Perubahan Penggunaan dan Tutupan Lahan, Serta Faktor Penyebabnya di Pulau Bengkalis, Provinsi Riau (periode 1990-2019)

Indonesia adalah salah satu negara dengan perubahan tutupan lahan yang dinamis karena sumber perekonomian negara yang bersumber pada pengelolaan sumber daya berbasis lahan. Di sisi lain, pengelolaan tersebut berdampak negatif seperti konflik sosial dan kerusakan lingkungan. Penelitian ini mengamati pola perubahan tutupan lahan dan mengeksplorasi faktor pendorong penyebab perubahan tersebut pada periode 1990-2019 di Pulau Bengkalis, Indonesia untuk memantau dan menghasilkan informasi yang dapat digunakan sebagai dasar dalam meminimalkan perubahan tutupan lahan yang tidak terkendali. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan mempelajari laporan dan penelitian sebelumnya, observasi, dan melaksanakan fokus grup diskusi dan wawancara mendalam. Penelitian ini menggunakan GIS dalam analisis perubahan tutupan dan penggunaan lahan multiwaktu. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tutupan hutan alam menurun tajam sejak tahun 1990. Setelah tahun 2000, area kebun campuran lebih luas dibandingkan dengan tutupan hutan alam. Luas areal perkebunan kelapa sawit dan hutan tanaman juga mulai meningkat. Program transmigrasi telah memicu pembukaan lahan besar-besaran di Pulau Bengkalis. Pembukaan lahan oleh transmigran dan krisis ekonomi mendorong pembukaan lahan yang lebih besar oleh transmigran spontan.Indonesia is one of the countries with dynamic land cover changes because the country's economy is sourced from land-based resource management. On the other hand, it has negative impacts such as social conflict and environmental damage. This paper observed patterns of land change and explores its driving forces during 1900-2019 on Bengkalis Island, Indonesia to monitor and provide information that can be used as a base for reducing uncontrolled land-use changes in an area. We reviewed previous reports and research, observed land cover conditions in the field, carried out focus group discussions, and deep interviews. We implemented GIS to capture time-series land cover and land-use changes. The results showed that the forest cover has declined sharply since 1990. After 2000, the area of mixed garden was larger than the forest cover. The area of oil palm and forest plantations began to increase. The transmigration policy has triggered masive land clearing on Bengkalis Island. Land clearing by transmigrants and the economic crisis have led to greater land clearing by spontaneous transmigrants

Understanding the Driving Forces and Actors of Land Change Due to Forestry and Agricultural Practices in Sumatra and Kalimantan: A Systematic Review

Indonesia has experienced one of the world’s greatest dynamic land changes due to forestry and agricultural practices. Understanding the drivers behind these land changes remains challenging, partly because landscape research is spread across many domains and disciplines. We provide a systematic review of 91 studies that identify the causes and land change actors across Sumatra and Kalimantan. Our review shows that oil palm expansion is the most prominent (65 studies) among multiple direct causes of land change. We determined that property rights are the most prominent issue (31 studies) among the multiple underlying causes of land change. Distinct combinations of mainly economic, institutional, political, and social underlying drivers determine land change, rather than single key drivers. Our review also shows that central and district governments as decision-making actors are prominent (69 studies) among multiple land change actors. Our systematic review indicates knowledge gaps that can be filled by clarifying the identification and role of actors in land change

A field experiment to reduce deforestation while benefiting the livelihoods of Indonesian smallholder oil palm farmers

We will implement a randomised field experiment to test whether a new training intervention delivered to independent smallholder oil palm farmers as part of a palm oil company’s “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policy can reduce deforestation in Sumatra, Indonesia. The objective is to identify how NDPE policies can be improved to enhance: 1) their effectiveness in terms of reducing deforestation; 2) farmers’ perceptions of the fairness of NDPE policies; and 3) NDPE policies’ equity in terms of having no negative impact on, or ideally improving, farmers’ market access and prices received for palm oil production. The trial is being conducted in partnership with Musim Mas (MM), an Indonesian palm oil company. The participants will be smallholder oil palm farmers in 87 villages in Aceh Selatan and Aceh Singkil, two regencies (Kabupaten) in the Province of Aceh in Sumatra. The study consists of a common intervention offered to all villages in the sample and an experimental treatment layered on top and randomly assigned to half of the villages. The common intervention comprises a standard training package on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Financial Literacy. The experimental treatment consists of training on MM’s NDPE policy with a norm-based framing. We will compare deforestation between villages that receive the baseline intervention and villages that additionally receive the experimental treatment. We will also compare perceived social norms for nature conservation and beliefs about environmentally- and socially-responsible farming behaviour between participants in treated and control villages. We expect a smaller annual reduction in forest cover, an improvement in perceived social importance of conservation, and improvement in beliefs about the importance of environmentally- and socially-responsible farming behaviour in treated villages that receive the norm-based NDPE training compared to control villages that receive the standard training package only