Source:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/24/your-letters-peatland-management-failures.html

The Jakarta Post | Readers Forum | Fri, October 24 2014, 12:00 PM

Your letters: Peatland
management failures

We are now just realizing the big economic, social and ecological costs that we have to bear as a consequence of our government’s inability to manage our peatland ecosystem in a sustainable and wise manner. Scientific communities have been telling policymakers for years that precautionary measures needed to be taken to better manage the peatland ecosystem. 

In spite of advice and warnings, however, the government has continued to give out licenses that permit the conversion of peatland for other use, notably for the large--scale activities of oil palm and industrial timber plantations. Has our government compared how much economic gain has been generated from peatland conversions as opposed to the economic, social and ecological costs incurred as a result of peat fires and peat degradation? I am pretty sure that our government has never considered or recognized the socioeconomic- ecological value of peatland to our country and communities. 

I reckon that the current peat fires disaster is what it will take for all stakeholders, particularly the government, to review existing national and local regulations on peatland management so as to avoid recurrent issues from happening again in the coming years. Therefore, the following suggestions need to be considered with respect to improving the country’s peatland management. 

It is necessary to review and strengthen existing regulatory and policy regulations on peatland conservation, protection and utilization by revising criteria not only on the basis of peat depth criteria (currently a 3-meter regulatory threshold), but should be on the basis of economic, social and ecological values and services that peatland provides our country, communities and ecosystem. 

Stakeholders should prioritize the restoration of existing degraded peatland areas so as to improve the socioeconomic and ecological functions and value of those degraded peatland areas. Restorative measures and strategies such as water management (peat rewetting through canal-and ditch-blocking activities), vegetation management (maintaining natural regeneration, tree planting, seedling transplanting),  fire management (preventive and suppressive methods) and socioeconomic intervention (sustainable livelihood development) need to be simultaneously and integrally carried out.

National and local land-use policies need to be adjusted and strengthened by promoting and allowing land swaps to shift cultivation and production activities from peatland to non-peatland areas, including land swaps between other non-forestland for other purposes. 

Awareness raising and education programs for stakeholders need to be planned and implemented so as to raise common understanding and awareness about the importance of implementing sustainable and wise-use principles when managing the peatland ecosystem. Those stakeholders are government policymakers, politicians, the private sector and communities.

The central and local governments need to allocate adequate resources to improve and update its existing peatland database. It is a pity to learn that as the largest contributor in terms of total area and peat carbon biomass in the tropics (over 40 percent and 65 percent of total global tropical peatland area and peat carbon biomass respectively), Indonesia has failed to use its peatland resources potency as a means to gain a better bargaining position at global UNFCCC negotiation battles due to, among other things, the lack of an reliable peatland database.

Alue Dohong
Central Kalimantan

My letter to the Jakarta Post: Recurrent peat and forest fires

Source: The Jakarta Post, Friday, October 17, 2014

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/17/your-letters-recurrent-peat-and-forest-fires.html

Your letters: Recurrent
peat and forest fires 

| Readers Forum | Fri, October 17 2014, 9:41 AM

The many years of recurrent peat fires in this country have not provided a lesson to stakeholders, most notably the government. 

The government seems very keen to employ reactive and inappropriate suppressive measures when dealing with peat fires in many areas in Indonesia. Many of these suppressive measures have proven costly and waste time, with disappointing results on the ground. 

The procurement and mobilization of firefighting equipment is useless and will not effectively suppress fires on peatland areas that are well known for their remoteness and inaccessibility. 

Such equipment will yield no results when fires occur in the interior peat forest areas where road access and water sources are not sufficiently available. 

Mobile suppressive measures will only put out peat fires if certain conditions are met, for instance, adequate road access for heavy equipment, sufficient surface water sources for suppression on the ground, as well as ready and skillful fire brigades. 

Unless those conditions are met, the procured equipment will not work effectively on the field.

Therefore, rather than focusing too much on suppression strategies, it would be worthwhile for the government to think of ways to prevent fires, for instance by promoting peat rewetting programs throughout the country by blocking open canals within degraded peats so as to maintain and elevate groundwater and surface water tables during the dry period.

The government needs to implement a land swap policy by moving out all fire-based economic activities in peatland areas to other type of lands (mineral soil); enforcing existing law firmly on those who start fires and raising awareness among all stakeholders on the importance of protecting the peat swamp ecosystem and its likely negative impacts if managed improperly (haze-related problems, economic, health and other social 
costs that we should bear if we neglect sustainable peatland management principles).

Alue Dohong
Central Kalimantan

Handling Peat Fires: New Strategy and Approach Needed

We are now realizing how big the economic, social and ecological costs that we have to bear as a consequence of our government's incapability to manage our peatland ecosystem in sustainable and wise manners. it has been many years the scientific communities advise and sending warnings to policy makers at all governmental levels that precautionary principles need to be put in place when dealing with and managing peatland ecosystem. Despite these advice and warning, however, governmental decision makers keep continuously giving out licenses for allowing peatland to be converted to other land uses notably for large scale activities of oil palm and industrial timber plantations aim at of making economic profits. Has our government been calculated how much economic profit that we have generated from those converting peatland activities compared to economic, social and ecological costs that we have paid due to peat fires and peat degradation? I am pretty sure say that our government has never considered and recognised the socio-economic-ecological values that peatland serves to our country and communities prior the peat conversion decision is made.

I reckon current peat fires disaster is the right momentum for whole stakeholders particularly government to review its all existing national and local regulatory and practices measures on peatland management so as to avoid recurrent issues happened again and again in many years to come. Therefore, the following suggestions need to be considered with respect to improving the country's peatland management in the future.

1. There is a necessary to review and strengthen existing regulatory and policy measures on peatland conservation, protection and utilisation by revising criteria not only on the basis of peat depth criteria (currently 3 meters regulatory threshold), but should be on the basis of economic, social and ecological values and services that peatland provides to our country, communities and ecosystem;
2. Massive restoration efforts need to be prioritised by whole stakeholders to restore existing degraded peatland areas so as to improve the socio-economic and ecological functions and values of those degraded peatland areas. Restorative measures and strategies such as water management (peat rewetting through canal & ditch blocking activities), vegetation management (maintaining natural regeneration, tree planting, seedling transplanting),  fires management (preventive and suppressive methods) and socio-economic interventions (sustainable livelihoods development) need to be simultaneously and integrally implemented.
3. National and local land use policies need to be adjusted and strengthen by promoting and allowing land swaps mechanisms for shifting out cultivation and production activities from peatland to non-peatland areas including land swaps between other non-forestland for other purpose (APL) with tree covers and forestland category with no tree covers in the national and local spatial policy (national and local spatial plans);
4. Massive awareness raising and education programs for stakeholders need to be planned and implemented so as to raise common understanding and awareness about the importance of implementing sustainable and wise use principles when managing peatland ecosystem. Those stakeholders include government policy makers, politicians, private sector and communities
5. Both National and local governments need to allocate adequate resources to improve and update its existing peatland database. It is pity to learn that as the largest contributor in terms of total area and peat carbon biomass in the tropics (over 40% and 65% of the total global tropical peatland area and peat carbon biomass respectively), Indonesia is failed to use its peatland resources potency as means to gain better bargaining position at global UNFCCC negotiation battles due to among others lack of and unreliable peatland database.

That's all my thoughts and hopefully we can move towards a better management approach in managing our peatland resources in the future with the presence of our new national government.

Note: This is article is taken from my comment to an article entitled: "Prolonged Haze Disrupts Flights, Schools', at the Jakarta Post (Monday, October 13, 2014)