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I INTRODUCTION 1.1. Research background
Together with technological and industrial development, negative effects from human
activities disturb the environment. Those two aspects of human life, development and
environment, cannot be treated separately. The increasing population of earth needs development
for the quality of life, and human also needs to keep his environment in good condition to
support man’s life. Most environmental issues are related to development, they are climate
change, biodiversity, endangered species, clean water, forestry, ozone depletion, and sustainable
development.
Carbon dioxide is a well-known term in global warming issues. Carbon dioxide is
interesting; it is one of major greenhouse gasses, the cause of global warming. Beside that, it is
also the main input of an important biological process, the plant’s photosynthesis. Plant,
therefore, is believed to reduce its role to global warming effect through photosynthesis. Plant’s
carbon sequestration is best described as net primary production
NPP. NPP is the difference between the total carbon uptake from the air
through photosynthesis and the carbon loss due to respiration by living plants June 2004.
This research discussed NPP in Cidanau watershed. The area is economically important
since it supplies water for Krakatau Industrial Complex, Suralaya Coal Power Plant, Krakatau
Tirta Industri PT KTI, and a local water company PDAM for domestic water use of
Cilegon city Utomo, 1996. Ecologically, it consists of two nature reserves, the Rawa Danau
and Tukung Gede Mountain. Rawa Danau is the only remaining fresh water swamp forest in Java.
Several researchers Melisch et al., 1993 also found endemic and rare mammals and bird
species, protected under Indonesian law and IUCN list.
The local water company, PT Krakatau Tirta Industri KTI, local government elements and
some institutions established the Communication Forum of DAS Cidanau FKDC, a forum where
Cidanau watershed management is discusSsed among the stakeholders. The local government
elements are the Province of Banten government, Kabupaten Serang, Pandeglang, and Cilegon
local government. To keep water supply for Cidanau watershed, FKDC discusses
compensation from PT KTI for people living in upper area of Cidanau if they can keep the
condition of their environment FKDC web site. The purpose of compensation is indeed for
the water, but when vegetation is maintained, it can also absorb carbon dioxide, and it is useful to
estimate the carbon sequestration of the area. It is still an open chance for Indonesia to get involved
in the Clean Development Mechanism CDM. NPP can be used to describe not only the
productivity of forest but also croplands June, 2004. Regarding the direct payment initiatives
are still less common in low-income nations Ferraro and Simpson, 2005, may be in the
future Cidanau watershed can be an example of integrated watershed management in Indonesia
where direct payment initiatives for environmental services are arranged.
1.2. Research objective
The objective of this research is to estimate NPP of Cidanau watershed using the prototype of
NetPro 1.0 model June, 2004. It integrates the use of remote sensing and needs satellite images
processing. Data used were 2002 and 2004 Landsat 7 images.
II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Issues on carbon dioxide
Global warming, climate change, and carbon issues have been very famous recently. They
have been discussed by experts, stakeholders, people in universities, and common people.
These global issues for some people sound not very easy to be understood. They include many
aspects, not only from climatological and ecological perspectives, but also from social,
economical, politics, and agricultural perspectives. This section explains the processes
of international agreement on global carbon issue briefly, especially those connected to carbon
sink.
International awareness on environmental issues began when the United Nations held a
conference on the Human Environment 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. The next step was the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, or the
“Earth Summit”. The summit bore Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration and the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNFCCC or Global Warming Convention, also
known as the “Rio Treaty”. After Rio, COP-3 in Kyoto 19997 produced the “Kyoto Protocol”
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and gave three mechanisms about emission reduction to be adopted by the parties. They
include the Joint Implementation JI, the Clean Development Mechanism CDM, and
International Emission Trading IET Haites and Aslam, 2000.
Worries about carbon dioxide based on research show that at pre-industrial time, carbon
dioxide concentration was about 280-290 ppm whereas the present concentration is
approximately 350 ppm. Carbon dioxide that causes greenhouse effect is originated from fossil
fuel burning called anthropogenic. It is proved by the comparison between the amount of C-12
isotope and C-14 isotope. C-12 isotope is a transformed product of C-14 from organic matter
for centuries Bowen, 1991. Fossil fuel contains C-12 rather than C-14 therefore higher C-12
amount in atmosphere shows that the present CO
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is caused more by fossil fuel burning. Greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide, in fact,
has been realized since 1861 by John Tyndall. Carbon dioxide is relatively transparent to the
short-wave radiation received from the sun, but is relatively opaque to the long-wave radiation
reflected back into space. He speculated that carbon dioxide and water vapour changes in
composition could cause mutations of climate. He also measured absorptive properties of
chemicals such as nitrous oxide, ozone, and methane, which are now recognized as
greenhouse gasses. Next prediction was in 1890 from Svante Arrhenius about the consequence of
coal burning during the industrial revolution and the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide
content, which might lead to a 5
o
C global warming Bowen, 1991. Interactions between
anthropogenic greenhouse gasses result in greater impact to plant rather than greenhouse gas
individual impact, for example, between SO
2
and NO
2
and between ozone and SO
2
. Interactions between greenhouse gasses and climatic
condition also add stress to plants Heber et al. 1995.
The increase of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere results changes in natural
disturbance, insect herbivores, species composition and diversity, and productivity.
These changes remain nonlinear responses to direct and indirect effect to the plants. CO
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enrichment has effect on photosynthesis, increasing of temperature, soil moisture
changing, C-N ratio of the plants tissue, and growing season changing Clark and Reid, 1993;
however, the effects can be advantageous or disadvantageous. U.S EPA reported in 1989
about climate change of aggregate economic impacts on agriculture that was predicted by the
Goddard Institute Global Circulation Model. Without considering higher CO
2
effect on photosynthesis and improved water-use
efficiency, it estimated that net agricultural loss was US 5.9 billion; however, when considering
those two factors, it estimated that net agricultural gain was 10.6 billion Fisher and
Hanemann, 1993.
Global concern about ecological problems and their impacts on human have resulted new
paradigm on how people consider about his relation to nature. From control of dominance
over nature to in harmony with nature, from economic growth orientations to non-material
goals or sustainability and from consumer culture altered to basic needs or recycling habit are
examples of the new paradigm Redclift 1981 in Stehr 1999.
2.2. Issues on Cidanau watershed
