Land Cover Change In Jabotabek Region

Abstract

General land use and cover change in Indonesia has been predominated by two trends, namely deforestation and urbanizationsuburbanization. Since Indonesia is consider has more than 120 million ha of tropical forest, the second largest forest after Brazil, deforestation significantly causes loss of species diversity and ultimately leads to species extinction, and also to climate change and disruption of hydrological cycle. It also contributes significantly to global warming and greenhouse effect. In contrast to urbanization in the West, urbanization of metropolitan regions in Southeast Asian countries is often characterized by uncontrolled urban expansion and chaotic land use (Yokohari et al., 2000). Agglomeration and growth of population in the center of the region often lead to expansion of urbanized areas beyond rural areas, which dominated by agricultural activity. This expansion has resulted in land use conversion from agriculture to urban uses and the emergence of a new landscape in Asia characterized by a mix of agricultural and nonagricultural land uses (McGee, 1991; Sui and Zeng, 2001).