Banyuwangi's Forests and Rice Fields Shrink as Settlements and Fishponds Expand

Image: article cover, from Nurlita et al. (2021), Jurnal Wasian, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

A team of researchers from Universitas Brawijaya has documented changes in land use and land cover in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, between 1995 and 2019. Published in the Jurnal Wasian, the study found that secondary forest, mangrove forest and rice fields have tended to decline. Conversely, the area of settlements, scrub and fishponds has increased significantly.

The team, comprising Nurlita Indah Wahyuni, Abdul Wahid Hasyim and Soemarmo, examined 12 land-cover classes: primary forest, secondary forest, plantation forest, mangrove forest, estates, settlements, agricultural land, rice fields, scrub, water bodies, fishponds and open land. These human-driven changes in land cover alter terrestrial ecosystems and their functions, including their role in climate regulation.

For the people of Banyuwangi and its surroundings, the contraction of forests and rice fields means less land to sustain everyday life. Shrinking mangrove forest, for instance, plays an important part in protecting the coast, while the loss of rice fields bears on food availability. The expansion of settlements and fishponds points to a direction of development that needs to be balanced with the protection of forest areas and agricultural land.

Source and how to cite

This story is based on the research article Dynamic of the Land Use and Land Cover Change in Banyuwangi Regency From 1995-2019 by Nurlita Indah Wahyuni Nurlita, Abdul Wahid Hasyim Hasyim and Soemarmo Soemarmo Soemarmo, published in Jurnal Wasian Vol. 8 No. 2 (2021). The full article is free to read on the Jurnal Wasian website.

Cite the original article (APA 7):

Nurlita, N. I. W., Hasyim, A. W. H., & Soemarmo, S. S. (2021). Dynamic of the Land Use and Land Cover Change in Banyuwangi Regency From 1995-2019. Jurnal Wasian, 8(2), 121–132. https://doi.org/10.62142/2vab3c95

If you use these findings in coursework, a thesis or other writing, cite the original article above, not this news story. The original article is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.