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On: 21 August 2011, At: 19:18
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer
House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Khitlaxay Kokmila , WooKyun Lee , Seongjin Yoo , JaeGyun Byun & Sangcheol Lee
a
a
To cite this article: Khitlaxay Kokmila, WooKyun Lee, Seongjin Yoo, JaeGyun Byun & Sangcheol Lee (2010): Selection of
suitable areas for rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensi) plantation using GISdata in Laos, Forest Science and Technology, 6:2,
55-66
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2010.9671973
Short Communication
The Lao government has a policy of promoting Laos to become a leading rubber
exporter in the world market by the year 2020. However, the implementation
showed serious problems in terms of land allocation. Land leased to investors
overlapped with farmlands of local people, creating conflicts between local people
and investors, as well as between local people and local government authorities.
In addition, the concession of areas without previous forestry survey has led to
massive deforestations. These problems demonstrated that the local government
needs to plan for and implement good land use management strategies. The aim
of this study is not only to identify suitable areas for rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation (SARTP) but also areas for forest and agriculture to model sustainable land use management in local areas. The study area conducted in Pakxong
District, southern part of Laos, which total area covers approximately 345,545 ha,
with forest covering about 232,721 ha. The geography database such as land use
type; forest types; digital elevation model (DEM) resolution with 50m and soil characteristic were used integrate geographic information system (GIS) technique.
Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) and restriction for producing suitable maps based
on geographic data was defined. These information combines with overlay tools
and weight overlay processing identify a land and forest allocation map, which
includes SARTP, as well as a forest functions and agriculture area map.
geographic information system (GIS), weight overlay, forest functions,
agriculture area map, suitable area for rubber tree plantation
Key words :
INTRODUCTION
Background
*Corresponding author
E-mail: leewk@korea.ac.kr
55
56
Study area
Pakxong District is in Champasak Province in
the southern part of Laos, and is located in the
Bolivian plateau area, which has been chosen as
an area of great expansion of agriculture plantation. The total area is about 345,545 ha, with forest covering about 232,721 ha, or 67% of the total
of land use area, and other land uses are covered
with savanna 17%; scrub1%; ray 2%; rice and paddy
5%; agriculture 1% and other agriculture plantation 8%. It is geographically located in between
latitude 15 10' 48" N to 15 28' 39" N and longitude 106 13' 42" E to 106 23' 22" E. The area
has a mean annual rainfall between 2,500 and
3,500 mm. The average annual temperature of wet
season is about 23 and 29 C and mean temperature of the drought season is between 2 and 4 C,
with elevation ranging from 600-1400 meters above
sea level. This location was chosen as an area of
great expansion of agriculture plantation, and is
arable land for the production of crops and for protecting the watershed (Figure 1). The area has
recently been under pressure. The forest is being
destroyed for agricultural and other purposes. In
order to rehabilitate this area, a planning for sustainable forest management is required.
o
Data preparation
The data used in this study included two sets: priority data and secondary data. The priority data
mainly came from a geography database, compiled
from different sources, such as the Mekong River
Commission (MRC), National Geography Department (NGD) and National Agriculture and Forestry
Institute (NAFRI) in Laos PDR. The secondary
data included land laws from the land department; forestry and agriculture laws from the Minis-
Figure 1.
Table 1.
Item
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Method
57
Data type
Polygon
Polygon
Raster
Polygon
Polygon
Polygon
Polygon
Polygon
Excel
Raster
Polygon
Polygon
Sources
NGD
NGD
MRC
MRC
NAFRI
NAFRI
NAFRI
NAFRI
NAFRI
Created from DEM 50 m
Forest functions paper
Agriculture paper
58
Figure 2.
n r + 3 = 45
n
=3
W = (n r + 3) (n r + 3)
n
=3
(1)
(2)
Table 3.
Re-classification
This step re-classified and converted all layers
of data from table 3 into raster data (Table 4). This
process re-classified 9 data factors. First, land use
data, it was re-classified into 14 classes. These
classes based on the land use type in Laos. SecData re-classified.
No: Data inputted Re-class
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
Land use
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1
2
3
2
Rainfall
4
5
1
2
3
3 Temperature
4
5
59
Table 4.
Raster detail
Mixed deciduous
Dry dipterocarp
Coniferous
Mixed board leaved
coniferous
Bamboo
Unstocked forest
Ray
Scrub
Rice paddy
Agriculture plantation
Other agriculture
Grass land
Urban or built up area
water
2260-2572
2576.1-2788
2788.1-3008
3008.1-3234
3234.1-3489
23-25
25.1-27
27.1-27.6
27.7-28.5
28.6-29
No:
4
5
7
8
9
Raster detail
Production forest
Protection forest
Conservation forest
0-3.8
3.83-4.4
4.48-5.71
LS(loamy sand)
SL( Sand loam)
CL(Clay loam)
LL(Loam)
HC(Hard clay)
SA(Sand)
LC(Light clay
R(Rock)
S(Surface)
T(Thin)
M(moderate)
D(Deep)
Moderate
Well
0-32
32>
60
Table 5.
Table 6.
Area0_h
1,052
35
7
0
0
1,269
44
0
243
55,944
15,213
38
541
124
74,510
Total area
137,573
2,988
261
3,166
9 037
74,529
665
3,705
259
57,954
15,609
36,530
562
897
343,735
Weight overlay
The weight overlay technique used in this
study was similar to that used by Paul (2008).
Raster data were added into the weight overlay
window. The basic rule of the weight overlay
technique is based on an equation scale of 1 to
3 by 1 (Table 5). This means that the results of
the most suitable areas for a rubber tree plantation can be 3, 2, 1 or 0, with 3 being the most
suitable area (S3); 2 a suitable area (S2); 1 the
least suitable area (S1) and 0 an unsuitable area
(S0). Table 6 shows SARTP output from weight
overlays processing.
61
Restriction
This step involves the creation of restrictive
data in identifying SARTP. Some land use types,
such as those for agriculture and forest functions, are a restriction for SARTP. This restriction
is based on NLMA (1997; 2003), forest and MFA
(1996; 1997) in Laos, which was categorized
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
into five parts: 1. SARTP should not cover paddy,
rice, agriculture plant, and other agriculture area
Suitable area for rubber tree plantation (SARTP)
or forest plant; 2. SARTP should cover urban or
The SARTP output after processing the weight
built up area; 3. SARTP should cover conservaoverlay is shown in Table 6. SARTP combines
tion forest area; 4. SARTP should cover producfour categories; namely, an unsuitable area (S0),
tion forest if local people gain much from the
which covers about 74,510 ha; a less suitable
forest area and 5. SARTP should not cover
area (S1), covering 17 ha; a suitable area (S2),
important area of protection forest (e.g. natural
which is about 176,788 ha and the most suitable
hazard, biodiversity or national defense). These
area (S3), which covers about 92,420 ha or 27%
restrictions are provided in the weight overlay,
of total area. At present; however, these areas are
as well as in the overlay and normalization analused for forest functions and agriculture. It is not
yses.
possible to allocate these as SARTP. One objecSARTP in the study area from the overlay and normalization processing.
Code
Forest types
Area3_ha
Area2_ha
Total
13
Mixed deciduous
358
25,890
26,248
15
Dry dipterocarp
0
231
231
17
Coniferous
0
60
60
18
Mixed board leaved coniferous
0
0
0
21
Bamboo
2
1,899
1901
22
Unstocked forest
22,313
3,026
25339
24
Ray
119
27
246
32
Scrub
447
66
513
41
Rice and paddy
0
370
370
42
Agriculture plantation
215
686
901
43
Other agriculture
28
165
193
52
Grass land
9,450
4,262
13,712
54
Urban or built up area
0
3
3
61
Water
0
202
202
Total area
32,930
36,887
69,817
This table compared to the total area in the table6. The total area of SARTP in this study covers about 69,817 ha
or about 20%. But noticed that the area of S3 decrease from S3 area in the table6 about 59,490 ha or 35%.
Table 7.
62
Forest functions
Agriculture area
Forest functions
Total
areas(ha) Conservation Protection
Production
11
Upper dry evergreen forest
31,237
23,355
7,882
13
Upper mixed deciduous
52,174
6,962
44,826
386
15
Dry dipterocarp
3,134
3,099
35
16
Gallery forest
152
152
17
Coniferous forest
1,820
1,820
18
Mixed broad-leaved and coniferous
8,367
8,367
21
Bamboo
899
899
22
Unstocked forest
39,348
5,010
33,616
722
24
Ray
24
24
31
Savannah
3,295
3,295
32
Scrub
155
155
41
Rice and paddy
57
57
42
Agricultural plantation
28,373
28,373
43
Other agricultural land
7,665
7,665
52
Grassland
18,046
3,131
14,913
2
54
Urban or built up area
438
438
61
Water
1,707
1,632
75
Sum of area
196,891
38,458
120,656
37,777
Total area of forest functions covers in this table compared to previous paper of forest function (Kokmila et al.,
2008) was decreased to 196,891 ha or 57%.
Code
Forest types
Code
11
13
15
17
22
24
32
41
42
43
52
53
54
61
63
Figure 3.
District.
Physical conditions suitable for agriculture according to the FAO soil classification.
Physical suitable condition of
Item
Factors
Definitions
agriculture area in the study
Characteristics
Capacity of soil which contains amount of nega- Class1, no problem
1 Soil
AF Anion fixation
tively charged ions
This gives an indication of the soil volume which
2 SD Effective soil depth can be utilized by the plant and which is condu- Class 1, shallow (<30 cm)
cive to moisture retention.
Amount
of minerals soil which are beneficial for Class 3, high
3 MR Mineral reserve
take nutrients
Capacity of soil to stay in natural condition, it Class 2, moderate
4 SS Soil stability
means stable soil has less effect by water
Size of soil particles in upper layer of soil, nor- Class 3, fine
5 TT Topsoil texture
mally(Clay, silt and sand)
It is the natural or artificial removal of surface and
sub surface water from an area. Many agricul- Class 2, well
6 DR Drainage
tural soils need drainage to improve production or
to manage water supplies.
Soil
types which refer to suitable soil or un suit- Class 1, arcrisol
7 Major soil
able soil for agriculture
It refers to soil acidity or soil alkalinity, can effect A bout 4.5-5.71
8 Soil PH
agriculture growth, and depends on crops types.
Table 10.
64
CONCLUSION
Implementation of the land and forest allocation
is part of an important priority to support land policy, with the objective is to allocate land to farmers
and individuals for agricultural use, especially plantation investment. This is because previous implementation arrangements where associated with
many problems and overlaps between land allocated for tree plantation and agricultural and/or
forest production for people in the rural areas. To
support and enhance land policy, this study
assessed appropriate land areas suitable for rubber tree plantation (SARTP). The study outlined
SARTP as S0 (unsuitable area), S1 (less suitable
area), S2 (a suitable area) and S3 (a most suitable area) after the weight overlay. These data
were merged with forest functions and agriculture
to create the LAF map in overlay and normalization. The result of LAF areas are presented in the
table 7.
This study emphasized the use of GIS and geographical databases, integrated with regulations
and laws, in developing a pattern for good land
use management. The land authority may modify
this study for land use planning in terms of preserving suitable areas for appropriate land use.
Although the accuracy did not reach 100%, the
study did highlight land and forest allocation,
especially SARTP, using a GIS technique, and
may provide direction for local governments to
reconsider and follow when implementing their
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the Korea Science
& Engineering Foundation through the Joint Research
Program (Grant No. F01-2008-000-10143-0).
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