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Riau oil palm frontier

Peat forest converted to plantation in central Sumatra.

493.2 hectares changed — new vegetation · Before: 15 Jan 2018 – 15 Apr 2018 · After: 15 Jan 2023 – 15 Apr 2023 · 0.500, 101.800

BEFORE 2018-04

AFTER 2023-04

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493.2 haarea changed

104areas flagged

6,416 haarea examined

2satellites used

What changed, by type

319.0 haNew vegetation

165.1 haVegetation cleared

9.2 haBurnt ground

Land changes in both directions at once. SCOPE reports every type it measured, not only the one that makes the better headline.

What SCOPE found

New vegetation — 202.3 ha
3.3 km east · between 1 Apr 2018 and 2 Feb 2023 · 95% sure

Vegetation cleared — 33.1 ha
2.4 km north-east · between 1 Apr 2018 and 14 Feb 2023 · 80% sure

Vegetation cleared — 27.8 ha
2.4 km west · between 1 Apr 2018 and 2 Feb 2023 · 79% sure

Vegetation cleared — 15.5 ha
1.3 km east · between 1 Apr 2018 and 2 Feb 2023 · 77% sure

New vegetation — 12.0 ha
5.1 km south-east · between 2 Feb 2023 and 14 Feb 2023 · 79% sure

How sure is this?

The strongest area (#1) has 95% confidence. It appears in 5 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar confirmed some of these areas; the others rest on optical and seasonal evidence. Confidence measures how strong the evidence for real surface change is; it does not identify the cause or who did it.

How it was measured

SCOPE used Sentinel-2 optical imagery at 10 m, cloud-masked and combined over each period, Sentinel-1 radar as an independent check , and the same season in earlier years so normal seasonal change is not reported as real change. The analysis took 25 seconds.

Now try it on a place you know

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