Flooding and land use change in Jambi Province, Sumatra: integrating local knowledge and scientific inquiry

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Jennifer Merten¹  Christian Stiegler¹  Nina Hennings³  Edwine S. Purnama¹  Alexander Röll¹  Herdhata Agusta⁴  Michaela A. Dippold⁶  Lutz Fehrmann¹  Dodo Gunawan⁸  Dirk Hölscher¹  Alexander Knohl¹  Johanna Kückes¹  Fenna Otten¹  Delphine C. Zemp¹  Heiko Faust¹ 

[1] University of Goettingen;Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems;University of Goettingen, Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems;Bogor Agricultural University;Bogor Agricultural University, Surfactant and Bioenergy Research Center;University of Goettingen, Biogeochemistry of Agroecosystems;University of Goettingen, Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use;Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, Center of Climate Change Information

关键词: ecohydrology;    flooding;    global change;    Indonesia;    interdisciplinary analysis;    land use conversion;    local ecological knowledge;    oil palm;    rubber;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-11678-250314

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

The rapid expansion of rubber and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, is associated with large-scale deforestation and the impairment of many ecosystem services. According to villagers’ observations, this land use change has, together with climate change, led to an increase in the magnitude and frequency of river flood events, which constrain village and plantation development. Based on this empirical societal problem, we investigate whether we can find measurable indications for the presumed linkages between land use change, climate change, and changing flooding regimes. We follow an explorative, bottom-up research approach that builds on a review of multidisciplinary datasets, integrating local ecological knowledge with scientific measurements from soil science, climatology, hydrology, and remote sensing. We found that water levels of one of the largest rivers in Jambi Province, the Tembesi, have increased significantly during the last two decades. Data of local and regional meteorological stations show that alterations in rainfall patterns may only partly explain these changes. Rather, increased soil densities and decreased water infiltration rates in monoculture plantations suggest an increase in surface runoff following forest conversion. Moreover, additional interview data reveal that an increasing encroachment of wetlands in Jambi Province may contribute to changes in local flooding regimes, as the construction of drainage and flood control infrastructure redistributes floodwater at the local scale. We conclude that changing flooding regimes are the result of multiple interacting social-ecological processes associated with the expansion of rubber and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province. Although ecohydrological changes are likely to contribute to an increase of flood occurrence, their social impacts are increasingly mediated through flood control infrastructure on industrial oil palm plantations.

【 授权许可】

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