Shirasuboshi (boiled and semi-dried whitebait) is a processed seafood that is abundant in calcium. It is eaten whole and commonly consumed in Japan. In this study, we examined the e#ect of Sudachi (Citrus sudachi Hort. ex. Shirai) juice on calcium, magnesium and phosphorus bioavailability in healthy young men. Dried shirasuboshi powder treated with distilled water (C) or sudachi juice (S,*) was prepared for use in two experimental diets, the control diet and the sudachi diet. Either S,* or C was added to a basal diet with a low calcium content (+2* mg/d). The basal diet and the two experimental diets were each consumed for 0 d by six healthy young men according to a randomized and crossover design. The apparent absorption and retention of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus from shirasuboshi were determined and were found to be significantly higher in the sudachi diet than in the control diet. The apparent absorption and retention of calcium from the basal diet were found to be in negative balance. Our results indicate that shirasuboshi added to sudachi juice was associated with increased mineral bioavailability in healthy young men.

In recent years, studies have promoted the efficacy of “local wisdom” in contributing to the prevention of peatland degradation and its fires in Indonesia. However, during the past quarter of a century, the related concept of indigenous knowledge (IK) has been criticized by various scholars for its deficiencies. The same deficiencies are found in the present-day use of the concept of local wisdom in academic papers. The ideology and idealism surrounding the concept narrows researchers’ epistemic perspectives to local lives, and the designation of knowledge as local wisdom confines the trans-regional problem to local areas. Through observation of the situation in Rantau Baru, this chapter examines the validity of IK, questions the present-day application of local wisdom to tropical peatland problems in academic research, and suggests the need to investigate the dynamism, interaction, and transformation of knowledge beyond the framework of local areas in order to better understand local realities and build a broader network of cooperation.

The issues, stakeholders, and solutions related to the peatland problem cannot be easily defined or easily addressed. The problem can thus be seen as one of today’s “wicked problems,” which have no true or false solutions, but rather better or worse ones. In addressing this kind of problem, academic researchers and NGO staff can play an important role to identify social and ecological issues and their inter-relationships, and to facilitate communication among local residents and other stakeholders. These activities should be done as continuous and flexible collaboration with local communities to find the better solutions to the peatland problem—or to realize a better future for society—together with those involved in the problem. This is the transdisciplinary approach that the authors seek.

Rantau Baru, an old fishing village on the bank of the Kampar River in Indonesia, is surrounded by peat hinterlands. The village territory has been recognized by previous local states for hundreds of years, and the villagers have managed it as ancestral common space based on a matrilineal system and headmanship. However, since the 1990s, acacia and oil palm companies have encroached on the peatlands of the traditional territory. In this situation, many villagers have either sold or plan to sell peat hinterlands in the village territory. How has their ancestral territory transformed into tradable land, and why have they chosen to sell it? What is the relationship between the traditional values of customary space and the adoption of the perspective of land as a commodity? Based on historical research on local land governance and a present-day household survey of land use and attitudes toward peat space, this chapter argues that the privatization of peatlands has transformed a once-common space into a commodity. Villagers sell peatland to actualize its potential amid anxiety and economic difficulty to contribute to the stable future of their descendants.

This introductory chapter explains the background of the book. The book was the result of transdisciplinary collaborative research on tropical peatland problems in Indonesia. This chapter describes how the tropical peatlands have emerged as a new development frontier for plantation opening and have experienced serious ecological degradation, causing fire and international smoke damage, and also how the Indonesian government and international organizations have begun to conserve and restore tropical peatlands. The chapter argues that today’s peatlands are a political arena involving diverse stakeholders including donors, central government ministries, local governments, environmental NGOs, forestry and plantation companies, and thousands of local communities as peatlands have become a contested space for plantation development and environmental conservation. And it is at the local level, especially the village level in and near the peatlands that the severe conflict of interests has occurred. There has not been much inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research on the peatlands at the local level. That is the reason why our research has focused on peatland conservation and restoration efforts at the local level, especially at the village level in this book.