Teilprojekt/Arbeitspaket: Modul 8/1 - A

Förderkennzeichen: 033L030A
Meilenstein: Feasibility study Indonesia
Leiter des TP/AP: Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Joosten
Bearbeiter: René Dommain
Adresse: Bot. Inst., Grimmer Straße 88, 17487 Greifswald
Telefon: 03834-864177
E-Mail: rene.dommain@gmx.de

Feasibility study for paludiculture in Indonesia

Summary
Indonesia harbours the largest tropical peatland area and peat carbon stocks, but is also the largest,
global CO2 emitter from the land-use sector. Most of the carbon emissions (over 500 Mt CO2 yr-1)
arise from non-sustainable, drainage based peatland management, including the application of fire.
Therefore, paludiculture is seen as a promising land-use activity to reduce GHG emissions from peat
oxidation and fire. This study assessed the feasibility for paludiculture implementation in western
Indonesia, namely for the peatland areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Of the ca. 13 million ha
peatland currently 8 million hectares are drained, of which about 4 million ha are cultivated. Over 2
million ha of peatland are used for small holder agriculture, while 1.2 million ha are under industrial
oil palm plantations and another 900,000 ha under Acacia pulpwood plantations. These industrial
plantations rapidly grew over the last 20 years and are predicted to continuously expand in the
future. Oil palm plantations may cover 2.5 million hectare by 2020 and 3.7 million hectare by 2030 if
current expansion rates continue to prevail. Currently drained peatlands of western Indonesia emit
annually ca. 450 Mega tonnes (Mt) CO2 from peat oxidation alone, of which ca. 190 Mt CO2 come
from small holder agriculture and ca. 150 Mt CO2 from industrial plantations. These emissions will
constantly grow, mainly because oil palm plantations will continue to expand in the next years.
Indonesia allocated over 5 million ha peatland for oil palm development in response to growing
demand for palm oil on the world market. The availability of peatland for paludiculture is therefore
extremely limited. Paludiculture in Indonesia could be developed 1) as small-scale intercropping and
agroforestry schemes (also for food production), 2) as community forests and agroforestry schemes
in buffer zones of peat swamp forests, 3) as reed fields for bioenergy production in deeply flooded
areas and 4) as large-scale mixed plantations of commercial peat swamp forest trees as alternatives
to drainage-based plantations. Test trials for such schemes are the only feasible way for present
implementation of paludiculture in Indoensia. REDD+ demonstration activities appear as the ideal
framework for the practical test of paludicultures at present. Large-scale development, however,
seems very unlikely under current politic and economic conditions, which largely promote further oil
palm development.

Key words
Paludiculture, Indonesia, tropical peatland, Sumatra, Kalimantan, peat swamp forest, oil palm
plantations, CO2 emissions
Introduction

Module 8/1 of the Vorpommern Initiative Paludikultur (VIP) project intends to expand the
experiences and knowledge of paludiculture from northeast Germany to other intensely used
peatland regions on the globe. One of its main goals is to assess the feasibility of implementing
paludiculture under different political, geographical and land-use conditions, namely in Indonesia,
Belarus and China. These countries constitute hotspots of drainage based peatland utilization and
related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indonesia, stands out here: with estimated annual drainage
related emissions of over 500 Mega tonnes (Mt) it is the globally leading CO2 emitter from the land-
use sector. Peat-fire related emissions contribute enormously to carbon losses from unsustainable
peatland management. Including carbon emissions from peatland degradation into the overall
emission budget of Indonesia places the country number 3 of the worldwide greatest CO2 emitters
(Hooijer et al. 2006, Fig. 1).

Figure 1. The world’s largest CO2 emitters (in Mt CO2 -C). Above: Indonesia’s emissions only from
fossil fuel burning, below if Indonesia’s emissions from degraded peatlands are included.

International attention to Indonesia’s peatlands has been grown enormously since the publication of
these figures and international initiatives are now developed to mitigate the impacts of peatland
degradation and destruction (e.g. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
REDD+ mechanism). Several countries (e.g. The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Norway) made
large investments into peatland restoration activities and into halting peat swamp forest (PSF)
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destruction. Norway stands out here with the donation of one billion USD for a two year moratorium
on conversion of PSF and other natural forest.

Because substantial proportions of peatland in Indonesia are already under cultivation initiatives to
slow down deforestation and forest degradation are by far not sufficient to effectively reduce GHG
emissions from the land-use sector, although they are crucial for biodiversity conservation.
Paludiculture is consequently seen as a promising land-use activity to efficiently cut CO2 emissions
from drainage related peat oxidation and to reduce fire activity in the cultivated and abandoned
peatlands of Indonesia.

The focus of this feasibility study is on western Indonesia, which includes Sumatra and Kalimantan
(the Indonesian part of Borneo). This area was chosen as most land-use activities on peatland in
Indonesia are concentrated there and as large tracts of logged, drained and unmanaged peatland
exist there as well. The peatlands of Indonesian Papua are only covered briefly as essential
information on their ecology and on their land use is hardly available.

The results of this study are based on two primary sources: literature review and expert interviews.
Furthermore, CO2 emissions for various land cover classes were calculated by the author.

In February/March 2011 a visit to the following Indonesian institutions was carried out in the frame
work of the feasibility study:

1. Wetlands International Indonesia Programme (WIIP), Bogor office

2. Bogor Agricultural University (Institut Pertanian Bogor, IPB)

3. University of Palangka Raya (UNPAR)

Moreover, an associated field visit to Block C of the ex-Mega Rice area with stuff of UNPAR gave
important insights into the situation of cultivated peatlands of Central Kalimantan.

Specific goals of the feasibility study were:

1. Overview on the extent of drained and abandoned peatlands and their carbon stocks,
degradation stages and associated greenhouse gas emissions as well as their
usefulness/potential and availability for paludiculture

2. Overview on the major land-use activities on peatlands, the grown crops and future trends in
land-use on Indonesian peatlands

3. Assessment of potential emission reductions through implementation of paludiculture

4. Identification of national and regional pecularities in the application and implementation of

paludiculture and the adjustment of the paludiculture concept as developed for northeast
Germany to the conditions in Indonesia with the support of Indonesian collaborators

5. Preliminary overview on promising plant species for paludiculture in Indonesia and their
possible application

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 6. Stimulation and initiation of paludiculture pilot studies with involvement of local
stakeholders in Indonesia

Indonesian peatlands: general characteristics

Indonesia is the country with the largest tropical peatland area. Almost half of the globally 44 million
ha (Mha) tropical peatland, is located in Indonesia (20.7 Mha, Page et al. 2011). The largest peatland
areas are found on Indonesian Papua (7,975,455 ha), Sumatra (7,204,303 ha) and Kalimantan
(5,769,246 ha; Wahyunto et al. 2003, 2004, 2006). Indonesia’s peatlands constitute a significant
carbon reservoir of about 57.4 Gt C (Page et al. 2011). Kalimantan contains an estimated 11.2 Gt C,
Sumatra 16.85 Gt C and Papua 3.62 Gt C (Wahyunto et al. 2003, 2004, 2006). The 12.97 Mha of
Sumatran and Kalimantan peatlands largely developed over the last 11,000 years with mean carbon
accumulation rates of 77 g C m-2 yr-1 for all coastal peat domes and 31.3 g C m-2 yr-1 for peat domes of
inland Central Kalimantan (Dommain et al. 2011). These peatlands are prevalently dome-shaped and
of ombrogenous nature analogous to raised bogs of Europe (Dommain et al. 2010). Originally all the
lowland peatlands of western Indonesia were forested. However, intensive land-use, particularly
over the last 20 years, has massively reduced the cover of PSF in western Indonesia (Tab. 1,
Miettinen et al. 2011a). Of the original over 12 Mha PSF only 4.2 Mha remained by 2010 (Miettinen
et al. 2011a). Over the last 10 years, Sumatra has lost 40 % of its PSF. Most of the PSF has been
destroyed for small-holder agriculture under the transmigration programme and for industrial
plantations of African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and of Acacia crassicarpa pulpwood, by
overexploitation of the timber resources and by destructive peat and forest fires. Western Indonesia
will lose all of its PSFs by 2030 if current deforestation rates are not reduced (Miettinen et al. 2011a).

Table 1. Peat swamp forest cover in western Indonesia (Sumatra and Kalimantan).

Original* 1990 2000 2010

PSF (ha) PSF (ha) (%) PSF (ha) (%) PSF (ha) (%)
Sumatra 7,204,303 4,921,600 68 3,078,500 43 1,806,900 25
Kalimantan 5,769,246 3,857,000 67 2,869,200 50 2,403,500 42
western Indonesia 12,973,549 8,778,600 68 5,947,700 46 4,210,400 32
* Original PSF cover assumed to be equal to peatland area (Wahyunto et al. 2003, 2004). Data from 1990-2010
taken from Miettinen et al. (2011a).

Southeast-Asian peat swamps are located in the global biodiversity hotspot of Sundaland and are
extremely rich in terms of species diversity and endemism (Posa et al. 2011). These ecosystems are
crucial for the survival of globally endangered species such as Orangutan (Pongo spp.), Sumatran
Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) or False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii). The peatlands of insular
Southeast Asia are habitat for over 1300 plant species of which around 700 are PSF trees or shrubs
(Giesen pers. com.). For instance, Simbolon & Mirmanto (2000) report 310 plant species from peat
swamps of Central Kalimantan and Brady (1997) lists 144 tree species for peatlands in Riau
(Sumatra).

Land-use history of Indonesian peatlands

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Peat swamps were only marginally used by indigenous people, largely for fishing and hunting. Until
the 1960s peatlands were virtually not cultivated. Around this time spontaneous colonisation of
Sumatran swamplands began by Buginese settlers, which cultivated coconuts and rice in low-
intensity (Silvius et al. 1984). Only shallow, tidally influenced peatland was drained (Furukawa 2004).

The first large-scale peatland reclamation began also around 1960 with the so called Transmigration
Programme. This programme was initiated by the Dutch Colonial Government in the 1930s and has
been continued by the Indonesian government later. The main goal of this programme is to resettle
people from the densely populated islands of Java, Bali and Madura to under-developed areas of the
less populated outer islands, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Initially, drylands and mineral soil
swamps were the focus of the transmigration programme to allow for traditional rice-cultivation.
Later uncultivated peatlands were used for resettlement as these areas were largely unpopulated,
but made up huge areas along the coastal lowlands. From the 1960s to mid-1980s Sumatra was the
focus for transmigration and large transmigration schemes were established for instance along the
Batang Hari River Delta in Jambi province (Gellert 1998). After this period, Kalimantan became the
target region whilst the transmigration programme itself began to shift from smallholding to tree
crop agriculture (Gellert 1998). Today, transmigration settlements can be found in almost all
peatland areas of Kalimantan and Sumatra. The permanent settlement of thousands of people in
nutrient-poor, acidic peatlands poses a special challenge for peatland management.

In 1995, the largest peatland reclamation project under the transmigration programme was initiated
– the so-called Central Kalimantan Peatland Development Project – commonly known as the Mega
Rice Project (MRP). To boost rice production it was planned to convert 1.4 million hectares of largely
forested peatland (900,000 ha) and lowland swamp for rice cultivation. Entire peat domes were
completely deforested and over 4,400 kilometres of canals were excavated, even through deep (9 m)
peat and crossing entire peat domes. The land proved largely unsuitable for rice and other forms of
cultivation and of the originally planned 300,000 transmigrant families, only 15,594 were moved to
the area, of which half had fled within the first 10 years (Euroconsult Mott MacDonald / Deltares |
Delft Hydraulics et. al. 2008). In 1997/98 during a major El Niño episode massive fires broke out in
the drained peatlands of the ex-MRP area affecting 474,000 ha of peatland of which 258,000 ha was
still PSF (Page et al. 2002). Consequently, government sponsored programmes for peatland
development were put on hold for a decade.

However, Indonesia has already a population of over 237 million people and the population is still
growing at a rate of 1.9. By 2050 the population is expected to be at over 300 million people (World
Population Prospects 2010). This population pressure will induce further transmigration from Java to
Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua and will likely include further peatland reclamation.

The growing global demand for palm oil, biofuel and pulp led to a rapid expansion of industrial tree
crop plantations on peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan since 1990 (Gellert 1998). Over the last
decade or so, private sector involvement accelerated massively, focusing on establishing oil palm
(OP) and Acacia plantations. Some of the plantation expansion happened in former transmigration
areas, most of it targeted former logging concession areas with degraded but original forests where
large contiguous plantations could be established because these areas were still devoid of land
claims. The pulp sector started in the late 1980s. Pulp mills were established in Sumatra and primarily
fed with primary and degraded forest wood and later increasingly by Acacia plantations that were
established in these clear-felled areas.
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 The resulting distribution of land cover types from various land use activities on peatlands of Sumatra
and Kalimantan for the year 2007 is summarized in Table 2 (for details see Miettinen & Liew 2010a,
for associated CO2 emission see appendix 1).

Table 2. Land cover distribution on peatland in western Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan) in 2007.

Sumatra Kalimantan western Indonesia

Land cover type* Land cover Land cover Land cover Land cover Land cover Land cover
area (ha) area (%) area (ha) area (%) area (ha) area (%)
Water 44,393 0.6 11,292 0.2 55,685 0.4
Seasonal water 51,402 0.7 252,196 4.4 303,598 2.3
Pristine PSF 335,280 4.6 121,706 2.1 456,987 3.6
Slightly degraded PSF 435,748 6 573,400 9.9 1,009,148 7.7
Moderately degraded PSF 1,360,981 18.9 2,134,253 37 3,495,235 26.6
Heavily degraded PSF 253,505 3.5 135,508 2.3 389,013 3
Tall shrub/sec. forest 507,009 7 574,655 9.9 1,081,664 8.3
Ferns/low shrub 760,514 10.5 820,577 14.2 1,581,091 12.1
Small-holder agriculture 1,735,981 24.1 688,833 11.9 2,424,814 18.9
Industrial plantations 1,528,037 21.2 124,216 2.2 1,652,253 13.1
Built-up area 7,009 0.1 2,509 0 9,519 0.1
Cleared/burnt area 186,916 2.6 329,987 5.7 516,903 3.9
Total peatland 7,207,944 100 5,769,134 100 12,975,910 100
*Land cover distribution based on Miettinen & Liew (2010a), but all values were corrected to 100% peatland
area (i.e. corrected for the unmapped area) by applying the same land cover proportions as in the mapped area
(= 85.6% for Sumatra, 79.7% for Kalimantan).

In 2007 already 32% of the peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan were under agricultural use: the
extent of cultivated peatlands (4.1 Mha) almost equalled the size of the remaining, largely degraded
forested peatlands (Tab. 2). The extent of pristine peat swamp forest in western Indonesia has
become negligible while secondary and open vegetation covered over 3 Mha. The majority (45 %!) of
Sumatran peatlands was under cultivation while just a little more than 2 Mha (33%) was forested in
2007. In Kalimantan still half of the peatland area is forested, although the forest is largely degraded.
The extent of industrial plantations was much smaller than in Sumatra, but small holder agriculture
important.

Environmental and social problems associated with peatland cultivation

Soil degradation:

In cultivated peatlands, lowered water levels are continuously maintained to optimize yields of the
grown crops (range: 25-100 cm; Ambak & Melling 2000). Oil palm and pulp plantations require
relatively deep drainage of generally 70 cm. Many plantations, especially small holder plantations
have no or very limited water management structures, thus resulting in much deeper drainage levels
of up too 1 meter. The high soil acidity (pH 3-4) and low nutrient content of the ombrogenous peats
require liming and fertilization (Andriesse 1988, Ambak & Melling 2000), which increases peat
oxidation. Furthermore, application of manure and nitrogen fertilizer results in extremely high
nitrous oxide emissions (3 - 40 g N2O m-2 yr-1, = 10-120 t CO2-eq ha-1 yr-1, Takakai et al. 2006). Still,

6
yields of many crops such as rice are lower than on mineral soils and decrease with length of
cultivation (e.g. Limin et al. 2007).

Subsidence is a major problem for cultivated peatlands. Consolidation (physical compaction) due to
the loss of buoyancy directly after drainage leads to initial peat subsidence of almost one meter in
the first year. After the initial phase of consolidation, shrinkage and peat oxidation continue to
reduce the depth of peat. In deeply drained crops or industrial plantations of pulpwood or oil palm
subsidence typically amounts to 5 cm yr-1 (Couwenberg et al. 2010, Hooijer et al. 2011, Jauhiainen et
al. 2012). Uprooting of oil palms is a common problem in drained plantations because subsidence can
amount to over one meter or more during a typical plantation cycle of around 25 years (Hooijer et al.
2011). Continued subsidence in shallow coastal peatlands leads to increased flooding and intrusion of
salt-water and after depletion of the peat layer to the exposure of acidic sulphate soils (Silvius et al.
1984), hampering crop production, causing high poverty rates and forcing people to abandon
affected areas (e.g. Euroconsult Mott MacDonald / Deltares | Delft Hydraulics et al., 2008). As a
consequence of flooding plantation schemes need to install first tidal drainage settings and later
under permanent flooding conditions expensive polder settings. It is expected that subsiding coastal
peat areas will largely drown with the expected rise of the global sea-level, especially peatlands
which have basal deposits below the current sea-level.

CO2 emissions:

Oxidation of peat contributes most to peat subsidence after the stage of initial consolidation under
the tropical climate. CO2 emissions from peat oxidation rise linearly with decreasing water levels
(Couwenberg et al. 2010, Hooijer et al. 2011). With every 10 cm of additional drainage 10 additional
tonnes of CO2 are emitted annually from one hectare (e.g. 70 t CO2 ha-1 yr-1 at a water level of -70
cm). This nice relation makes the mean annual water level a good predictor of annual emissions from
drained peatlands as used in this study. Appendix 1 shows that an estimated 8 Mha drained peatland
in western Indonesia released about 447 Mt CO2 in 2007. The largest contributions came from small-
holder farming (ca. 194 Mt CO2) and industrial plantations (ca. 116 Mt CO2). Pristine PSF may have
sequestered a mere 1 Mt C (4 Mt CO2). This analysis shows that about 62 % of western Indonesian
peatlands switched from a carbon sink to a significant carbon source. The extent of drained areas has
presumably been underestimated because drained plantations lower the water level in adjacent
undrained areas over a distance of 2 km by over 30 cm (Hooijer et al. 2011). Hooijer et al. (2012)
argue that including this impact zone increases the extent of the drained OP plantation area to 25%
of all of Sumtara’s and Kalimantan’s peatlands for the year 2010.

Peat fires:

Another factor that is strongly associated with drainage–related land use in Indonesian peatlands is
fire. Annual clearing of agricultural fields by fire is a common practice in insular Southeast Asia
(Andriesse 1988) and a main cause of uncontrolled, large-scale fires during dry seasons. The
following land-use activities require the use of fire: forest conversion to plantation, traditional slash
and burn, swamp rice cultivation (sonor), hunting and expansion of fishing grounds (e.g. Bowen et al.
2001, Chokkalingam et al. 2005, 2007).

An average peat fire has a combustion depth of over 30 cm and releases around 26 kg C m-2 as CO2,
CO and CH4 and high levels of particulate matter, which build up haze plumes (Usup et al. 2004, Heil
et al. 2007, Ballhorn et al. 2009, Couwenberg et al. 2010,). Peat and forest fires substantially
7
contributed to the loss of PSF in Indonesia (Langner & Siegert 2009). During the major El Niño event
of 1997/98 fires destroyed over 900,000 ha of PSF in Borneo and over 600,000 ha of PSF in Sumatra
(Liew et al. 2001, Langner & Siegert 2009). During the El Niño events of 2002 and 2006 around
590,000 and 895,000 ha PSF were affected by fire in Borneo, respectively (Langner & Siegert 2009).
The peat fires of Sumatra and Borneo released together more than 100 Mt carbon (ca. 450 Mt CO2
equivalents) during El Niño years (van der Werf et al. 2008). The 1997/98 peat fires substantially
contributed to the largest, ever recorded annual increase in global atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Health problems and economic losses:

The peat fires in Indonesia can be regarded as one of the greatest environmental disasters of our
age. The haze plumes arising from those fires harm human health and regional economies. Air
pollution during fire episodes can reach hazardous levels and many affected people complain about
respiratory problems (Kuni 2000). In peatland regions apparently over 30% of children under 5 years
have respiratory diseases. The mortality rate during fire events rises 3 times in affected localities
(Kuni 2000). Indonesian peat fire smog causes the closure of schools in overseas Malaysia and
Singapore and results in cancellation of hundreds of local and international flights (Gellert 1998). The
fire episodes over the last two decades have resulted in economic losses in the order of several
billion USD for the forestry, tourism and transport sectors. The total fire and haze related costs of the
1997/98 event are estimated at 2.3 - 3.2 billion USD (Tacconi 2003).

These environmental and social problems combined call for an urgent change in land-use of
Indonesian peatlands. Besides strict conservation of remaining PSFs and restoration of degraded
areas the implementation of land-use techniques that do not require drainage (i.e. paludiculture) is
needed to reduce peat fires, transboundary haze, air pollution, health problems, CO2 emissions, soil
degradation and biodiversity losses.

A closer look on industrial plantation development: oil palm and pulp wood

I. Oil palm

The retreat of drainage based tree crop agriculture, particularly oil palm cultivation and the wide-
spread implementation of paludiculture in Indonesia is very unlikely under the current world market
situation. The global demand for palm oil (for food and biofuel) is constantly rising (FAS/USDA 2011)
and a compatible alternative to this high-yield oil crop not available. The global annual production of
palm oil grew by almost 10 million tonnes over the last 5 years and surpassed the 50 million tonne
mark in December 2011 (Fig. 2; FAS/USDA 2011). Half of this oil was produced by Indonesia –
highlighting the importance of this crop for the national economy (Fig. 2). In 2011, Indonesia
exported 18.9 million tonnes of palm oil (FAS/USDA 2011). The largest importers are India, China and
the European Union (Fig. 3). The imports of India and China grew by 3 million tonnes over the last 5
years – demonstrating increasing demand of this food product by their growing populations.
Contributing to the rising demand is also the use of palm oil for biofuel production – in itself an
enormously growing market (Fig. 4). Crude palm oil (CPO) is not only exported for use as biofuel
elsewhere, Indonesia has built several palm oil-based biodiesel plants for its own fuel production.

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Indonesia’s revenue from CPO production and export generated 12.4 billion USD in 2008 (Jakarta
Post 2009/12/2). It is not surprising that Indonesia announced to double its palm oil production to 40
million tonnes by 2020 under this lucrative situation (Jakarta Post 2009/12/2, Koh & Ghazoul 2010).
According to the Jakarta Post article Indonesia has 18 million ha of suitable land available for further
plantation expansion.

60.0

50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

Global
Indonesia
0.0
Malaysia
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Malaysia 17.6 17.3 17.8 18.2 18.7
Indonesia 18.0 20.5 22.0 23.6 25.4
Global 41.1 44.0 45.9 47.9 50.6

Figure 2. Global palm oil production (in million metric tonnes) between 2007 and 2011 (data source: FAS/USDA
2011).

India; 7,250
Other; 10,474

Singapore; 600 China; 6,300

Iran; 650
USA; 1,043
Bangladesh; 1,175
EU; 5,300
Egypt; 1,250
Malaysia; 1,710
Pakistan; 2,200

Figure 3. Palm oil importing countries and related Figure 4. Global production of bioethanol and biodiesel
import sizes (in 1000 metric tonnes) for December between 1980 and 2005 (from Koh & Ghazoul 2008).
2011 (data source: FAS/USDA 2011).

In the following section, which is heavily based on a forthcoming report by Hooijer et al. (2012), the
past, current and expected situation of OP plantation development on peatland in Sumatra and
Kalimantan are discussed.

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 The expansion of OP plantations on peatland in Indonesia is rapidly rising since 1990 and grew fastest
between 2007 and 2010 (Tab. 3). In 1990 only 18,955 ha (0.15% of the peatland area) were cultivated
with this crop, but in 2000 it were already 544,457 ha (4%) and in 2010 it were 1.3 Mha or 10% of all
peatland of Sumatra and Kalimantan (Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab.3). The extent of small holder OP
plantations remains unknown as such plantation settings are difficult to identify with the usual
remote sensing data. According to the Jakarta Post (2009/12/2) 40% of all OP plantations in
Indonesia are run by small holder farmers, so the extent of OP plantations on peat is probably much
higher. A business as usual (BAU) scenario with the linear expansion rate of OP plantations of
117,910 ha/year from between 2007 and 2010 predicts plantation areas on peat of 2.49 Mha (19%)
in 2020 and of 3.67 Mha (28%) in 2030 (Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab. 3).

Table 3. Extent of agricultural used peatland in Sumatra and Kalimatan from 1990 – 2010 and a projection of
OP plantation expansion on peatland (data from Hooijer et al. 2012, Miettinen & Liew 2010a, b).

Peatland 1990 2000 2007 2010 2020 2030

area projection* projection*
Land use Region ha ha % ha % ha % ha % ha % ha %
Sumatra 7,234,069 17,985 0 512,341 7 821,949 11 1,026,922 14 1,742,236 24 2,431,722 34
Oil palm Kalimantan 5,764,645 0 0 15,982 0 111,414 2 258,299 4 747,916 13 1,237,534 21
plantations western
12,998,714 17,985 0 528,323 4 933,363 7 1,285,221 10 2,490,152 19 3,669,256 28
Indonesia
Sumatra 7,234,069 306 0 80,176 1 671,919 9 874,921 12
Acacia Kalimantan 5,764,645 0 0 250 0 9,780 0 22,797 0
plantations western
12,998,714 306 0 80,426 1 681,699 5 897,718 7
Indonesia
Sumatra 7,234,069 18,291 0 604,995 8 1,506,641 21 1,936,436 27
Industrial
Kalimantan 5,764,645 0 0 16,567 0 123,780 2 306,968 5
plantations
western
total 12,998,714 18,291 0 621,562 5 1,630,421 13 2,243,404 17
Indonesia
Sumatra 7,234,069 877,000 12 n.a. 1,735,981 24 n.a.
Small
Kalimantan 5,764,645 n.a. n.a. 688,833 12 n.a.
holder
western
agriculture 12,998,714 n.a. n.a. 2,424,814 19 n.a.
Indonesia
Agriculture Sumatra 7,234,069 895,291 12 n.a. 3,242,622 45 n.a.
on peat Kalimantan 5,764,645 n.a. n.a. 812,613 14 n.a.
total western
12,998,714 n.a. n.a. 4,055,235 31 n.a.
Indonesia
*Future OP plantation expansion is based on a linear expansion rate of 117,910 ha/year as surmised from
between 2007 and 2010 (Hooijer et al. 2012).

Overlaying the current distribution of industrial OP plantations on the peat depth atlases of Sumatra
and Kalimantan (Wahyunto et al. 2003, 2004) reveals that 15 % of OP plantations on peat are located
on peat deeper than 2 meter (Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab. 4). According to Presidential Decree No.
32/1990 peat deeper than 3 meters should not be developed to agriculture (Silvius & Suryardiputra
2005). This law is, however, often not enforced resulting in clearance of peat swamp forest on deep
peat and subsequent conversion to industrial plantations as shown in Tab. 4.

Land planning maps released by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry (MoF 2010) indicate that 5.5
Mha of peatland (43%) in Sumatra and Kalimantan has been allocated for production and conversion
as indicated by the land status Hutan Produksi Konversi (HPK) or Areal Penggunaan Lain (APL =area
under other use) (cf. Hooijer et al. 2012). Hooijer et al. (2012) interpret these 5.5 Mha as peatland
that will be entirely converted to oil palm plantations (Tab. 4). Even this official land-use planning is
10
partly not in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 32/1990 because over 500,000 ha of peatland
deeper than 4 m are considered for agricultural conversion (Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab 4). Over 4 Mha
of shallow peatland (0-2m) are allocated for conversion (Tab. 4). These 4 Mha can be legally
converted and are alone enough land to allow for the projected linear expansion of OP plantations to
3.67 Mha by 2030 (Tab. 3). Moreover, future land shortage for plantation expansion in Malaysia will
presumably cause increased plantation establishment in Kalimantan and Papua, where still large
peatland areas are available for reclamation (Tab. 2; Hooijer et al. 2012). Of the 7.97 Mha of peatland
in Indonesian Papua still 5.97 Mha were forested in 2010 (Miettinen et al. 2011b) and the the land
planning maps of (MoF 2010) indicate large conversion areas in coastal peat swamp forests.

Another 4.6 Mha of peatland in Sumtara and Kalimantan has been given the status of production
forest (MoF 2010), including 1.4 Mha of peat deeper than 4 meter (Hooijer et al., 2012). The timber
resources of these production forests are sometimes completely exploited and the land status may
change to agricultural land after clear cutting. This situation is not unusual in peatlands and may
imply that peatland allocated for timber production will also turn into OP plantations in the near
future.

Table 4. Existing oil palm plantations on peatland with different depth in 2010 and allocated peatland for future
plantation conversion (adapted from Hooijer et al. 2012).

Oil palm plantation area in 2010 Peatland allocated to conversion to

oil palm plantation
Sumatra Kalimantan Western Sumatra Kalimantan Western
Indonesia Indonesia
Total peatland ha 7,234,069 5,764,645 12,998,714 7,234,069 5,764,645 12,998,714
Oil palm ha 1,046,716 258,299 1,305,015 3,114,845 2,466,513 5,581,358
plantation % 14 4 10 43 43 43
Peat depth Total
4,287,177 3,376,558 7,663,735 4,287,177 3,376,558 7,663,735
0-2 m ha
Oil palm ha 906,546 199,681 1,106,228 2,317,697 1,715,461 4,033,158
plantation % 21 6 14 54 51 53
Peat depth Total
1,241,274 1,070,866 2,312,140 1,241,274 1,070,866 2,312,140
2-4 m ha
Oil palm ha 88,661 26,550 115,212 478,798 486,001 964,799
plantation % 7 2 5 39 45 42
Peat depth Total
1,705,618 1,321,612 3,027,230 1,705,618 1,321,612 3,027,230
>4m ha
Oil palm ha 51,508 32,068 83,576 318,350 265,051 583,401
plantation % 3 2 3 19 20 19

These official land-use planning data show that over 40% of peatlands in western Indonesia may be
cultivated with OP plantations in the future and are thus in agreement with Indonesia’s intention to
double palm oil production. The ignorance or lacking knowledge of available peat depth maps also
leads to further conversion of deep peat, which is mainly located on the central peat dome portions.
Intentions to reduce palm oil cultivation on peat are clearly not given. PSF conversion and drainage
will continue to increase promoted by the Indonesian government and ultimately driven by the rising
global demand. Facing such strong competition, the large-scale implementation of paludicultures on
drained land seems very unlikely because most peatland will not be available for this activity. Only
complete policy changes in terms of land allocation and land management and resolute law
enforcements may change this situation.
11
II. Acacia pulpwood

Another important tree crop grown on Indonesian peatlands is Acacia (mainly Acacia crassicarpa) for
pulp and paper production. Between 1980 and 2004 the Indonesian authorities issued 23 pulpwood
plantation licenses for an area of 4.3 Mha (Barr 2004). By 2004 1.3 Mha of pulp plantations were
established on both mineral and peat soils (Barr 2004). Huge pulp mills were established, mainly in
the Sumatran provinces of Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra. The largest mills are operated by the
multi-sector companies APRIL and APP/SinarMas, which manage substantial concession areas also on
peatland (Barr 2004). Because their pulp mills run below capacity a large portion of the required
wood supply comes from logging and clear cutting of natural forests (Barr 2004). Remaining forest
outside conservation areas is quickly secured by the pulpwood industry. After forest clearance
plantations of Acacia are established on the newly available land. Pulp wood plantations are still
rapidly expanding with new concession areas located on peatland. In 2007 Acacia plantations
covered 681,699 ha or 5% of peatland in western Indonesia, of which 671,919 ha were located in
Sumatra (9 % of Sumatran peatlands, Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab. 3). By 2010 the extent of Acacia
plantations rose to 897,718 ha (7 %) of which 874,921 ha were in Sumatran peatlands (12%). Acacia
plantations will probably continue to expand until they can fully meet the wood capacity of the pulp
mills. In Sumatra OP and Acacia plantation expansions compete for the available land, because large
areas are already under cultivation.

III. The CO2 impact of industrial plantations on peat

In 2007 industrial plantations covered 1.65 Mha (13%) of peatland in western Indonesia (Miettinen &
Liew 2010). Until 2010 this area grew to 2,24 Mha (17%) (Hooijer et al. 2012, Tab.3), which is almost
the area of small-holder agriculture in 2007. The annual (linear) increase in industrial plantations on
peat since 2007 is 196.666 ha. Applying a mean annual CO2 emission factor of 70 t ha-1 (cf. Hooijer et
al. 2011) yields annual emissions of 157 Mt CO2 for all industrial plantations for 2010, of which ca. 90
Mt CO2 (57%) came from OP plantations and 63 Mt CO2 (40%) came from Acacia (Tab. 5). For
comparison: in 1990 industrial plantations on peat were releasing “just” 1 Mt CO2.

Using the projected OP plantation areas of 2.49 Mha for 2020 and of 3.67 Mha for 2030 allows for
predicting their respective CO2 emissions from peat oxidation (appendix 2). In 2020 OP plantations
may release 174.3 Mt CO2 and in 2030 256.8 Mt CO2, unless water management of plantations will
drastically change (appendix 2). The cumulative increase of CO2 emissions from plantations
calculated from 2007 onward amounts to 1.69 Gt CO2 by 2020 and 3.89 Gt CO2 (or 1.8 ppmv CO2) by
2030 (appendix 2). These model results show that expansion of oil palm plantations on peat will
cause massive CO2 emissions in the future. They stand also in sharp contrast to Indonesia’s
commitment of reducing its overall GHG emissions by 26% by 2020 (or by 41% with international
assistance). The current and future emissions from drained and cultivated peatland imply, however,
that substantial emission reductions (ca. 200-300 Mt CO2 yr-1, cf. appendix 1) are potentially
achievable if drainage based cultivation is completely turned to wet cultivation (i.e. paludiculture).

12
Table 5. CO2 emissions from peat oxidation of industrial plantations between 1990 and 2010. (Plantation areas
are taken from Hooijer et al. 2012)

Land use Region 1990 2000 2007 2010

Extent (ha) 17,985 512,341 821,949 1,026,922
Sumatra CO2 emission
-1 1,258,950 35,863,870 57,536,430 71,884,540
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 0 15,982 111,414 258,299
Oil palm
Kalimantan CO2 emission
plantations -1 0 1,118,740 7,798,980 18,080,930
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 17,985 528,323 933,363 1,285,221
western
CO2 emission
Indonesia -1 1,258,950 36,982,610 65,335,410 89,965,470
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 306 80,176 671,919 874,921
Sumatra CO2 emission
-1 21,420 5,612,320 47,034,330 61,244,470
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 0 250 9,780 22,797
Acacia
Kalimantan CO2 emission
plantations -1 0 17,500 684,600 1,595,790
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 306 80,426 681,699 897,718
western
CO2 emission
Indonesia -1 21,420 5,629,820 47,718,930 62,840,260
(t yr )
Extent (ha) 18,291 604,995 1,506,641 1,936,436
Sumatra CO2 emission
-1 1,280,370 42,349,650 105,464,870 135,550,520
(t yr )
All Extent (ha) 0 16,567 123,780 306,968
industrial Kalimantan CO2 emission
-1 0 1,159,690 8,664,600 21,487,760
plantations (t yr )
Extent (ha) 18,291 621,562 1,630,421 2,243,404
western
CO2 emission
Indonesia -1 1,280,370 43,509,340 114,129,470 157,038,280
(t yr )

The possible applications of paludiculture

It was clearly shown that most environmental problems arise from non-sustainable, drainage based
and fire-dependent agriculture on peatland. Reducing these problems clearly requires a shift from
drainage based agriculture on peat soils to paludiculture.

Paludiculture is the cultivation of plants (and also animals) under wet or flooded conditions, ranging
from single species systems (e.g. plantations) to enrichment planting. Whereas paludiculture
generally refers to agriculture or forestry on rewetted, formerly actively drained peatlands, in
Indonesia the concept also includes the reforestation of degraded peat swamps as clear-felling
and/or burning also reduce water storage and lower the water level (Dommain et al. 2010). The
focus of paludiculture in Indonesia should be on cultivating native PSF trees that ideally facilitate
hydrological regulation and peat carbon sequestration.

Low-impact agriculture on alluvial and adjacent shallow peat soils and collection and harvest of
renewable natural resources in the remaining peat swamps is still practice in Indonesia. These

13
traditional types of wetland use provide models for peatland utilization after rewetting and the
possible range of cultivatable species. Paludicultures should build up existing wet production
techniques and be adopted in ongoing smallholder farming and industrial plantation settings. One
can envision wet, mixed agroforestry and intercropping schemes as the sustainable future
smallholder farming systems on peatlands.

Of the over 1300 plant species found in undisturbed PSFs, many were used in the past by indigenous
people. However, the knowledge on these species is rapidly lost with ongoing destruction of swamp
forests and changing livelihood options. Use of PSF trees is not restricted to the harvesting of
profitable timber but includes the wide range of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), which played an
essential role as livelihood sources prior to the era of commercial logging and still do so in remaining
PSF patches (Suyanto et al. 2009). The variety of NTFP providing peat swamp plants includes edible
fruit trees (e.g. Durio carinatus, Nephelium spp., Mangifera spp., Garcinia spp.), rattan palms
(Korthalsia flagellaris, Calamus spp.), fat/oil-producing plants (e.g. Shorea spp., Palaquium spp.),
latex-producing trees (e.g. Dyera polyphylla, Palaquium spp.), resin-producing trees (Shorea spp.),
dye/tannin-producing plants (e.g. Fibraurea tinctoria), fibre plants (e.g. Pandanus spec., Lepironia
articulata) and medicinal plants (e.g. Alseodaphne coriacea, Ilex cymosa) (e.g. Soepadmo 1995,
Ramakrishna 2004, Giesen & van der Meer 2009, Suyanto et al. 2009). The popularity of several of
these species (e.g. Dyera polyphylla, Alseodaphne coriacea) and of commercially valuable timbers
(e.g. Gonystylus bancanus) has often caused overexploitation or even local species disappearance in
the natural habitat (e.g. Bruenig 1996, Suyanto et al. 2009). A first step to counteract product scarcity
and improve species stocks is the establishment of plantations or mixed tree gardens of these useful
plants. Such wet agroforestry would be a quasi in situ conservation measure for the cultivated
species. Many PSF species have commercial value which should stimulate market-oriented
cultivation not only by local communities, but also by the private and public sector. For example,
mixed rattan plantations with native trees as support were established in Central Kalimantan
peatlands in the 1960s in response to growing demand for rattan (Suyanto et al. 2009). The large
diversity of medicinal plants (ca. 6000 species in southeast Asia, Perry & Metzger 1980) offers
another lucrative area that deserves more attention (Soepadmo 1995).

Paludiculture in Indonesia could be applied in the following approaches:

1) food production, intercropping and agroforestry in agriculturally used peatland areas such as
transmigration schemes or the ex-MRP area

2) community forests and agroforestry in buffer zones of protected and rehabilitated PSFs

3) production of bioenergy plants in deeply flooded areas with no prospect for

reforestation/forest-regeneration

4) large-scale mixed plantations of commercial PSF species as alternatives to drainage-based

plantations

1) Small holder agriculture on peatland made up 2.4 Mh of peatland in western Indonesia in 2007.
This land includes, next to small holder plantations, also farmlands for food production. These areas,
with generally high poverty rates (e.g. Central Kalimantan), have the potential to be developed into
small-scale paludicultures if food supply can be secured through wet cultivation techniques. Securing
food production is a priority in peatlands inhabited by people. Wet agroforestry and wet

14
intercropping (tumpang sari) systems should therefore be expanded. Less wetness adapted fruit
trees growing on mounds and confining ridges can be established on the sloping, shallow peat dome
margins. Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) is a preferable food crop because its yield is around 10 times
larger than rice has on peat (Rijksen & Persoon 1991). Sago grows in freshwater swamp and on
waterlogged peat soil with some through flow. Still, it is of uttermost importance to identify more
food plants that grow in wet peatland. High CO2 emission reductions, especially through the
reduction of fire occurrence, would be possible with the change of drainage-based small-holder
agriculture to paludicultures.

Animal products are more important for Indonesian rural communities than plant products.
Therefore, paludicultures that aim at supplying the local food market should also consider animal
production on wet peatland. Most important in this respect is the cultivation of fish in available
water bodies. In the Central Kalimantan Peatlands Project (CKPP) Wetlands International Indonesia
Programme (WIIP) pioneered the use of blocked drainage canals as fish pounds. This land-use activity
can be applied wherever canals and ditches are blocked. Whether water buffalos can be raised in the
acidic peatlands needs to be explored.

2) In Indonesia, the community forest approach can be implemented in so called Hutan Desa (village
forest) concessions. This concession type is similar to timber concessions but confined to an area of
no more than 10,000 ha and only given to villages not companies. Hutan Desa concessions allow
limited timber utilization and also agroforestry. A spatial zonation is possible through a combination
of strictly protected and utilized areas. Ideally this concession type should be combined with the also
newly available ecosystem restoration concessions where timber harvesting is initially not allowed
but collection of NTFPs is possible. In that way the use of forest edges and adjacent agroforestry
schemes by local communities would allow regeneration of disturbed forest interiors and would
reduce leakage by activity shifting in case of carbon conservation projects.

3) Bioenergy plants are successfully cultivated on rewetted peatlands in Europe and this seems
similarly possible in Indoensia. Herbaceous plants for bioenergy production are available in flooded
areas that have been burnt before. The sedges Lepironia articulata and Eleocharis spp. (both known
as purun) often attain dominance in such, now widely available, environments. The belowground
biomass of Lepironia articulata forms peat whereas the aboveground shoots are harvested as
weaving material and the species may serve as a substitute for overexploited rattan populations
(Ikusima 1978, Ramakrishna 2004). Its use as a biofuel together with other available reed species
needs to be explored. Herbaceous plants could be planted in blocked canals and other permanently
flooded areas after rewetting. The ex-MRP area and the cultivated margins outside Sebangau
National Park in Central Kalimantan appear as potential areas. Local biodiesel-driven power plants
would also guarantee energy supply to remote communities that sometimes solely depend on diesel
generators for electricity.

4) The commercial plantation approach intends 1) to transform existing drainage based plantations
into wet plantations (at the end of rotation cycles) and 2) to establish wet plantations of indigenous
PSF trees on drained and deforested peatland fallows. A number of Shorea species from mineral and
alluvial soils produce illipe (or tengkawang) nuts from which oil similar to butter fat is extracted
(Kartawinata & Satjapradja 1983, Blicha-Mathiesen 1994). Shorea as typical elements of Bornean
PSFs are ideal species for paludiculture plantations and test trials from West Kalimantan demonstrate
that oil producing Shorea species can grow on peat and are tolerant to flooding (Giesen & van der
15
Meer 2009). Another promising species for commercial plantations is the latex producing tree
Jelutong (Dyera polyphylla). Jelutong has been planted on 250 ha in Block A of the ex-MRP area by
WIIP during the CKPP project. In Jambi (Sumatra) PY. Dyera Hutan Lestari planted 2120 ha with
Jelutung and tapped Dyera latex on commercial scale (Muub, 1996). In both cases peat fires largely
destroyed the reforestation areas (Giesen, pers com.).

Commercial timber species seem the most promising paludiculture plants. Ramin (Gonystylus
bancanus), Meranti (Shorea spp.) and Kempas (Koompassia malaccensis) are highly valued hardwood
timbers restricted to PSFs and should thus be widely planted in wet reforestation schemes. However,
conservation regulations may limit the commercial trade of threatened hardwoods (e.g. Ramin is
listed under CITES appendix 2). Timber harvesting at the growing peak, immediate replanting and the
use of timber as permanent wood products (e.g. furniture, construction) would maximize wood
carbon sequestration of peat swamps. Carbon inputs to the peat store via litter fall and root biomass
would not be disturbed by using the aboveground biomass only. The ideal extraction method seems
to be the traditional kuda-kuda system, in which timber loaded sledges are dragged on wooden
railways on the undrained forest floor (Bruenig 1996). Additional income could be generated from
avoiding emission schemes for reforestation and forest carbon stock enhancements (e.g. REDD+).

For pulp and paper production, exotic Acacia species are preferred for their cheap price and
extremely fast growth. A possible alternative to Acacia are species of the genus Macaranga and
possibly Melaleuca. Mahang (Macaranga pruinosa) is a fast growing, partly fire resistant pioneer
species that often dominates early secondary forest stages after clearance or fires in peatlands of
Indonesia and Malaysia (van Eijk & Leenman 2004, Giesen & van der Meer 2009). The low quality
wood may qualify as a pulp substitute to that of Acacia. Pulp wood harvesting requires the use of
large and heavy machinery. Low impact technology for wet/flooded peat (with generally low bearing
capacity) needs to be developed. The conversion of the nearly 900,000 ha Acacia plantations to
flooded Macaranga plantations could potentially cause an annual CO2 emission reduction of 60 Mt.

Requirements for paludiculture

Essential for the successful implementation of paludicultures is the supply of competitive surrogates
for the now widely planted crops. These substitutes should be producible in high quantities and
should be of similar or better quantity as the existing products. The example of Macaranga for pulp
needs to be explored in test trials. However, for oil palm no such substitute is known. Oil palm is
cultivated so widely because it is the most productive oil yielding plant globally (Fig. 5). Currently the
price for 1 tonne CPO is around 1000 USD, so a farmer can make ca. 3000 USD from selling CPO from
1 hectare per year. With the current price of 15 USD for 1 t avoided CO2 full rewetting could only
generate ca. 1000 USD on the carbon market. So only the combination of selling very valuable
products (e.g. timber) from paludicultures with selling carbon credits from avoided emissions would
make a move from OP cultivation interesting. Otherwise, only the ban of oil palm cultivation on peat
appears as an effective way to reduce CO2 emissions. Demonstration sites and economic cost-benefit
analyses are required to convince local communities and political authorities on the potential
usefulness of paludiculture and to stimulate its spread.

16
 -1
Figure 5. Global annual average yield (t ha ) of the world’s most important oil plants (2003-2004, from
Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie 2007).

The current knowledge on simply planting PSF trees is still very limited. Thus far, only 31 indigenous
tree species have been used by various reforestation projects and planting trials in Sumatra and
Kalimantan (Giesen, pers. com.). Often the success of these reforestation projects is limited, due to
low survival rates of seedlings (in the harsh open conditions), regular flooding or fire occurrence.
Clearly, more test trials are necessary, in which water level control and fire monitoring and mitigation
is a requirement. The industrial sector could provide space and funding for demonstration activities
and trials could be established under the companies’ corporate social responsibility programmes.
Additional funding can be sought from avoiding emission schemes (e.g. REED+, Verified Carbon
Standard VCS www.v-c-s.org) or the Biorights mechanism (van Eijk & Kumar 2009 and www.bio-
rights.org). Special market incentives, for instance the certification of paludiculture products that
would offer higher prices, could also attract more farmers to move in future from drainage based
cultivation to paludiculture.

Availability of land: the concession system

In order to receive land use rights for a specific area normally a concession needs to be obtained in
Indonesia. The concession system includes numerous categories ranging from conservation, over
logging concessions to conversion. The application for a concession requires first a letter of intend for
a specific area with argumentation for the proposed use. Then the Ministry of Forestry (MoF) decides
whether the area or parts of it will be offered for the intended or another use, depending on the
applicant’s argumentation. Then, MoF invites for tender. Applicants now have to submit a detailed
management plan together with economic projections and compete with other potential
stakeholders such as plantation companies. MoF preferably chooses applications which show
economic feasibility and good rate of return. It appears important to have good relations to the MoF
to increase chances of receiving a concession.

It is also quite common that certain parts of an area of interest are already given away. This often
results in very fragmented land allocation patterns. Peat domes may therefore be fragmented into
various land-use types. Often, concessions were already assigned to some user who is, however, not
active. Such situations are normally unknown until one requests interest for an area. Certain
peatlands will also therefore not be available for future paludicultures.

17
Due to the Norway – Indonesia REDD partnership mentioned above, at the moment restoration
concessions can apparently be easier obtained from MoF. This concession type, however, does not
allow for timber use until the (degraded) forest has regenerated to full maturity.

As clearly demonstrated the major obstacle in the implementation of paludiculture in Indonesia is

the promoted spread of OP plantations on peatland. The Indonesian government encourages further
development of OP plantations in rural areas to support infrastructure development and to reduce
poverty. OP plantation expansion “plays a key role in rural development” (Jakarta Post 2012/12/02).
Because conversion concessions of 5.5. Mha peatland exist for OP plantation development (including
degrading and burned peatland) and another 4.6 Mha concessions exist for production forest (i.e.
conventional logging) on peat the availability of land for paludiculture is not given in over 77 % of
Indoensia’s peatlands if these land allocations are strictly applied. The remaining peatland is largely
under small holder agriculture or (to a small fraction) conservation. Until paludiculture has been
successfully demonstrated, particularly the cultivation of food products on the acidic peats, local
farmers will continue to produce their regular crops under drained conditions.

Paludiculture under REDD+

At the moment paludiculture in Indonesia will only be possible at the scale of small test trials. REDD+
demonstration activities would now offer the chance for a practical development of paludiculture
under Indonesian conditions. REDD+ goes beyond forest protection, it includes enhancements of
carbon stocks, sustainable forest management and re-forestation with the involvement of local
communities and indigenous people. Paludiculture could therefore constitute such a “+” activity for
instance through reforestation, enrichment planting or establishment of agroforests in rewetted
peatlands. Paludiculture would be an ideal component for REDD+ demonstration activities, but also
of restoration projects as it guarantees peatland access and use of valuable species by local
communities. This approach reduces conflicts between maintaining and enhancing carbon stocks and
biodiversity and maintaining local livelihoods and traditional land-use rights in specific project cases.
It therefore would also qualify for climate, community and biodiversity (CCB) standards.

Conclusions
It can be concluded that the implementation of paludiculture over wide peatland areas in Sumatra
and Kalimantan is not feasible under the current politic and economic situation. The availability of
peatland for large scale paludicultures is not given and presumably also not in future unless serious
efforts to stop drainage based industrial crop production on peatland are under way. For now,
paludicultures can only be tested in small pilot studies, possibly within REDD+ demonstration
activities or peatland restoration projects. The involvement of the plantation sector is also important
because “green” companies could offer financial and infrastructural support for the development of
alternative cultivation techniques and for the identification of more useful plants also for their own
interest. Because (industrial and small-holder) agriculture will not retreat from Indonesian peatlands
in the near future - CO2 will be constantly emitted in large quantities. Only when ways are found to
cultivate cash crops and food yielding plants under rewetted conditions or when drainage-based

18
agriculture is banned from peatlands and followed by rewetting substantial CO2 emission reductions
can be achieved from the land-use sector in Indonesia. CO2 emission reductions from paludiculture
test trials will be negligible in view of the 8 Mha peatland being drained (appendix 1) and thus will be
of no relevance for Indonesia’s emission reduction efforts. The importance of oil palm development
in Indonesia is too overwhelming to make a paradigm shift in peatland agriculture foreseeable.

Potantial pilot initatives/partners

1) Wim Giesen (Euroconsult Mott MacDonald) has identified a palm oil plantation company in East
Kalimantan who is willing to make a paludiculture test trial on their concession area. Together with
Peter van der Meer (Wageningen University) and Greifswald University the suitability of the
plantation area for paludiculture will be identified this year and a first pilot area potentially
established. This test is intended to be developed into a bigger long-term pilot project involving
several research institutions and private sector companies.

2) Central Kalimantan has been chosen as a pilot province for REDD+ demonstration activities under
the Norway-Indonesian REDD+ agreement. In the Hampangen peat swamp forest of Central
Kalimantan (owned by the University of Palangka Raya) a REDD+ demonstration activity will be
established (A. Usup pers. com.). The implementation of this demonstration activity will be funded by
Norway’s donation. A sustainable land-use component is planned to be part of the REDD+ activities
and Aswin Usup supports the development of paludiculture in this framework. Greifswald University
is a crucial partner and advisor in the further development.

3) At the Agricultural Universitiy Bogor (Institut Pertanian Bogor IPB) expertise exists for various land
use activities on peatlands. Particularly the Institute for Wood Products and Wood Technology
(collaborator: Prof. Dr. Imam Wahyudi) is identified as a potential academic partner for the
development of timber paludicultures and for the development of specific PSF wood products.

19
(planned) Publications

Barthelmes, A., Dommain, R., Joosten, H. (submitted) Global potential of paludiculture as land use
alternative for rewetted peatlands. Extended abstract for the 14th International Peat Congress,
Stockholm, Abstract No. 201/387.

Dommain, R., Dittrich, I., Giesen, W., Joosten, H., Rais, D.S., Silvius, M. & Wibisono, ITC. (accepted)
Restoration of peat swamps in the SE-Asian tropics. In: Aletta Bonn, Tim Allott, Martin Evans, Hans
Joosten & Rob Stoneman (eds.): Peatland restoration and ecosystem services: science, practice,
policy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Tilmann Silber, T., Dommain, R., Fischlin, A. & Engel S. (submitted) REDD+-based conservation and
rehabilitation of peatlands in Indonesia: Is it attractive to the private sector?. Submitted to:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Wibisono, ITC., Silber, T., Lubis, R.I., Rais, D.S., Suryadiputra, N., Silvius, M., Tol, S. & Joosten, H.
(2011) Peatlands in Indonesia’s National REDD+ Strategy. Wetlands International Indonesia
Programme & Wetlands International Headquarters, Bogor, Ede.

Acknowledgements

This study greatly benefited from the help and advice of numerous individuals. I am grateful to Wim
Giesen, Reza Lubis, ITC (Yoyok) Wibisono, Nyoman Suryadiputra, Yus Rusila Noor, Aswin Usup, Imam
Wahyudi, Peter van der Meer, Susanne Abel, Christian Schröder, John Couwenberg and Hans
Joosten.

20
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Appendices

Appendix 1. Land cover distribution and related annual CO2 emissions in 2007 from drainage related peat oxidation in western Indonesia (Sumatra and Kalimantan) (i.e. fire
related emissions excluded).

Land cover type* Land cover Land cover Fraction Drained Mean annual Mean annual Total annual Total annual Emission
area (ha) area (%) drained area (ha) drainage CO2 emission CO2 emissions C emissions contribution
area (%) depth (cm) (t/ha) (t) (t) (%)
Water 55,685 0.4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Seasonal water 303,598 2.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pristine PSF 456,987 3.5 0 0 0 -2.566666667 -4,300,753 -1,172,933 0
Slightly degraded PSF 1,009,148 7.8 50 504,574 35 35 17,660,089 4,816,388 4
Moderately degraded PSF 3,495,235 26.9 50 1,747,617 35 35 61,166,608 16,681,802 13.5
Heavily degraded PSF 389,013 3.0 50 194,506 35 35 6,807,724 1,856,652 1.5
Tall shrub/sec. forest 1,081,664 8.3 50 540,832 35 35 18,929,125 5,162,489 4
Ferns/low shrub 1,581,091 12.2 50 790,546 35 35 27,669,096 7,546,117 6
Small-holder agriculture 2,424,814 18.7 100 2,424,814 80 80 193,985,155 52,905,042 43
Industrial plantations 1,652,253 12.7 100 1,652,253 70 70 115,657,723 31,543,015 26
Built-up area** 9,519 0.1 - - - 0 0 0 0
Cleared/burnt area 516,903 4.0 50 258,452 35 35 9,045,808 2,467,039 2
Total 12,975,910
Sum drained area (ha) 8,113,595
(%) 63
Sum annual emissions (t) 446,620,576 121,805,612

*Land cover distribution based on Miettinen & Liew (2010a). ** Build-up area assumed to be completely sealed. CO2 emissions based on a linear relationship with drainage
-1 -1
depth: 10 t CO2 ha yr for each 10 cm of drainage (cf. Couwenberg et al 2010, Hooijer et al. 2011); CO 2 emissions continue to increase up to a drainage depth of 100 cm
-1 -1
(Hooijer et al. 2011). Peat carbon sequestration in pristine PSF is assumed to be 0.7 t C ha yr (Dommain et al. 2011).

26
Appendix 2. Linear projection of industrial oil palm plantation expansion and associated CO 2 emissions from
peat oxidation between 2007 and 2030.

Year Oil palm Fraction of Annual CO2 Annual CO2 Cumulative CO2 Cumulative CO2
plantation all peatland emission (t) emission emissions (t) emissions (Gt)
extent (ha) (%) (Mt)
2007 957,318 7 67,012,260 67.0 67,012,260 0.07
2008 1,075,228 8 75,265,983 75.3 142,278,243 0.14
2009 1,193,139 9 83,519,707 83.5 225,797,950 0.23
2010 1,311,049 10 91,773,430 91.8 317,571,380 0.32
2011 1,428,959 11 100,027,153 100.0 417,598,533 0.42
2012 1,546,870 12 108,280,877 108.3 525,879,410 0.53
2013 1,664,780 13 116,534,600 116.5 642,414,010 0.64
2014 1,782,690 14 124,788,323 124.8 767,202,333 0.77
2015 1,900,601 15 133,042,047 133.0 900,244,380 0.90
2016 2,018,511 16 141,295,770 141.3 1,041,540,150 1.04
2017 2,136,421 16 149,549,493 149.5 1,191,089,643 1.19
2018 2,254,332 17 157,803,217 157.8 1,348,892,860 1.35
2019 2,372,242 18 166,056,940 166.1 1,514,949,800 1.51
2020 2,490,152 19 174,310,663 174.3 1,689,260,463 1.69
2021 2,608,063 20 182,564,387 182.6 1,871,824,850 1.87
2022 2,725,973 21 190,818,110 190.8 2,062,642,960 2.06
2023 2,843,883 22 199,071,833 199.1 2,261,714,793 2.26
2024 2,961,794 23 207,325,557 207.3 2,469,040,350 2.47
2025 3,079,704 24 215,579,280 215.6 2,684,619,630 2.68
2026 3,197,614 25 223,833,003 223.8 2,908,452,633 2.91
2027 3,315,525 26 232,086,727 232.1 3,140,539,360 3.14
2028 3,433,435 26 240,340,450 240.3 3,380,879,810 3.38
2029 3,551,345 27 248,594,173 248.6 3,629,473,983 3.63
2030 3,669,256 28 256,847,897 256.8 3,886,321,880 3.89

Projected oil palm plantation expansion is based on an annual plantation increment of 117,910 ha from
between 2007 and 2010 as surmised from remote sensing data by Hooijer et al. (2012). Annual emissions for oil
-1 -1
palm plantations are assumed to be 70 t CO2 ha yr at a typical drainage depth of 70 cm (cf. Hooijer et al.
2011).

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