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REGBorneo_YearOfEstablishmentIOPP_1973to2016_CIFOR (Map Service)


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Year of establishment industrial oil palm plantation

Areas(in Ha)

Borneo

Kalimantan

Sabah

Sarawak

Brunei

Total land area

73,719,011

53,342,225

7,396,621

12,400,501

579,664

Area of oil palm plantations in 1973

135,840

0

131,078

4,762

0

Plantation expansion:

1973-1990

836,150

164,280

567,128

104,742

0

1990-1995

783,047

392,718

267,353

122,767

209

1995-2000

1,206,395

544,569

336,272

324,920

634

2000-2005

732,268

432,174

110,566

189,527

1

2005-2010

2,321,989

1,739,733

87,752

494,344

160

2010-2015

2,199,153

1,684,723

106,204

408,190

36

2016

132,991

103,373

7,789

21,829

0

Total expansion (1973–2016)

8,211,979

5,061,570

1,483,064

1,666,319

1040

Total area of plantations in 2016

8,347,833

5,061,571

1,614,142

1,671,081

1040


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, 2015 and LANDSAT cloud free imagery extracted from Google Earth Engine for year 2016.


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.



Map Name: Layers

Legend

All Layers and Tables

Layers: Tables: Description:

Year of establishment industrial oil palm plantation

Areas(in Ha)

Borneo

Kalimantan

Sabah

Sarawak

Brunei

Total land area

73,719,011

53,342,225

7,396,621

12,400,501

579,664

Area of oil palm plantations in 1973

135,840

0

131,078

4,762

0

Plantation expansion:

1973-1990

836,150

164,280

567,128

104,742

0

1990-1995

783,047

392,718

267,353

122,767

209

1995-2000

1,206,395

544,569

336,272

324,920

634

2000-2005

732,268

432,174

110,566

189,527

1

2005-2010

2,321,989

1,739,733

87,752

494,344

160

2010-2015

2,199,153

1,684,723

106,204

408,190

36

2016

132,991

103,373

7,789

21,829

0

Total expansion (1973–2016)

8,211,979

5,061,570

1,483,064

1,666,319

1040

Total area of plantations in 2016

8,347,833

5,061,571

1,614,142

1,671,081

1040


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, 2015 and LANDSAT cloud free imagery extracted from Google Earth Engine for year 2016.


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.



Copyright Text: CIFOR

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