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The use of MODIS NDVI data for land cover change detection in HCVF (High Conservation Value Forest) to support certification of sustainable oil palm production

Midora, Lelyana (2009) The use of MODIS NDVI data for land cover change detection in HCVF (High Conservation Value Forest) to support certification of sustainable oil palm production.

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Abstract:The high demand for food and bio-fuel currently causes many countries to come to a hazardous policy by converting land resources for agricultural expansion. Increasing the production of palm oil through the expansion of plantations has considerable environmental impacts, contributing to tropical deforestation and loss in biodiversity value. The use of remote sensing tools is useful to monitor land cover changes. Traditional land cover change detection techniques of two-date change detection using Landsat data tend to be limited for application on large areas. Using no-cost multi-temporal data with low spatial resolution may improve land cover change detection on a large scale. This study aims to test the applicability of multi-temporal MODIS NDVI 250 m data to find out if mapping the conversion of forest to oil palm plantations can be improved and if this results in a better understanding of the process of land cover change. Temporal MODIS NDVI profiles were generated using fieldwork points. These profiles were used to plot the pattern of average NDVI values of four determined land cover classes, namely forest, oil palm, rubber, and acacia plantations. The temporal NDVI profiles of these four different vegetation types are similar, and their average NDVI values are not significantly different, making it impossible to differentiate between the four land cover classes. Even though the NDVI temporal profiles were similar for all vegetation types, the profiles could successfully be used to distinguish between vegetated areas and non vegetated areas. Thus, as a first step, they could be used to detect deforestation events, followed by the establishment of plantations. The use of MODIS NDVI 250 m data combined with reference data (land cover map) has proved to be useful for land cover change detection, specifically for monitoring forest conversion to oil palm plantation. Using the combination it was possible to answer when, where, and how much conversion took place. Key words: land cover change detection, oil palm, forest conversion, HCVF, MODIS NDVI 250 m
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation
Programme:Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/93065
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