Deforestation analysis in Selangor, Malaysia between 1989 and 2011

This study was conducted to map forest cover and detect forest change in Selangor using two types of the best satellite imageries available, namely, Landsat 4 TM and SPOT 5 representing the years 1989 and 2011 respectively. Both imageries had been georeferenced and geometrically corrected using ERDAS Imagine version 9.1. Supervised classification was performed to distinguish three types of forest cover, namely, forest land, peat swamp and mangrove. The results showed that forest land and peat swamp decreased 2.5% (4317 ha) and 12.7% (12,313 ha) respectively while the mangrove area increased 0.68% (210 ha) in 2011 compared with 1989. Total area for these three types of forest decreased by only 5.47% during this period, i.e. from 300,271 ha in 1989 to 283,850 ha in 2011. Expansion of mangrove in Selangor could be related to conservation practices in order to protect the mangrove ecosystem and reducing coastal erosion. Decreasing forest land and peat swamp cover could be related to agriculture intensification, development of new townships and expansion of infrastructure in Selangor. These results could be used to further investigate the greenhouse gas contribution and carbon stock associated with deforestation in Selangor