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REGBorneo_YearOfEstablishmentIOPP_1973to2015_CIFOR (Map Service)


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Service Description: Table. Industrial oil palm plantation area and change by country
Areas(in Ha)BorneoKalimantanSabahSarawakBrunei
Total land area73,719,01153,342,2257,396,62112,400,501579,664
Area of oil palm plantations in 1973132,8010128,0394,7620
Plantation expansion:
1973–1990834,380
168,084561,697104,5990
1990-1995777,329386,974268,073122,2820
1995-20001,197,938542,471335,996318,981490
2000–2005719,451421,841109,335188,2741
2005–20102,356,1321,777,07087,564491,338160
2010–20151,968,7861,544,14377,373347,24327
Total expansion (1973–2015)7,854,0164,840,5831,440,0381,572,717678
Total area of plantations in 20157,986,8174,840,5831,568,0771,577,479678

Methods
We digitized the expansion of areas developed (or under development) by oil palm companies (hereafter called ‘industrial oil palm plantations’) in approximately five-year increments over six consecutive periods between 1972and 2015 using a time-series of 434 LANDSAT images arranged in sequence in circa 1973, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015.

We declared an area Developed-by-Company (the land is either already planted or under development), the moment we observed large rectangular elements, long linear boundaries, and distinctive grid- or contour-planting patterns appear on our sequence of images. These planting patterns characterize industrial monoculture plantations of oil palm (Figure 1).


Figure 1│ Close-up view (scale 1:100,000) of an area in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (Left Panel) and an area in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo (Right Panel) (See top-right inset for locations). On these LANDSAT 5 image snapshots acquired in year 2009 (false color composite: 5-4-3), industrial oil-palm plantations are easily recognized by their geometric shapes (rectangular-like shapes or otherwise more complex shapes with linear boundaries), their distinctive grid-like or contour-like patterns and by their homogeneous spectral colors characteristic of either young open-canopy (yellow), mature closed-canopy (green) single tree-species plantations, or recently-cleared lands devoid of vegetation (pink).

These spatial patterns are easily detected by the human eye, but are difficult to capture with computer codes. Therefore, we delineated the boundaries of industrial plantations using a visual, expert-based interpretation method. We also employed maps of oil-palm and pulpwood concessions that have entered the public sphere to distinguish young oil-palm from young pulpwood plantations because similar planting patterns and spectral colors are seen in both plantation types. In the process, we also generated the expanding area of pulpwood plantations. We note, that concession maps were not always a reliable indicator of plantations locations. Particularly for Indonesia, the oil-palm industry often develops plantations outside of concession boundaries including inside pulpwood concessions. The opposite is not true because pulpwood plantations are better regulated. A total of 1,705 and 366 polygons (> 90 ha) developed by oil-palm and pulpwood companies, respectively, each with an associated year of development, were digitized in ArcGIS 10.2.2, by just two experts working together, in the same office, to ensure consistency.

Second, we corrected the Developed-by-Company polygons to remove any obvious errors resulting from visual interpretation. Small remnants of remaining forests or small patches of undeveloped clearings (for example, openings in the forest by small-holders, or logging tracts) were counted as Developed-by-Company during visual interpretation. It is often too time-consuming to digitize small elements manually, but these small elements were detected by the computer codes used to generate the Deforestation map. We refined the shape (and size) of the Developed-by-Company polygons by intersecting them with the Deforestation map, which reveal these discrepancies between both datasets. For example, if an area was Forest in 2015 according to the Deforestation map, and Developed-by-Company according to the visual interpretation, the area was recoded as Forest (see example in Figure 2).


Figure 2│ Examples of industrial oil-palm plantation extent (A, B, C) before (A, B) and after (C) applying a correction procedure described in Methods.

Conversely, if an area was Cleared according to the Deforestation map, and Forest according to visual interpretation, we determined the correct land cover type (whether Cleared, or Developed) by reviewing our database of LANDSAT imagery and, in some cases high-resolution imagery on Google Earth. The same procedure was repeated for previous years. This correction procedure ensured total consistency between the Borneo-wide Deforestation map and the map showing the expansion of areas developed by companies.

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Layers: Tables: Description: Table. Industrial oil palm plantation area and change by country
Areas(in Ha)BorneoKalimantanSabahSarawakBrunei
Total land area73,719,01153,342,2257,396,62112,400,501579,664
Area of oil palm plantations in 1973132,8010128,0394,7620
Plantation expansion:
1973–1990834,380
168,084561,697104,5990
1990-1995777,329386,974268,073122,2820
1995-20001,197,938542,471335,996318,981490
2000–2005719,451421,841109,335188,2741
2005–20102,356,1321,777,07087,564491,338160
2010–20151,968,7861,544,14377,373347,24327
Total expansion (1973–2015)7,854,0164,840,5831,440,0381,572,717678
Total area of plantations in 20157,986,8174,840,5831,568,0771,577,479678

Methods
We digitized the expansion of areas developed (or under development) by oil palm companies (hereafter called ‘industrial oil palm plantations’) in approximately five-year increments over six consecutive periods between 1972and 2015 using a time-series of 434 LANDSAT images arranged in sequence in circa 1973, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015.

We declared an area Developed-by-Company (the land is either already planted or under development), the moment we observed large rectangular elements, long linear boundaries, and distinctive grid- or contour-planting patterns appear on our sequence of images. These planting patterns characterize industrial monoculture plantations of oil palm (Figure 1).


Figure 1│ Close-up view (scale 1:100,000) of an area in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (Left Panel) and an area in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo (Right Panel) (See top-right inset for locations). On these LANDSAT 5 image snapshots acquired in year 2009 (false color composite: 5-4-3), industrial oil-palm plantations are easily recognized by their geometric shapes (rectangular-like shapes or otherwise more complex shapes with linear boundaries), their distinctive grid-like or contour-like patterns and by their homogeneous spectral colors characteristic of either young open-canopy (yellow), mature closed-canopy (green) single tree-species plantations, or recently-cleared lands devoid of vegetation (pink).

These spatial patterns are easily detected by the human eye, but are difficult to capture with computer codes. Therefore, we delineated the boundaries of industrial plantations using a visual, expert-based interpretation method. We also employed maps of oil-palm and pulpwood concessions that have entered the public sphere to distinguish young oil-palm from young pulpwood plantations because similar planting patterns and spectral colors are seen in both plantation types. In the process, we also generated the expanding area of pulpwood plantations. We note, that concession maps were not always a reliable indicator of plantations locations. Particularly for Indonesia, the oil-palm industry often develops plantations outside of concession boundaries including inside pulpwood concessions. The opposite is not true because pulpwood plantations are better regulated. A total of 1,705 and 366 polygons (> 90 ha) developed by oil-palm and pulpwood companies, respectively, each with an associated year of development, were digitized in ArcGIS 10.2.2, by just two experts working together, in the same office, to ensure consistency.

Second, we corrected the Developed-by-Company polygons to remove any obvious errors resulting from visual interpretation. Small remnants of remaining forests or small patches of undeveloped clearings (for example, openings in the forest by small-holders, or logging tracts) were counted as Developed-by-Company during visual interpretation. It is often too time-consuming to digitize small elements manually, but these small elements were detected by the computer codes used to generate the Deforestation map. We refined the shape (and size) of the Developed-by-Company polygons by intersecting them with the Deforestation map, which reveal these discrepancies between both datasets. For example, if an area was Forest in 2015 according to the Deforestation map, and Developed-by-Company according to the visual interpretation, the area was recoded as Forest (see example in Figure 2).


Figure 2│ Examples of industrial oil-palm plantation extent (A, B, C) before (A, B) and after (C) applying a correction procedure described in Methods.

Conversely, if an area was Cleared according to the Deforestation map, and Forest according to visual interpretation, we determined the correct land cover type (whether Cleared, or Developed) by reviewing our database of LANDSAT imagery and, in some cases high-resolution imagery on Google Earth. The same procedure was repeated for previous years. This correction procedure ensured total consistency between the Borneo-wide Deforestation map and the map showing the expansion of areas developed by companies.

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