Christian Knieper Boeken

Tropical rain forests, the most complex and species-rich terrestrial ecosystems, face increasing threats from human activities, with about half of the originally forested area deforested in recent decades. The German-Indonesian research project STORMA (“Stability of Rainforest Margins in Indonesia”) investigates the causes and consequences of rain forest conversion in Central Sulawesi, where vast areas of intact forest are under pressure from rural exploitation. The expansion of cultivation for cocoa and maize poses a significant threat to these ecosystems. Remote sensing is crucial for examining rain forest loss, enabling the regionalization and quantification of spatial developments at various scales. Christian Knieper utilizes a Landsat 7/ETM+ time series to gather information on land cover and changes in Central Sulawesi. He employs a modern object-oriented approach that analyzes non-spectral features such as shape and spatial relations, moving beyond traditional methods that focus solely on pixel spectral values. The findings on land cover change are vital for socio-economic and ecological research within the STORMA project, contributing to a deeper understanding of the challenges facing these unique forests.