Second meeting with everyone

For the coming weeks, the team is going to be scattered around the globe, so today, while everyone is still in town, we held our second meeting. We started the meeting by looking at some satellite images and aerial photographs of Borneo. I had pre-identified a couple of interesting sites, namely some plantations on flat land, recognisable by the orthogonal patterns of the cultivated parcels, and some on hilly terrains where roads and parcel boundaries follow contour lines. While scoping out the images in a flat area, we identified some forested areas adjacent to a palm oil plantation and it seems that the structure of the new plantation follows the pattern of old logging roads. It might have been a tree plantation, partially logged then converted to a palm oil plantation.

New patterns emerging from the old ones?

We also identified areas where traditional slash and burn is practised. In those areas, the parcels in fallow take on a different shade than the more mature adjacent forest. We can also see small cultivated parcels. In those areas, the presence of roads is worrying. Are those solely used by the locals or are they also used/built by logging companies attracted by an easily reachable loot…

There were some mysterious patterns in the south-eastern part of the island. Comparing the LANDSAT images from 1990 and 2000 really makes them stand out. Obviously, something happened in between those years. Large scale fires is one possibility that was brought up. Failed rice plantations is another.

1990

2000 Here patterns emerge that weren’t there ten years before

Further west of there, other strange patterns stood out. They show up both on the 1990 and 2000 LANDSAT images.

1990

2000 The patterns are still there

A closer inspection of one of these redish spots on a hi-res photo that is even newer than the LANDSAT 2000 images reveals that it is actually almost barren land. In over ten years, those cleared areas never regenerated themselves. Although it would be hasty to jump to conclusion, those areas might be clear examples of what happens when the topsoil is washed away by heavy rains following a clear cut…

Recent close up on a barren patch

After checking out our area of study from above, Stéphane brought out a bunch of spatial data concerning Borneo, and especially the Sarawak region. There was an abundance of data. I don’t know if all of it will be very useful, but some of it might be especially of interest, namely a bunch of land use maps at 1:25000 scales that span from 1988 to 2003.

Rodolphe and Stéphane are both going to be in Asia for a good part of the summer and they’re both going to spend some time in Malaysia. While they’re there, they’ll get to interact with some potential collaborator to our project and they’ll be able to get information and usable data at the source. We made sure to discuss some means to share data while everyone is on their own and to coordinate our schedules for future meetings. The possibility of Stéphane, carrying a GPS while he’s abroad was also brought up. He’ll be the one spending the most time in Malaysia and he’ll be visiting areas directly affected by palm oil production. We think it will be a good way for him and the rest of the team to identify some interesting sites and to put them in a broader spatial context.

To everyone taking off in the coming days, I wish you luck on your travels.