Time-series analysis of satellite imagery for detecting vegetation cover changes in Indonesia.

Indonesia has one of the world's largest tropical forests; thus, its deforestation and environmental degradation are a global concern. This study is the first to perform comprehensive big data analyses with coherent vegetation criteria to measure the vegetation change at a high temporal resolution (every 16-day period) for 20 years and the high administrative resolution (regency or city) all over Indonesia. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer is analyzed through state space modeling. The findings reveal that the NDVI increases in almost all regencies, except in urban areas. A high correlation between the NDVI change and the time is observed in Sumatra, Papua, and Kalimantan. The gain of the NDVI values is obvious in the Central and Eastern Java Island. Human activities, such as the expansion of agriculture and forestry and forest conservation policies, are the key factors for the observed pattern.

Living side by side with nature: evidence of self-governance in three local communities in Indonesia.

Environmental damage is a severe problem faced by humankind today. Nature has become a victim of human economic activity, especially in developing countries. This paper analyzes a group of local community entities in Indonesia that live side by side with nature. This paper explores self-governance in three local community entities in Indonesia. The Baduy community, the Simanau community, and the Rumbiocommunity are examples of people who uphold their customs to live side by side with nature. They have Self-governance to regulate the lifestyle of their people to live simply with nature. The Baduy community represents self-governance in Banten Province, where they highly uphold the customs handed down from their ancestors. The Simanau people in West Sumatra Province can manage forest resources well and apply severe penalties for those who violate their rules. The Rumbio community in Riau Province is sage in managing the customary prohibition forest. The self-governance that has been implemented so far has gone quite well. By regulation, the applied self-governance does not conflict with the formal rules that apply in Indonesia. This paper is a reflection that humans can live in harmony with nature.