(English version)

Pada tahun 1987, diperkirakan luas areal lahan gambut yang tersisa di Indonesia adalah sekitar 17 juta ha., berkurang dari luas asalnya sekitar 20 juta hektar (Silvius et. al., 1987). Pada tahun 1990, sekitar 531.000 hektar lahan gambut di Indonesia telah dimanfaatkan untuk kegiatan pertanian dalam program transmigrasi maupun oleh penduduk setempat (Radjagukguk, 1990). Selain itu jumlah areal yang dimanfaatkan untuk kepentingan perkebunan, seperti kelapa dan sawit, juga semakin meningkat. Sekitar 3 juta hektar lahan gambut telah dikonversi atau rusak antara tahun 1987 – 2000. Areal utama sebaran lahan gambut di Indonesia terdiri dari (a) Sumatera: tersisa sekitar 4,6 juta hektar, tersebar di pantai timur Sumatera Utara hingga Sumatera Selatan, seperti di Jambi; Bunut-Kuala Kampar, Sei Rokan Timur dan Sei Kecil (Riau); Lalan (Sumatera Selatan). (b) Kalimantan : terdapat sekitar 3 – 5 juta hektar, terutama di pantai barat Kalimantan Barat, bagian tengah Kalimantan Tengah serta beberapa bagian di Kalimantan Timur. Sebaran utama terdapat di daerah Kubu (Kalbar) dan Sebangau (Kalteng). (c) Papua: lahan gambut terutama tersebar di pantai selatan dengan luas sekitar 8,7 juta hektar.



(Indonesian version)

In 1987, it was estimated that the remaining total peatland area in Indonesia amounts to about 17 million ha, down from the original peatland area of about 20 million ha (Silvius et al., 1987). By 1990, about 531,000 ha of peatlands in Indonesia have beenused for agriculture based transmigration settlement and by local inhabitants (Radjagukguk, 1990). An increasing area of peatland is being used for the cultivation of perennial/ estate crops such as coconut and oil palm. It was estimated that up to 3 million ha of peatland has been converted or destroyed between 1987 to 2000. The major peatland areas in Indonesia: (a) Sumatra: Approximately 4.6 million ha of remaining peatlands occur mainly along the east coast of North Sumatra down to South Sumatra. Main areas are in Tanjung and Lagan (Jambi); Bunut-Kuala Kampar, Sei Rokan Timur and Sei Kecil (Riau); Lalan (South Sumatra).(b) Kalimantan: peatland occupies between 3-5 million ha mainly on the west coast of West Kalimantan, in the central part of Central Kalimantan and some parts of East Kalimantan. Main areas are Kubu (west) and Sebangau (central).(c) Irian Jaya: Peatland occur mostly on the south coast and some fringes of the south-west coast with a total area of 8.7 million ha.

Berbak Sembilang

Berbak-Sembilang is one of the peatland ecosystem in Indonesia.  Wetland ecosystem covers about 350,000ha of peatswamp forest, freshwater swamp forest and mangroves in the provinces of Jambi and South Sumatra. It is one of the most important wetland ecosystems for conservation of biodiversity in SE Asia. The northern portion of the area lies in Berbak National Park that was designated in 1992 as Indonesia’s first Ramsar site. The southern portion has been proposed as the Sembilang National Park that was endorsed by the Provincial Governor in 1998, but has yet to be established. The two national parks contain about 200,000ha of peat swamp forest and a further 300,000ha is found in adjacent lands. The parks represent some of the last remaining intact peatlands of Sumatra and represent an important sink and store of carbon. Estimated amounts of carbon stored in the area range from 70-200 million tonnes. There is a significant and growing local community living in and adjacent to the wetland area that depends on the ecosystem for a range of goodsand services. Their future survival is linked to the development of sustainable use strategies for the resources

The parks and the adjacent lands are threatened by expanding agricultural development which is leading to draining and burning of many ofthe adjacent peat swamp forests. These have produced some of the most extensive and damaging forest fires of the past two years (1999-2000). A grant of US$750,000 has recently been provided by World Bank-GEF to Wetlands International-Indonesia Programme/Ministry of Forestry for a four year project to support measures to strengthen the protection and management of the biodiversity of the Berbak-Sembilang Ecosystem. 


Central Kalimantan

The province of Central Kalimantan has approximately 3 million hectares of peatland, a large part of which is under forest cover. The Sg. Sebangau catchment (5000 km2) contains one of the largest continuous areas of relatively undisturbed peatland in theprovince, stretching 200 km north from the Java Sea. This is the last large area of undeveloped and relatively non-impacted peatland rain forest in western Indonesia. The area is worthy of designation as a National Park, a Ramsar site or a World Heritagesite but it is under threat of destruction from illegal logging, fire, hunting and settlement.

The bulk of the research activities have been concentrated at the study area in the upper catchment, in the former Setia Alam Jaya logging concession although additional field research has been carried out in study plots located near to Sg. Bangah, a tributary of Sg. Sebangau in the middle catchment some 65 km down river. In addition, a reconnaissance survey was carried out in an area of peat swamp in the lower catchment of the Sg. Mentaya (Tanjung Mas), south of Sampit in the west of Central Kalimantan province. The study site forms part of a series of adjacent and interconnected peat covered catchments and watersheds covering a vast area of low lying landscape.


Peat Distribution in Indonesia

Peatland area by province. [ Source of data : RePPProT (1990). The Land Resources of Indonesia: A National Overview. Land Resources Department, Natural Resources Institute, Overseas Development Administration, London, UK and Direktorat Bina Program, Direktorat Jenderal, Penyiapan Pemukiman, Departemen Transmigrasi, Jakarta, Indonesia. 282 pp.]

*This includes 14878 km 2 for East Timor, included under East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).