challenges of mitigating commercial agriculture over ... · challenges of mitigating commercial...
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LoCARNet 7th Annual Meeting – November 21 2018 – Jakarta, Indonesia
Challenges of mitigating commercial agriculture over tropical peatlands in
IndonesiaJanice Ser Huay Lee
Coupled Human and Natural Systems LabAsian School of the Environment | Earth Observatory Singapore
Nanyang Technological University of Singapore
Outline
• Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia• Commercial agriculture expansion over tropical
peatlands in Indonesia• What we know so far• Changing actors in rapidly degrading landscape
• Peatland governance for low carbon development
Outline
• Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia• Commercial agriculture expansion over tropical
peatlands in Indonesia• What we know so far• Changing actors in rapidly degrading landscape
• Peatland governance for low carbon development
“Peatlands are wetlands with a thick water-logged organic soil layer (peat) made up of dead and decaying plant material. Peatlands include moors, bogs, mires, peat swamp forests and permafrost tundra.”
Wetlands International
Photo: Global Carbon Project
What are peatlands?
Wahyunto et al. (2003) Wetlands InternationalPosa et al. (2011) Bioscience
Page et al. (2011) Glob Ch Bio
Southeast Asia’s peatlands
Photo: Greenpeace
Support Livelihoods
Photo: CIFOR Photo: ABC News.au
Photo: Outrop.org
Photo: Greenpeace
Photo: forclime.org
Photo: Orangutan Conservancy
Photo: Greenpeace
Yule (2010) Biod Cons; Posa et al. (2011) Bioscience
Production for…
Paper Wood Palm oil
Outline
• Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia• Commercial agriculture expansion over tropical
peatlands in Indonesia• What we know so far• Changing actors in rapidly degrading landscape
• Peatland governance for low carbon development
Miettinen et al. (2012) ICCT
Industrial plantations over peatlands
Extent of planted oil palm area over peat
Koh et al. (2011) PNAS
Mature, 8 yearsArea > 2 km2
Area of oil palm planted on peatlands (ha)
Extent of closed canopy oil palm over peatlandsBo
rneo
Sum
atra
Indonesia
Large-estates or smallholders as agents of peatswamp deforestation?
Lee et al. (2013) Cons Lett
Smallholder plantations > 25 ha
Removed overlaps among sectors and with timber plantation concessions
Peatswamp forest loss from 2000-2010 in Sumatra: ~1.3 million ha
94%6%
Peatswamp forest loss within the oil palm industryPeatswamp forest loss
from the oil palm industry
30%
Others
Lee et al. (2013) Cons Lett
Peatswamp forest loss from 2000-2010 in Sumatra: ~1.3 million ha
94%6%
Peatswamp forest loss within the oil palm industryPeatswamp forest loss
from the oil palm industry
30%
Others
Lee et al. (2013) Cons Lett
70 – 77% of emissions from the oil palm industry came
from PSF loss within private enterprises
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mangrove Peatswamp forest Lowland forest Lower montaneforest
Total forest cover
Perc
enta
ge fo
rest
cov
er lo
ss in
Sum
atra
for
2000
-20
10
Other
Acacia
State
Smallholder
Company
Are we missing the impacts from the pulp and paper industry?
Abood, Lee et al. (2014) Cons Lett
Peatswamp forest loss in different concessions
Abood, Lee et al. (2014) Cons Lett
Peatswamp forest loss in different concessions
Smallholders playing a more active role?
Who is the smallholder?
Outline
• Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia• Commercial agriculture expansion over tropical
peatlands in Indonesia• What we know so far• Changing actors in rapidly degrading landscape
• Peatland governance for low carbon development
• Is any development sustainable at all?• Still lack in our understanding of peat ecosystem• Manage these systems in knowledge gap
Sustainable development of peat?
International/National/Sub-national Governance Systems
Changing corporate activities
Involving local communities
Diverting development away from PSFPeatland development within concessions• High Conservation Value
status under ISPO/RSPO • REDD+ to offset opportunity
costs for not developing PSF• Land swaps (under Peatland
Restoration Agency)• Moratorium over peatlands
Credit: Graham Usher, PanEco
Government action
Tripa Peatswamp forests in Aceh
1989: 61,000 ha2012: 10,700 ha
Political economy of PSF development
050
100150200250300350400
Without logging Logging degradedforests
Logging primaryforests
NPV
USD
/ha
Scenarios of oil palm establishment
Provincial
Producing district
Adapted from Irawan et al. (2013) Ecol Econs
Changing corporate practices
Involving local communitiesPeatland development outside of concessions- Recognizing land rights
of local communities- Encouraging more
community-company partnerships for smallholder agriculture
- Restoring degraded peatlands in Indonesia
JA - One boundary to rule them all
Tools for implementing JA
Future for Indonesia’s peatlands?
Miettinen et al. (2012); Carlson et al. (2013); Abood et al. (2015); Sloan et al. (2017); Wijedasa et al. (2018)
1970s: Logging of peatswamp forests - increased desiccation1980-2000s: Draining of peatswamp forests, industrial plantation development2000s-present: Mixed agency of companies and smallholders2020, 2030, 2040, 2050 – future scenarios for peatlands in Indonesia?
Implications for fires & carbon emissions• Fires are intricately linked to
peatland degradation through the years
• Peatlands moving from a carbon sink to carbon source
• Will Indonesia’s peatland restoration reverse this trend?
Thank you!
Gross carbon dioxide
emissions (Mt)
Oil palm sector
Sumatra Total Private enterprise Smallholder State-
owned
Mean 3,526-4,502 756-1,043 685-956(90.6-91.7)
67-83(8.9-8.0)
4.19-4.21(0.6-0.4)
Low 2,747-3,090 599-700 543-638(90.7-91.1)
52-58(8.7-8.3)
3.49-3.50(0.6-0.5)
High 4,387-6,231 919-1,462 830-1,342(90.3-91.8)
84-115(9.1-7.9)
4.89-4.93(0.5-0.3)
Gross CO2 emissions (Mt) from total forest loss
70 – 77% of emissions from the oil palm industry came from PSF loss within private enterprises
Lee et al. (2013) Cons Lett