Southeast Asia’s peatlands are in crisis. What can be done?

While Indonesia and Malaysia have made progress in peatland restoration, these environmentally crucial areas remain under constant threat

Mohammad Yunus

Published: 9:30am, 16 Jun 2024

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Despite occupying a mere 3 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, peatlands hold a staggering 550 gigatonnes of carbon – twice as much as all the world’s forests combined. When drained or burned, the carbon stored in peat is released as carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas.

Dr Susan Page, a peatland ecologist from the University of Leicester in the UK, offers a compelling analogy. She describes peatlands as a bank account where we have been making deposits of carbon for thousands of years. Disturbing them is akin to withdrawing all that carbon at once, potentially fuelling climate change.

Highlighting the urgency, the World Resources Institute estimates that a single hectare of drained peatland can emit as much as 55 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – equivalent to the emissions from 13 petrol-powered passenger vehicles over a year.

A significant portion of the world’s tropical peatlands are in Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia are the peatland powerhouses of the region. Indonesia alone is home to more than 30 per cent of the world’s tropical peatlands, while Malaysia contains another 6 per cent. These peatlands are primarily found in Sumatra, Kalimantan and the Malay Peninsula.

The importance of the region’s peatlands extends far beyond their carbon storage capabilities. These ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots, providing habitats for numerous endangered species. The Bornean orangutan, Sumatran tiger and proboscis monkey are just a few of the species that call these peatlands home.

Peatlands also support the livelihoods of local communities. According to a 2018 report by researchers at the National University of Singapore, more than 10 million people in Indonesia directly depend on peatland ecosystems.

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Despite their importance, Southeast Asia’s peatlands face constant threats. The primary driver is large-scale human activities, particularly the expansion of agriculture and urbanisation. Vast stretches of peatland have been drained and converted into large-scale oil palm and pulpwood plantations.

A study in Global Ecology and Conservation journal reveals the staggering decline in Southeast Asia’s peatland forests. Peatland cover plummeted from 11.9 million hectares in 1990 to a mere 4.6 million hectares in 2015, a fall of over 60 per cent in 25 years. Most of this loss occurred in Indonesia, where more than 1 million hectares of peatland has been converted into plantations.

Several global and regional initiatives have been launched in response to the peatland crisis. The Global Peatlands Initiative, funded by the International Climate Initiative of the German government, aims to improve the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands.

Between 2018 and 2023, it joined the United Nations Environment Programme to assess, measure and preserve peat carbon in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Peru.

In Southeast Asia, the Asean Peatland Management Strategy offers a framework for conservation. The strategy, launched in 2006 and extended to 2030, promotes sustainable management practices and regional cooperation on critical issues such as conservation, community livelihoods and transboundary haze pollution.

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Peatland restoration, especially through rewetting and revegetation, is becoming a critical strategy in Southeast Asia to achieve goals set by various initiatives. Rewetting involves strategically blocking drainage canals to raise water tables, recreating the waterlogged environment, while revegetation focuses on reintroducing native plant species, which helps stabilise the peat soil and increases biodiversity.

Indonesia is a leader in peatland restoration. The establishment of the Peatland Restoration Agency marks impressive progress. In Jambi province alone, more than 147,000 hectares were restored between 2016 and 2023. Jambi’s strong task force serves as a prime example of the crucial roles played by all stakeholders, from community patrols on the ground to continuous monitoring by the task force itself.

Malaysia is also making strides. The Selangor State Forestry Department is leading a collaborative effort with an NGO, local communities and other stakeholders. Since 2008, they have collaborated on a community-based programme to restore a 1,000-hectare area of degraded peat swamp forest in the Raja Musa Forest Reserve in North Selangor. This initiative is ongoing, demonstrating Malaysia’s commitment to long-term peatland conservation.

Despite this progress, peatland restoration still faces daunting challenges given the sheer scale of the problem. The Indonesian government set the Peatland Restoration Agency an ambitious target of restoring 2.6 million hectares, with a significant portion in concession areas.

Firefighters spray water on burning peatland in Kampar, Indonesia, in September 2019. Toxic haze from the burning of peatlands and forests to clear land for agriculture has long been a point of contention between neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia. Photo: AFP

However, a recent analysis revealed the sobering truth: 4.2 million hectares require restoration intervention, far beyond the government’s target. While progress has been made in preserving and restoring peatlands, we have only scratched the surface of what needs to be done. Millions of hectares of land are still in dire need of restoration.

In addition to expanding restoration efforts, we must realise that peatland restoration is a marathon, not a sprint. Peatlands form over thousands of years, and we cannot expect to restore them overnight.

A large-scale restoration trial in South Sumatra, documented in a seven-year study published in the Scientific Reports journal, monitored a rewetted peatland forest. The study’s results found reduced subsidence and forest regrowth.

This shows that, with patience and consistent management to reduce pressure on the peatlands, it is possible to achieve significant improvements in carbon storage and biodiversity within a decade.

Saving Southeast Asia’s peatlands will be a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change, given that these wetlands store vast amounts of carbon.

Restoration efforts must be expanded and long-term strategies implemented to revitalise these vital ecosystems, while mitigating the pressures that threaten them. The path ahead is undoubtedly challenging, but the rewards are immense: a stabilised climate, thriving biodiversity and resilient communities.

Mohammad Yunus is an independent researcher currently pursuing a master’s degree in biological sciences at Khon Kaen University, Thailand