MANAGING PEATLANDS, TO COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE: INDONESIA’S EXPERIENCES

Indonesia has over 15 million ha of peatlands, which is over 12% of its forest land spreading across islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. This is the largest tropical peat land in the world, followed by Democratic Republic of Congo, with the peatland area reaches 9 million ha, and the Republic of Congo with the area reaches about 5.5 million ha (Miles et al., 2017).

Peatland can be defined as soil formed from the accumulation of organic matters such as the remnants of plant tissue that lasted for a long time (Kelompok Kerja Pengelolaan Lahan Gambut Nasional, 2006). According to Government Regulation (GR) No. 71 of 2014 that has been amended by GR No. 57 of 2016 on the Protection and Management of Peat Ecosystem, peatland is defined as a naturally occurring organic material of plant residues that decomposes imperfectly and accumulates in swamps. Furthermore, the regulation also defines peat ecosystem as the order of peatland components that forms an integrated system affecting one another and forming a balance, stability, and productivity.

As the home for the largest peatland areas, the local lives in harmony with peat. They have developed an environment sustainably method. As for example, the Dayaks and Banjareses, living in Kalimantan island continue preserving rotating farming system which maintain balance between utilization process to natural cycle (Suwardi et al., 2005). They divide the land use into zones comprising settlement, bushes, harvested paddy field (jurungan), dry paddy field (pahumaan), plantations, sacred zones, and protected zones (kayuan). Sacred zones are customary protected zones that should not be cleared for agricultural land. They also have what so called “Handils” a small canal only for access to their small agriculture areas without damaging peat hydrological system. Peat areas uses for subsistence only and conducted sustainably.

In 1960’s, as part of national transmigration program, many people from Java;- the most densely populated areas;- were moved to Kalimantan and Sumatra islands. Coupled with timber boom in 1970s, Sumatra and Kalimantan were also opened for logging followed by the development of industrial plantation forest and estate crop, especially oil palm, since 1990s. These two main drivers (transmigration and industrialisation of forest and peat areas) significantly cause peat degradation. It was estimated almost half of Indonesia’s peatland have been degraded and mostly located in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Wahyunto et al. 2014 in Masganti, Wahyunto, Dariah, Nurhayati, & Yusuf, 2014; Setyawati et al., 2014). For more than 40 years, in particular during El-Nino, a massive peat and forest fire is unavoidable and causing severe haze and health problem in addition to other economic and social costs.

Co n s i d e r i n g the significance of Indonesia’s peatlands for the environment as well as for the livelihoods of the communities surrounding the area, Indonesia has prioritized its environmental strategy to restoring degraded peatland, conserving the remaining good peatland and providing alternative livelihood for communities living inside and surrounding peatland. Several measures were taken including issuing policy and regulations reflecting the commitment for better peatland management, developing institutional arrangements to deal with problems in peatland management, conducting research and development to better manage Indonesia’s peatland, and providing incentives for conservation and sustainable management of peatland.

In addition, Indonesia is also strengthening its international cooperation to deal with peatland and fire management since it is not only important for domestic benefits, but also influential to global environmental benefits. One of Indonesian participation in international fora is the Global Peatland Initiative that provides an excellent platform for scientists, policymakers and private sector to share experiences and lesson learnt between the major tropical peat countries within the world and international centres of excellence.
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