Peatlands in the spotlight

Peatlands have largely been ignored. Covering only around 3% to 5% of the earth’s surface, they are home to more than 30% of carbon stored in soil worldwide, making them critical for climate change mitigation and adaptation. They provide food, medicine, timber and habitat for endangered species such as the orangutan. Despite all of this, tropical peatlands remain one of the least understood and monitored ecosystems.

For more than 20 years, CIFOR has led global research on peatlands, working with local governments and communities to pinpoint the causes of peatland degradation, and influencing policies that aim to manage these lands more sustainably.

New tropical peatlands center shines a light on the value of ‘bogs’

The International Tropical Peatland Center (ITPC) aims to bring these important lands into the global spotlight. The Government of Indonesia, along with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Government of Peru, launched the Center on 30 October 2018 as an international hub in the global South for sustainable management of tropical peatlands.

Founded in the spirit of international, multi-stakeholder and multi-donor South-South cooperation, the ITPC aims to attract the best minds working on peatlands, including researchers, policy makers, local communities, and other stakeholders with the common goal of preserving this unique and critical ecosystem. Its main goal is to ensure that decision-makers, practitioners and communities have access to sound, credible and legitimate information, analyses and other tools needed to design and implement conservation and sustainable management of tropical peatlands.

Delegates from the Republic of the Congo – one of the countries that will jointly manage the Congo Basin peatland, which was discovered in 2017 and is believed to store the equivalent of three year’s worth of the world’s total fossil fuel emissions – joined a three-day tour showcasing sustainable peatland management in Riau Province, Indonesia.

In August, with support from the Government of Indonesia, CIFOR hosted the inaugural Tropical Peatlands Exchange at its headquarters. The one-day event served as a platform for representatives from the private sector, government and research to share the latest on how to protect tropical peatlands.

Sparking the debate around fire and haze

Since 2015, CIFOR has been influential in the development of policies and practices to combat the recurring problem of peatland fires in Indonesia through its work on the political economy of fire and haze. The project also explored how palm oil certification and value chain governance can reduce land and forest fires.

In 2018 – a high-potential year for fires due to dry conditions – CIFOR launched a new project that aims to prevent fire and restore peatlands by helping communities in Riau’s Bengkalis district find haze-free sustainable livelihoods. Working with the local government, with support from Temasek Foundation International and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, scientists are connecting with local communities through participatory action research.  

The project combines local knowledge with scientific knowledge and company resources to help communities clear land without using fire, restore degraded peatlands and improve their welfare.

Beekeeping is one way to earn a living while preserving peatlands. But few people are willing and able to climb 50 meter high trees. Through its Haze-Free Sustainable Livelihoods project, CIFOR is encouraging the expansion of the local honey industry by providing training on how to harvest safely and effectively, using a native stingless bee species that allows people to develop honey bee farms in their backyards. Other local industries such as fishing and surfing-based tourism are also drawing interest, along with common peatland commodities such as sweet corn, spinach, pineapple, betel nut, oil palm, coconut and rubber.

“Residents are willing to switch gears if there are better options to support their livelihoods,” noted CIFOR Scientist Herry Purnomo, who leads the research.

Mapping oil palm scenarios across the tropics

Oil palm is a major driver of peatland fires, and CIFOR’s extensive research and engagement with policy makers, the private sector and communities is promoting both sustainable oil palm strategies and alternative livelihoods in Indonesia, Brazil and Cameroon.

In 2018, researchers projected three potential future scenarios for oil palm cultivation in Indonesia’s West and Central Kalimantan provinces from 2017 to 2035, mapping the likely impacts on key ecosystem services. Other studies looked at: the extent to which good governance principles are applied to the country’s palm oil value chain and analyzed options to help reduce the use of forest and land fires in the industry; how uncertain land tenure, especially in state forest areas, is leading to conflict around investing in oil palm plantations and posing challenges both for smallholders and corporations aiming to gain; sustainability certification and how crude palm oil funds could be optimized to help smallholder replanting, promote sustainable practices and reduce deforestation. Finally, another study found that migrant groups account for much of smallholder-driven deforestation and peatland conversion, while conversion of particularly fragile ecosystems is associated with large-scale farmers and political elites.

In the Brazilian Amazon, CIFOR investigated the country’s potential to produce oil palm in ways that help reduce poverty while avoiding some of the mistakes made in other parts of the world, sharing its findings through a photo essay and video.

And in Cameroon, Colombia and Indonesia, CIFOR’s global study on Oil Palm Adaptive Landscapes documented how a simple board game can lead to more sustainable oil palm by bringing together small-scale farmers, but with major stakeholders and decision-makers, in a series of participatory role-playing exercises that help them better understand how the decisions they make today can affect their future and impact the environment. The findings are portrayed in a four-part series on Forests News.

Spotlight on climate change and tropical peatlands

A special issue of Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change features several articles co-authored by CIFOR scientists. They describe cases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Peru examining greenhouse gas emissions, net primary production, respiration and hydrology, and using remote sensing and modeling tools. “Tropical peatlands under siege: The need for evidence-based policies and strategies” provides specific scientific information, including high-tier emission factors and credible information to support countries in their greenhouse gas emissions reporting.

In pictures

Peatlands, value chains and fire and haze … over the years

Recognizing that the causes of forest degradation and illegal logging are complex and interrelated, CIFOR has long focused on the ways markets and value chains can drive deforestation and peatland fires – and how they can promote more sustainable options for both people and forests. The timeline below outlines our key research milestones from 1998 to date.