An analysis of forest biomass changes using geospatial tools and ground survey data: a case study in Yok Don national park, Central Highlands of Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam conducts a national forest survey every five years using optical satellite imagery as Landsat, SPOT satellites and ground survey data. However, estimation of change in biomass due to change in forest types has not been of research interest despite of its importance in the face of climate change and applicability for REDD implementation. In this study, we used SPOT HRV satellite data of 2004, 2011 and ground survey data for analysis of changes in biomass of forest cover in Yok Don National Park, Central Highlands of Vietnam. This method has been effectively employed for mapping of land cover with overall classification accuracy of 84.30% to 86.63%. The results demonstrated that between 2004 and 2011, the biomass of Evergreen broad leaved rich forest decreased by 2.95 Megatons, biomass of the Evergreen broad leaved medium forest decreased by 0.09 Mega tons and biomass of the Dry open dipterocarps medium forest decreased 2.20 Mega tons. In that period, biomass of the Evergreen broad-leavedpoor forest increased by 0.02 Mega tons and biomass of the Dry open dipterocarps-poor forest increased by 0.91 Mega tons.

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