Info ICCC 2nd ed.

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INFO ICCC L I N K I N G

S C I E N C E

2nd Edition - December 2012

Editorial Established in October 2011 under the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, Indonesia Climate Change Center (ICCC) is a platform of network that reaches scientist communities, international organizations, Indonesian ministries, and academics to encourage robust science-policy linkages in support of actions to deal with issues on climate change in Indonesia. Info ICCC is a quarterly newsletter which serves information on issues and study result conducted by ICCC. ICCC encourages free dissemination of information available on this newsletter for non-commercial purpose with acknowledgement of Info ICCC as the source Feedback and suggestion on ICCC and its activity implementation can be sent through email to info@iccc-network.net or addressed Gedung Kementerian BUMN 18th floor, Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan No.13, Jakarta 10110. Further information on ICCC is available on www.ICCC-network.net.

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P O L I C Y

Information Media of Indonesia Climate Change Center

Towards Sustainable Peatland Management Peatland papping theory and global experience

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he largest area of tropical peatland at the present time exists in southeast Asia (Figure 1), moreover they are found largely in Indonesia (predominantly Sumatra, Kalimantan and West Papua), Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah), Brunei and Thailand (Whitmore 1995, Page et al. 2004). In Borneo, the peat swamp forest extends along the coasts of Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Kalimantan on low-lying, poorly-drained sites and also exists further inland than its neighboring beach forest and mangrove forest formation. Over a period of 4,500 years, the peat has reached a depth of 20 metres in several areas (Phillips 1998). The tropical peat swamp forest is important, not only for its diverse wealth of bio-resources, but also its huge carbon pool (Tawaraya et al. 2003). Tropical peat swamp forests and deforested peatland

By Eli Nur Nurmala Sari

are important stores of carbon whose release in large quantities through burning can contribute significantly to climate change processes. Available data and information from the field along with surveys from the air (by aircraft and satellite) indicated that the combination of human activities (land clearing, illegal logging, etc.) and forest fires have caused land-cover change in peatland areas (Putra et al. 2008). Indonesia is charting a green growth plan which will ensure sustainable economic growth with a smaller carbon footprint. The total amount of Indonesia’s CO2 emissions in 2005 was 2.1Gt, and 37.5% was from peatland. Ironically, its CO2 emissions are estimated to grow from 2.1 to 3.3 Gt between 2005 and 2030. Therefore, the reduction of CO2 emissions from peat is a key factor in the contribution to REDD. Indonesia has gathered a lot of data (such as land cover change, forest

Info ICCC Team: Steering Committee: Rachmat Witoelar, Agus Purnomo, Amanda Katili Niode, Murni Titi Resdiana, Farhan Helmy, National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) Editor in Chief: Farrah Mardiati, Indonesia Climate Change Center (ICCC) Contributors: Eli Nur Nirmala Sari, Dadang Hilman, Harityas Wiyoga, Artissa Panjaitan, Indonesia Climate Change Center (ICCC)

2nd Edition - December 2012

Fig. 1: Map of peatland in South East Asia. The map illustrates that most peatland are distributed on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo (Kalimantan, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei) and in Peninsular Malaysia (Source: Whitmore 1995)

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