Conservation slows down emission increase from a tropical peatland in Indonesia

Deshmukh, Chandra Shekhar; Julius, Dony; Desai, Ankur R.; Asyhari, Adibtya; Page, Susan; Nardi, Nardi; Susanto, Ari Putra; Nurholis, Nurholis; Hendrizal, Muhammad; Kurnianto, S.; Suardiwerianto, Yogi; Salam, Yuandanis Wahyu; Agus, Fahmuddin; Astiani, Dwi; Sabiham, Supiandi; Gauci, Vincent; Evans, Chris

doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00785-2

Cited by 54 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…During a prolonged dry season, even water levels in pristine peatlands can drop below 40 cm (Takahashi et al, 2002;Hirano et al, 2012;Deshmukh et al, 2021). Therefore, carbon emissions can occur both in pristine and degraded peatlands.…”

Section: Carbon Emission Due To Peatland Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A new study using paired eddy covariance estimated carbon emission rates of 4.2 and 10.8 tC ha −1 y −1 in undisturbed and disturbed peatlands, respectively, in South Sumatra (Desmukh et al, 2021). In our calculation, we used the GHG balance of CO 2 and CH 4 with the rate of 15.5 and 3.3, and 39.8 and 1.9 tCO 2 e ha −1 y −1 at undisturbed and degraded sites, respectively, derived from Deshmukh et al (2021). The reason why we used the emission rate from this study are as follows: 1) it is the latest study conducted in Indonesia with relatively advanced equipment, i.e., eddy covariance tower, and 2) its study site (Riau Province) has the closest proximity to our study site (South Sumatra Province) compared to the other studies (see Figure 1).…”

Section: Carbon Emission Due To Peatland Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Largescale subsidence studies conducted in oil-palm plantations on peatlands in South East Asia have reported that, at average watertable depths of 0.7 m, the subsidence rate is high at the beginning of peat draining, and after several years, it remains constant at approximately 5 cm y −1 (Hoojer et al, 2012). A relatively new study with a more rigorous method and comprehensive analysis reported land subsidence rates of 3.3 and 4.2 cm y −1 in undisturbed and degraded peatlands, respectively (Deshmukh et al, 2021).…”

Section: Loss Of Land Due To Permanent Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To calculate the impact of land subsidence on the loss of land due to flooding on a watershed scale, we adopted the subsidence rate from the latest related study (Deshmukh et al, 2021). Besides, it is more rigorous, and its measurement site (Riau Province) is close to our study site (South Sumatra Province), which are both in Sumatra (Figure 1).…”

Section: Loss Of Land Due To Permanent Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emissions in these scenarios are mainly due to the water-level drop during the dry season and methane emissions (Deshmukh et al, 2021).…”

Section: Carbon Emission Due To Water-table Fluctuation and Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Peatlands Are More Beneficial if Conserved and Restored than Drained for Monoculture Crops

Tarigan

Zamani

Buchori

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Peatlands are especially important but fragile tropical landscapes. The importance of peatlands is owing to their ability to 1) sequester a considerable amount of terrestrial carbon, 2) store freshwater, and 3) regulate floods during the rainy season. Nowadays, extensive peatland degradation occurs because of peatland utilization for agriculture purposes, causing severe environmental consequences such as carbon emission, loss of biodiversity, risk of flooding, and peat fire. Meanwhile, local planners and decision makers tend to overlook the long-term strategic function of peatlands for carbon storage and hydrological regulation, preferring peatland utilization for short-term economic benefits. The objective of our study is to quantify the total ecosystem services (except biodiversity) of a tropical peatland landscape in various peat-utilization scenarios to help build awareness among local planners and decision makers on the strategic tradeoff between peatland utilization and restoration. Studies on the total ecosystem services in a tropical peatland landscape involving hydrological regulation are still rare. Based on the net present value calculation, provisioning services, carbon regulation, and hydrological regulation in our study area account for 19, 70, and 11% of the total ecosystem services, respectively. Based on uncertainty analysis, at any combination of the social cost of carbon emission (within a range of USD 52.7–USD 107.4) and discount rate (within a range of 5–10%), the enrichment of peatlands with paludiculture crops (e.g., jelutong) shows superior ecosystem services compared to other peatland-utilization scenarios. Conversely, planting peatlands with monoculture crops, which are associated with peatland drainage, shows a rapid decrease in the total ecosystem services. The fluvial carbon export in our study, which is often neglected in a peatland carbon budget, increases the estimate of the total carbon budget by 8%. Restoring undrained peatlands with paludiculture crops such as jelutong contributes positively to carbon sequestration and potentially reduces carbon emissions by 11%. These quantitative findings can help local planners and decision makers in understanding the tradeoff between the long-term benefits of peatland restoration and the short-term economic benefits of peatland utilization for monoculture crops.

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Section: Carbon Emission Due To Peatland Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Carbon Emission Due To Peatland Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Loss Of Land Due To Permanent Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Loss Of Land Due To Permanent Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emissions in these scenarios are mainly due to the water-level drop during the dry season and methane emissions (Deshmukh et al, 2021).…”

Section: Carbon Emission Due To Water-table Fluctuation and Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Peatlands Are More Beneficial if Conserved and Restored than Drained for Monoculture Crops

Tarigan

Zamani

Buchori

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Modelling the performance of bunds and ditch dams in the hydrological restoration of tropical peatlands

Putra

Baird

Holden

2022

Hydrological Processes

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Many tropical peatlands are subjected to artificial drainage that leads to degradation.Hence, hydrological restoration has recently been prioritized. Nevertheless, as field monitoring data are limited, little is known about how restoration measures, such as ditch dams and bunds, can regulate tropical peatland water tables. We used a hydrodynamic model -DigiBog_Hydroto simulate the effectiveness of ditch dams and bunds across three El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) scenarios, which are El Niño, La Niña and Neutral, in three typical sites. The sites were moderately degraded (Mod-Dgr) and severely degraded (Sev-Dgr) peatland plots (each 0.2 km 2 ), representing typical peatland conditions in Sebangau National Park, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Our fine-scale (1 m Â 1 m spatial resolution) modelling revealed that in the dry season of any ENSO scenario, the significant effects of ditch-dams alone on peatland water-level were limited to lateral distances of 26 m (in Mod-Dgr) and 12 m (in Sev-Dgr) from the ditch. In the dry season of an El Niño year, the combination of ditch dams and bunds helped maintain water levels up to 72 cm (in Mod-Dgr) and 69 cm (in Sev-Dgr) higher than in the no-restoration condition. During the extremedry period of an El Niño year, the bunds reduced the number of days when the water table was deeper than 40 cm in Mod-Dgr and in Sev-Dgr by 50% and 73%, respectively. We suggest that bunds used in combination with ditch dams are a practical restoration measure for tropical peatlands, providing critical extra water storage and helping maintain water tables near the peatland surface in dry periods. We also demonstrate how fine-scale hydrodynamic modelling is beneficial for planning and assessment of restoration measures in tropical peatlands.

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Ground Subsidence

Goudie

2023

Landscapes of the Anthropocene With Google Earth

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Conservation slows down emission increase from a tropical peatland in Indonesia

Cited by 54 publications

References 70 publications

Peatlands Are More Beneficial if Conserved and Restored than Drained for Monoculture Crops

Peatlands Are More Beneficial if Conserved and Restored than Drained for Monoculture Crops

Modelling the performance of bunds and ditch dams in the hydrological restoration of tropical peatlands

Ground Subsidence

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