Critical land mapping for the development of biomass-based energy in East Lombok Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Utilization of critical land as woody biomass plantations need to be supported by information on the potential of critical land. The objective of this research was to delineate a critical land using remote sensing and GIS techniques combined with Analytical Hierarchy Process method. The parameters used were land use/cover, slope, rainfall erosivity, tolerable soil erosion, soil erodibility, land management, and land productivity. The Analytical Hierarchy Process method was used to provide the weight of each parameter. Land use/cover map was interpreted from SPOT-7 satellite imageries acquired in 2017. The other parameter maps were built based on reference maps, secondary and field data collection as well as soil sample analysis. The resulted map showed that 32.7% area of East Lombok Regency was categorized as a critical area. Based on the land status, the critical land area located in the State Forest was smaller (42%) than on the Area for Other Utilization (58%). Utilization of critical land as woody biomass plantation should be prioritized on the shrub-covered land using community forest scheme, while for the area of State Forest, the plantation can be only planted in the production forest area applying industrial plantation forest or community plantation forest scheme.