Deforestation, conversion of forest into non-forest land, especially in tropical forest areas has been a cause for concern worldwide. Since forests hold most of the carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, such changes exert a significant impact on the net increase of atmospheric carbon. In addition, land cover changes affect the greenhouse gas dynamics. The final objective of this study was to construct a database for storing various types of information about the intake and uptake of the greenhouse effect gasses (GHG). We are developing a system for the construction of databases of GHG in the Pasir Mayang area and Jambi Province in Sumatra. The Pasir Mayang area is a small area and Jambi Province is a middle-sized area.
Using LANDSAT/TM data, we determined the land cover of the Pasir Mayang area in 1992 and 1995. Due to the land cover changes, aboveground carbon stock of the area decreased by 6%. Comparison of the total GHG flux determined in the studies carried out over the period 1992-1995 based on the land cover shows that there was an increase in the flux of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide and reduction in the absorption of methane.
In Jambi Province, comparison of the results of land cover data collected in 1986 and 1992 shows that the loss of aboveground carbon due to the land cover changes amounted to 8 million tons annually.