INDONESIA'S PEATLANDS HOLD HUGE CARBON RESERVES by Fardah

 Jakarta, June 30, 2017(Antara) - Indonesia has played a crucial role in curbing the impacts of climate change, as the country has vast forest and peatland areas that can store huge amount of carbon emissions.

        Around 50 percent of the world's total carbon reserves are reportedly in Indonesia's forests and peatlands. The country's tropical rainforests have a total carbon storage capacity of 60 gigatons (billion tons).

        Its tropical peatlands are annually able to hold one gigaton of carbon reserves due to which they should be preserved to help address the impacts of climate change.

        Indonesia has 20 million hectares of peatlands, or the world's largest. The country's peatland areas are located on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua.

        "Peatlands in Indonesia play a significant role in coping with the impacts of climate change," he confirmed.

        Nazir Foead, head of the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG), said recently that peatland areas existing in seven Indonesian provinces and the damaged ones that are being restored could reduce carbon emissions amounting to one gigaton annually.

        President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) installed Nazir Foead, former conservation director at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as head of the BRG on January 20, 2017.

        The agency, which has been set up based on Presidential Regulation Number 1 of 2016, is chiefly tasked with preventing forest fires that particularly occur in peatlands and to restore such areas gutted by forest fires, particularly on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

        Peatland areas help to preserve water, mitigate flooding, prevent sea water intrusion, support biodiversity, and control climate change through carbon absorption and storage. 
   The carbon reserves stored in Indonesian peatlands are quite huge and are nearly equivalent to the carbon emissions in Germany that has a gross domestic product (GDP) five times larger than Indonesia's GDP.

        Carbon emissions from industries and transportation in Germany reached 970 million tons annually, and it is almost the same amount of carbon reserves in Indonesia's peatlands.

        Ironically, Indonesia was also claimed to be a major carbon emitter due to the country's forest fires in 2015 that mostly occurred in peatland areas.

        Several researchers claimed that the forest fires in 2015 had produced 800 million tons to 1.6 gigatons of carbon emissions, or 10 percent of the global carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

        According to BRG's target, within a five-year period, a total of 2,492,527 hectares of peatlands would be restored, with the completion target set at 30 percent in 2016; 20 percent each in 2017, 2018, and 2019; and 10 percent in 2020.

        Foead pointed out that several countries have expressed their commitment to supporting the peatland restoration program in Indonesia.

        Canada and several European countries have strengthened their commitment to helping Indonesia address the impacts of climate change, he added.

        Japan and South Korea have also provided funds for the peatland restoration program.

        This year, the BRG plans to build some 5,600 canal dams that could help 400 thousand hectares of peatlands remain wet.

        Peatland restoration in Jambi has been financially supported by funding institutions from the US through the Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia (MCAI) program.

        Britain has provided three million Pound sterling for the restoration of peatlands in five provinces, including Jambi.

        Meanwhile, the WWF Indonesia said the condition of peatlands in the protected forests in Londerang, Jambi, is critical.

        Water canals have to be built in the protected forests to restore the condition of the peatland, Manager of Science Conservation Unit of WWF Indonesia Thomas Borano said in Jambi recently.

        Borano said around 90 percent of the 12,600 hectares of protected peat forests in Londerang are in a critical condition.

        "Forest fires in 2015 and almost every year before, caused the destruction of peat forests in Londerang," Borano informed reporters. 
   In a bid to restore the condition of the peat forests, the WWF, through the program of MCA-Indonesia corridor, has prepared 70 canals in the Londerang protected forest along the border area in the districts of Muarojambi and Tanjungjabung Timur, Jambi.

        The WWF, with the support of MCAI, built 70 water canals, including 10 larger than 6 meters and 60 of smaller size of less than six meters wide.

        The WWF also seeks to conduct restoration by planting trees, including fruit trees, over 250 hectares of forest land in that area.

        The restoration program in that area is carried out in cooperation with the local people trained to build water canals in line with the concept of the BRG to wet the dried peatlands. 
   "The canals could at least wet the peats to help prevent forest fires," Borano said.

        Forest and peatland fires in 2015 affected the health of millions in Sumatra and Kalimantan, in particular, as well as in several neighboring countries. The forest fire disaster cost Indonesia's economy an estimated US$16.1 billion. 
***3***
(f001/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014

(T.F001/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 30-06-2017