Protecting Indonesia’s peatlands How the new regulation is a flawed initiative 10 March 2014 _____________________________________________________________________ Why peatland protection is important Tropical peatland forests represent a unique ecosystem. Any change to the natural balance between water, soil and vegetation will result in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Peatlands are formed when waterlogging delays the decay of organic material – mostly vegetation – and collects over thousands of years. It is estimated that peatlands globally hold 20-35% of the i ii world's terrestrial carbon . Indonesia’s peatlands store almost 60 billion tonnes of carbon , nearly iii six times more than all the carbon humans emitted in 2011 . When peatlands are drained, the stored carbon reacts with oxygen in the air to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The dry peat also becomes highly flammable, increasing the risk of large-scale and long-term smouldering underground fires. Consequently, as new Greenpeace iv map analysis shows, almost 76 per cent of recent fire hotspots in Indonesia are on peatland . More than 86 per cent of the fire hotspots occurring in the area protected by the moratorium are v on peatland , despite the moratorium’s stated goal to temporarily halt new land clearance in these vi areas . Indonesia's peatlands cover less than 0.1 per cent of the Earth's surface but through draining and vii fires are already responsible for 4 per cent of global GHG emissions every year , making Indonesia one of the top global carbon emitters. Peatlands should not only be protected to eliminate an important source of climate-changing GHG emissions. Peatland forests largely overlap with critical wildlife habitat of endangered species like viii the Sumatran tiger and the orang-utan . ix
The main drivers of peatland destruction in Indonesia are palm oil and pulp plantations , draining the areas and making them prone to fires. Mapping evidence shows the extent to which the plantation sector is undermining the Indonesian government’s climate commitments through continued forest and peatland destruction. Almost 5.5 million hectares of oil palm and pulp concessions across Indonesia overlap with peatlands and around 50 per cent of recent fire x hotspots on peatland are inside those concessions .
The origins of the Peat Regulation (RPP Gambut) xi
Five years ago, the Indonesian Parliament passed Law No. 32 of 2009 dated October 3, 2009 regarding Environmental Protection and Management, commonly known as the ‘Environmental Law’. This law was an important step forward to improve ecosystem management and protection in Indonesia. To render this law effective however, the government still needs to adopt xii implementing regulations on several aspects . The Regulation on the Protection and Management of Peatland Ecosystems, the Peat Regulation in short, is the first of these regulations about to be effectively approved by the Indonesian government and President Yudhoyono, whose services have played a major role in driving the process forward. The Environmental Law and the Peat Regulation do not come out of the blue. They should be seen in the context of the President’s 2009 commitments to reduce GHG emissions by more than 26 percent by 2020 and up to 41 percent with international assistance, compared to business as xiii usual . 85 per cent of Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from land-use activities, xiv around half of this peat-related . The action plan that followed directly from President Yudhoyono’s GHG emissions reduction xv commitment was the National Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Action Plan in 2011 . It imposes a range of essential activities to be undertaken to achieve peatland protection, from surveys and data collection, inventory and mapping over criteria for protecting peat domes and