Charters, LJ, Aplin, P, Marston, CG, Padfield, R, Rengasamy, N, Bin Dahalan, MP and Evers, SL (2019) Peat swamp forest conservation withstands pervasive land conversion to oil palm plantation in North Selangor, Malaysia. International Journal of Remote Sensing. ISSN 0143-1161

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Abstract

Tropical deforestation remains one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century driven to a large extent by the conversion of land for agricultural purposes, such as palm oil production. Malaysia is one of the world’s largest palm oil producers and has seen widespread conversion to oil palm from primary forest, including peat swamp forest (PSF). This study investigates the rate and extent of pervasive oil palm expansion in and around North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF) over the last three decades, exploring how land conversion has affected the region’s tropical forests, and assessing the relative success of PSF conservation measures. Time-series Landsat imagery was used to assess thematic land cover change and improvement in vegetation condition since NSPSF was given protected status in 1990. The results show a near tripling in oil palm cover throughout North Selangor, from 24,930 ha in 1989 to 70,070 ha in 2016; while at the same time tropical forest cover shrank from 145,570 ha to 88,400 ha. Despite concerns over the sustainability and environmental impact of such rapid oil palm conversion at a regional level, at the local scale, NSPSF represents a relative conservation success story. Effective land stewardship by government and non-governmental organization (NGO) management actors has limited illegal encroachment of oil palm around the reserve boundary. PSF rehabilitation measures have also markedly improved vegetation condition in NSPFS’s interior. These findings have broad significance for how oil palm agriculture is managed and especially for PSF stewardship and conservation, and the approaches described here may be usefully adopted elsewhere in Southeast Asia and around the world.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Remote Sensing on 6th Feb 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01431161.2019.1574996
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience, 0909 Geomatic Engineering
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GB Physical geography G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions:	Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19)
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2019 08:46
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 09:29
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/01431161.2019.1574996
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/10576

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