Deforestation and its driving forces: a case study of Riam Kanan watershed, Indonesia

✍ Scribed by H. Indrabudi; A. De Gier; L. O. Fresco

• Book ID: 102659687
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 574 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1085-3278
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-145x(199807/08)9:4<311::aid-ldr294>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

Some driving forces of deforestation were studied in a watershed area where subsistence farming is the main land-use activity. A dam, constructed in 1972 resulted in the translocation of many people. Remote-sensing images were used to analyse the spatial aspects of land-cover changes. The pattern and dispersion of the village distribution, human population distribution and their dynamics, socio-economic aspects, as well as government policy on land status as possible driving forces were examined.

The spatial pattern of deforestation appeared to be related to the village distribution pattern. The low level of population dynamics explained only part of the deforestation process. The low level of auence, low level of technology, and low level of education also contributed to the modest level of deforestation. As the formal land status as Protection Forest con¯icted with the perceptions of the local population, this may explain the little success of reforestation in the study area.