical forest over hilly terrain. ▸ Comparison of 2 forest concessions in Sabah with different management types. ▸ One concession was sustainably managed and the other conventionally logged. ▸ Influence of forest management on above-ground biomass was analyzed. ▸ Replacing conventional with reduced-impact logging preserves 10.5 t C/ha per year.

Introduction

Pressure on tropical forests has increased tremendously in the past two decades (Fuller, 2006). Insular Southeast Asia experienced a deforestation rate of 1.0% per year between 2000 and 2010 (Miettinen et al., 2011), and a detailed analysis of Borneo revealed an annual rate of 1.7% between 2002 and 2005 (Langner et al., 2007). According to Kitayama (2008) most of the forests on Borneo are permanent forest estates, so called “production forests”, which have been commercially logged more than twice, mainly using a conventional logging (CL) technique.

Even though CL results in the removal of only a certain number of economically valuable trees per hectare, the process can destroy more than 50% of all trees (Sist et al., 2003). The number of trees extracted under CL is only limited by girth and harvesting cycle (Sist et al., 1999). Additionally, a lot of collateral damage is caused to the surrounding vegetation by the falling of large trees and the use of heavy machinery (Cannon et al., 1998).

The prevailing application of CL in Borneo has led to vast areas of degraded forests. This has severe impact on biodiversity as the lowland forests of Borneo are considered to have the highest plant species richness worldwide (Kier et al., 2005). In addition, forest degradation causes considerable carbon emissions into the atmosphere (Achard et al., 2004, Asner et al., 2005, Asner et al., 2010), which accounts together with deforestation for at least 12% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, thus being the second largest anthropogenic emission source (van der Werf et al., 2009).

In contrast to CL, reduced-impact logging (RIL) mitigates the physical impacts on the ground, to the remaining standing trees, and ecosystem as a whole by using a combination of pre-harvest census, controlled felling, lowered allowable cut, and regulated machinery use (Sist et al., 2003). In combination with longer cutting cycles as applied under next-generation sustainable forest management (SFM) RIL also helps to preserve carbon (Pinard and Putz, 1996, Putz et al., 2008).

Regardless of the obvious ecological advantages, SFM is currently practiced in less than 5% of all natural permanent forest estates in the tropics (ITTO, 2006). A study by Putz et al. (2000) discusses the most common motives of commercial loggers for not applying RIL, with reasons ranging from elevated costs to lack of governmental incentives. However, the application of SFM can be financially rewarded through forest certification, thus leading to an improved market access and increased unit log-price (Lagan et al., 2007).

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is an approach to mitigate CO2 emissions due to land cover conversions in the tropics (UNFCCC, 2007). When including the concept of additionality, which creates incentives for additional actions in forest conservation, SFM practices are promoted and will in effect lead to higher permanent carbon stocks (Kitayama, 2008). As the implications of these incentives on the enhancement of carbon stocks have to be monitored, it is necessary to obtain information about the degradation status as well as the above-ground biomass (AGB) of a forest.

Remote sensing offers a practical way to assess information on the condition of forests in large and inaccessible areas (Saatchi et al., 2007). Unfortunately, measuring forest degradation and deriving AGB estimates is technically more demanding than monitoring deforestation processes (DeFries et al., 2007). Traditionally, biomass estimation has been based on either radar or optical remote sensing technology.

The advantage of radar in contrast to passive optical data is the ability to acquire data irrespective of haze and the persistently cloudy weather conditions in the humid tropics (Asner, 2001). However, the signal of all available radar sensors tends to saturate at a lower value than the actual AGB volumes of tropical rain forests, which are among the most carbon-dense and structurally complex ecosystems in the world, and additionally there are also increased errors in mountainous terrain (Gibbs et al., 2007). Therefore, estimation of AGB in tropical forests is very challenging. Morel et al. (2011) describes the limitations of L-band data to estimate forest degradation in several forest reserves in Sabah. Engelhart et al. (2011) demonstrated that a multi-temporal L- and X-band model can be successfully used to estimate even high AGB values in the peatlands of Central Kalimantan. However, this study also pointed out the crucial role of the extremely flat topography of that area, thus avoiding problems due to shadow and layover effects.

To overcome the problem of sensor saturation, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have to be considered, which have the potential to obtain AGB measurements even in the tropics. Although large-scale applications are not feasible due to the narrow swath of view and the high costs of data acquisition, the use of LiDAR instead of field inventory for calibration purposes of satellite data is nevertheless a promising approach (Asner et al., 2010). Satellite-based LiDAR data has also been successfully used to derive a pan-tropical carbon map (Saatchi et al., 2011).

In contrast to radar data, passive optical remote sensing technologies cannot penetrate a closed forest canopy and therefore need to rely on secondary vegetation features for biomass estimation, making optical remote sensing-based methods more restricted to empirical approaches. However, artifacts due to a heterogeneous topography are less problematic as with radar data. A lot of research in the humid tropics has been undertaken using Landsat data (Foody et al., 2001, Foody et al., 2003, Lu, 2005, Steininger, 2000, Tangki and Chappell, 2008). With a spatial resolution of 30 m, each Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) or Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) pixel value integrates reflectance from several tree crowns. The density of these trees and their physical characteristics due to species composition and age contribute to the spectral properties of each pixel. The more mature a tropical rain forest, the more the canopy becomes uneven (Weishampel et al., 2001), resulting in higher levels of self-shadowing by emergent trees, which is an important parameter to distinguish younger from mature forests (Adams et al., 1995). Subsequently, the AGB of a forest can be estimated based on information on the stage of succession and the level of degradation (Houghton, 2005).

The objective of our research was to analyze the impact of different forest management practices on the AGB using optical remote sensing techniques supported with field data. The effects of CL and SFM with RIL on the AGB were analyzed in two production forests in Borneo dominated by mixed dipterocarp rain forest. In contrast to other studies, our biomass model was applied at three different times, totally encompassing a period of 16 years, thereby enabling evaluation of long term effects of different forest management practices. Annual AGB change rates were derived and analyzed to determine to what extent next-generation SFM can conserve carbon in comparison to the business as usual situation of CL.

Section snippets

Study site

The study area consists of two adjacent production forests, Deramakot and Tangkulap, situated in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The climate is characterized by frequent rainfall and high temperatures throughout the year and both forest reserves are dominated by lowland mixed dipterocarp forest with varying degrees of degradation. While Tangkulap is less hilly, most of Deramakot is characterized by a heterogeneous topography.

The forest management units (FMU) of Deramakot and Tangkulap were licensed

Forest degradation-based AGB model

Based on the result of the CCFScorr index of the year 2000, analyzing an area of 81 778 ha of lowland dipterocarp forest, a regression analysis with the AGB values of the PSP was done, in which two second-order polynomial AGB models were fitted. The coefficients of both models are shown in Table 1.

Even though model 1 is more complex, it is not significantly better than model 2 (ANOVA, p < 0.05). And as the AIC is also slightly higher in model 1, model 2 was further used in this study (Fig. 1).

Validation of AGB model

The

Discussion

Climate-change mitigation is one of several important ecosystem services provided by tropical rain forests. The international framework of REDD+ is expected to include the concept of additionality, rewarding incentives for supplemental activities toward an enhancement of forest carbon stock, such as SFM. In order to implement REDD+ in a post-2012 climate regime and to survey the impact of such additional activities, a transparent monitoring and verification system is crucially needed (

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all staff members of the Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah, Malaysia, as well as of the Deramakot Forest Office. Special thanks go to P. Lagan as well as to A. Rawinder for their crucial support in the field. This work was partly supported by the Global Environment Research Funds (F-071 and D-1006) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, to Kanehiro Kitayama and by the JSPS Postdoctoral fellowship program for foreign researchers (P 09097) to

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