Overview

Peatlands are distinct wetlands with a unique ecosystem harbouring a great range of biodiversity specially adapted to this kind of environment. They play a critical role in the ecological process such as in the hydrological and carbon cycles, as well as an important part in socio-economics providing timber and non-timber forest products. They are also the last refuge of flagship species e.g. the orang utan and act as repositories of over 2,500 plan species and over 300 fish species – many of which are restricted to this type of habitat.

Human activities such as land conversion for agricultural and forestry purposes, drainage and exploitation of natural resources in peatlands have disrupted the natural balance of peatland ecosystems due to poor and unsustainable management practices. Peatlands managed in a poor and unsustainable manner can have detrimental impacts on a local, regional and global level.

Over the past 30 years, peat swamp forests have been increasingly cleared, drained and degraded as a result of unsustainable forestry and agricultural practices. An estimated 13 million ha have been impacted and often degraded by legal and illegal logging activity which often involves drainage of the peat during the extraction process to optimise peatland conditions for forestry and agricultural purposes subsequently changing the hydrological aspect of the ecosystem increasing aridity. This in turn will cause peatlands to be more vulnerable and susceptible to fire with serious implications on global climate.

Although most peatland soil (especially those deeper than 2 m) is marginal to poor for agriculture, 5-7 million ha have been cleared and drained in the region for agriculture and plantation projects - mainly oil palm, pulpwood, rice and various small-scale crops. Many of these agricultural programmes in peat have ended in failure with the most notable example being the so-called Mega-Rice Project in Kalimantan Indonesia where 1 million ha was cleared and drained for rice cultivation although less than 5% was suitable for this purpose. This scheme and many others were abandoned before they were complete.