Land cover disturbance due to tourism in Djuanda Forest Park, Indonesia

Abstract

Tourism activities in conservation areas may provide benefits for both the regional and local economy. However, these activities often deliver negative impacts on the surrounding environment such as deforestation and forest degradation. This research aims to analyse the land cover disturbance due to tourism in Djuanda Forest Park, Indonesia. Djuanda Forest Park is a well-known tourist area in Bandung, Indonesia that also functions to preserve the biodiversity of various trees species. Historical land cover data acquired from high-resolution satellite imageries from the years 2007 to 2017 were used and analysed. Changes in land cover were calculated based on Pairwise Comparison Methods. The results showed that the forest cover was degraded and decreased in the period 2007 - 2017, while the grassland and built-up area for supporting tourism increased. In addition, the highly-developed tourist objects such as the Tebing Keraton, Monumen Ir. H. Djuanda, Air Terjun Maribaya, and Goa Belanda have more loss of green spaces, indicating that tourist object development in the Djuanda Forest Park was mostly based on the building development.