Tropical peatlands are fragile ecosystems with an important role in conserving biodiversity, water quality and availability, preventing floods, soil intrusion, erosion and sedimentation, and providing a livelihood for people. However, due to illegal logging, fire and conversion into other land use, the peatlands in Indonesia are under serious threat. Efforts to restore Indonesia’s tropical peatlands have been accelerated by the establishment of the Peatland Restoration Agency in early 2016. The restoration action policy includes the rewetting, revegetation and revitalisation of local livelihood (known as the 3Rs). This paper summarises the regulatory, institutional and planning aspects of peatland restoration, in addition to the implementation of the 3Rs in Indonesia, including failures, success stories, and the criteria and indicators for the success of peatland restoration.

The majority of regions in Riau Province are coastal areas and many communities live on land that is dominated by peat. Peat ecosystems have unique characteristics, as they are classified as wetland areas, while also possessing regions of terrestrial land. Poor maintenance of these ecosystems can cause a variety of issues such as forest fires, drought, flooding, biodiversity loss, increasing emissions, climate change, and social community changes. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a model of peatland utilization based on local wisdom and community welfare, in an effort to support the sustainable management of peat ecosystems in Riau Province. The main commodities of the coastal community are agriculture, coconut, rubber, oil palm, sago, coffee, cocoa, areca nut. Therefore, an understanding of the use of peatlands is needed. This is to prevent damage to the peatland ecosystem, maintain biodiversity, store carbon, produce oxygen, and manage water. Policies and strategies for managing the peat ecosystem are carried out through the development of socio-economic and community culture to realize people's welfare based on local wisdom. The management and use of peatlands have contributed to the economy, even as the main source of livelihood for coastal communities. Utilization of peatlands based on local wisdom can maintain a sustainable peat ecosystem.

Riau is an Indonesian province known for its large plantations. The plantation business makes the most significant contribution to the fiscal revenues of the province. This paper aims to innovate rural economy through the sustainable development of superior commodities in the plantation sub-sector of agriculture. Specifically, multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was performed to determine the superior commodities in each locality. The results show that the superior commodities include palm oil, rubber, coconut, cocoa, coffee, and sago. The development of these commodities could boost farmers’ income with the added value of planation products. On this basis, the fair use of land for all categories was highlighted from social, economic, and environmental perspectives, and recognized as essential to the development of sustainable plantations, which are integral to rural economy and land sustainability. The proposed development strategy for superior commodities in plantation is in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Riau Province, Indonesia.

The Peatland Restoration Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BRG-RI), an agency that is mandated to restore 2 million hectares of degraded peatland by 2020, has developed a 3-R approach towards tackling the problem based on the program of rewetting, revegetation, and revitalization of livelihood for the peatlands restoration in Indonesia. The Rewetting program that aims to rehabilitate hydrologically a peatland to a near natural state is carried out by canal blocking, canal backfilling, and construction of deep wells. To know the progress of the restoration activities by BRG, it is very important to understand the effectiveness of canal blocking on rewetting of the tropical peatland. The effectiveness of canal blocking was investigated through the monitoring of groundwater level (GWL) fluctuation around the canal block. This study was carried out at a canal block that is located at the peatland of Sungai Tohor Village, Kepulauan Meranti Regency, Riau Province. For monitoring of GWL fluctuation as the impact of canal blocking, five dipwells were set at the peatland that are perpendicular to the canal with the distance of 20 m, 70 m, 120 m, 170 m, and 220 m respectively. The results of this study show that the impact of canal blocking could raise the water table in the peatland at the radius of about 170 m from the canal. The radius impact of the re-wetting might be bigger or smaller, that strongly depends on the hydrotopography situation of the area.