Investigation of Cultural–Environmental Relationships for an Alternative Environmental Management Approach Using Planet Smallsat Constellations and Questionnaire Datasets

Abstract

The values (i.e., importance) that humans place on ecosystems are critical for sustainable socioecological management. Recently, the value pluralism approach with instrumental, intrinsic, and relational values using multiple disciplines that integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies has been encouraged. However, these values have received little attention in environmental management. This study explored the values placed on cultural practices among groups experiencing different land cover transformations (LCTs) under the rapid shrinkage of the Limboto Lake, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia, using questionnaires and time-series Landsat and PlanetScope smallsat constellations (SSCs). The time series of LCTs and questionnaire data were computed, visualized, and analyzed statistically using the chi-square test for comparing the two village groups. Results show SSCs enabled a detailed analysis due to high spatiotemporal resolutions in tropical regions. This observation would help in monitoring natural disasters (floods) caused by the decreased lake’s water storing capacity, agricultural damage, locality safety, and environmental protection in shorter cycles. Furthermore, we found that relational values originating from traditional beliefs and practices were the domain values in the land steady-type villages. Hence, integrating the cultural–environmental values of localities with prior spatiotemporal analysis into environmental management policy and implementation processes would be a high-potential alternative for environmental conservation.