Background

The peatland landscape is one type of ecosystem in the world. It is important in providing ecosystem services, such as supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Noteworthy, peatlands play roles as a carbon sequestration, water storage, and habitat for flora and fauna diversity. Peatland ecosystems also provide food, medicine, timber and latex for human livelihood.

Peatlands can be found in almost country of the world. According to a recent report of Xu et al. (2018), the Asia continent covers a total area of 1.62 million km2 of peatlands, which is about 38.35% of the total global peatlands. The Oceania covers 68,636 km2 of peatlands.

The peatlands are areas with a naturally accumulated peat (decomposed and undecomposed dead organic materials) at the surface. The peatlands, particularly tropical peatlands, are currently under threat because of over-exploitation, over-drainage and mismanagement. The organic materials are drying out due to being over-drained and become susceptible to fire. The 2015 fire season in Indonesia negatively impact to both ecology and economy of Indonesia. The economic loss from the fire in 2015 was about 16 billion USD (World Bank, 2016), while the greenhouse gas emissions from fire in 2015 reached 1.75 billion ton CO2 equivalent.

The Indonesian government has taken serious action to restore the degraded and burnt peatlands and to mitigate peatlands fire incident. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has reduced the number of hotspots and fire incident significantly in 2016 and 2017. In addition to that, the amount of deforestation reduced by 64.3% in 2017. These significant achievements can be attained through synergy among parties. The moratorium of peatlands and one map policy, has determined the peatland hydrological units (PHU) in Indonesia and the zonation based on the function of the PHU, namely cultivation and protection zonation. Degraded peatlands restoration, both for protection and cultivation, can be conducted through hydrological restoration and rehabilitation vegetation. Moreover, people who are living and depend on peatlands are an integral part of the ecosystem. These communities should be taken into consideration when conducting peatlands restoration for better and more robust results.

Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) is also a global commitment target for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Therefore, to accelerate the process, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry is hosting a parallel panel on the sub-theme “Restoration and Sustainable Management of Peatlands” at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit. Asia-Pacific countries are invited to actively participate in this panel to share experiences and lesson learnt from their practices in the region.

Objectives

The parallel session on the subtheme “Restoration and Sustainable Management of Peatlands” at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit aims to:

1. Discuss and consolidate policies and implementation progress
2. Share lessons learnt and experiences on paludiculture practices
3. Discuss methodological improvements in greenhouse gas estimation from peatlands
4. Share lessons learnt from the sustainable management of peatlands
5. Share lessons learnt and experiences on fire management

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes of the parallel panel on the subtheme “Restoration and Sustainable Management of Peatlands” are:

1. Exchange of knowledge and information among stakeholders, who are actively working on peatland restoration and manage peatlands sustainably
2. Sharing of improved methods of methodological greenhouse gas estimation from peatlands
3. Recommendations on restoration and sustainable management of peatlands
4. A commitment to take real action on peatland restoration and responsible peatland management

Agenda

•  Techniques for inventory and mapping of peatland ecosystem