Carbon dioxide emissions from forestry and peat land using land-use/land-cover changes in North Sumatra, Indonesia

Forestry and peat land including land-based is one of the critical sectors in the inventory of CO2 emissions and mitigation efforts of climate change. The present study analyzed the land-use and land-cover changes between 2006 and 2012 in North Sumatra, Indonesia with emphasis to CO2 emissions. The land-use/land-cover consists of twenty-one classes. Redd Abacus software version 1.1.7 was used to measure carbon emission source as well as the predicted (2)carbon dioxide emissions from 2006-2024. Results showed that historical emission (2006-2012) in this province, significant increases in the intensive land use namely dry land agriculture (109.65%), paddy field (16.23%) and estate plantation (15.11%). On the other hand, land-cover for forest decreased significantly: secondary dry land forest (7.60%), secondary mangrove forest (9.03%), secondary swamp forest (33.98%), and the largest one in the mixed dry land agriculture (79.96%). The results indicated that North Sumatra province is still a CO2 emitter, and the most important driver of emissions mostly derived from agricultural lands that contributed (2)carbon dioxide emissions by 48.8%, changing from forest areas into degraded lands (classified as barren land and shrub) shared 30.6% and estate plantation of 22.4%. Mitigation actions to reduce carbon emissions was proposed such as strengthening the forest land, rehabilitation of degraded area, development and plantation forest, forest protection and forest fire control, and reforestation and conservation activity. These mitigation actions have been simulated to reduce 15% for forestry and 18% for peat land, respectively. This data is likely to contribute to the low emission development in North Sumatra.