Asia: Peat fires rage as Indonesian farmers burn forests for better crops

By Daisuke Sudo, The Asahi Shimbun -  11/08/2007

PANGKALANBUN, Indonesia--As the world looks for ways to cut back on CO2 emissions caused by the use of fossil fuels, another issue continues to burn.

Peat, the highly organic carbonized plant matter found at the bottom of marshes and wetlands, continues to burn in deforested areas of Indonesia.

In tropical regions like Indonesia, many forested areas are in wetlands, the base of which is often formed from the deposits of plant matter.

As the deposits are covered by the wetlands, they are usually protected from fire.

Since around the 1980s, however, the development of farmlands has drained the groundwater, causing the wetlands to dry up. As a result, fires from the primitive slash-and-burn agriculture technique have spread easily to the dried peat and continued to burn.

Consequently, a massive amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been produced by burning peat. The annual amount of CO2 emissions from peat in Indonesia is more than the entire volume emitted in Japan in a year.

The international community is now moving to reduce the emissions.

Peat deposits cover about 3 percent of all land on the Earth. The carbon contained in peat is equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted through the use of fossil fuels in the entire world over 70 years.

Of the peat located in tropical regions, about half is said to exist in Indonesia.

Forest fires frequently burn in Indonesia, especially in the dry season from June to September. According to Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, fires were observed by satellite at 1,200 sites across the country on Oct. 2.

A report released late last year by Wetlands International, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in the Netherlands, said that about 2 billion tons of CO2 is emitted annually from peat in Indonesia.

The annual figure is larger than the 1.3 billion tons of CO2 that is emitted from Japan each year, and is equivalent to 8 percent of the total amount of CO2 produced through the use of fossil fuels worldwide.

Of the 2 billion tons produced from peat, 1.4 billion tons come from the fires. The remaining 600 million tons are produced when microorganisms break down peat.

When peat becomes drier, microorganisms break it down faster. The process is called "cold burning."

In late September, smoke could be seen rising from forests around a village in Pangkalanbun in the Kalimantan region of Borneo island. Though it was the daytime, the sunshine was blotted out by the smoke.

Afterward, charred trees could be found over a wide area. Meantime, smaller fires continued to burn, spreading to peat in the earth. On occasion, such fires can last for several months.

Fires caused by forest developers or local farmers continue from around June every year. Developers and farmers first cut down trees, leave them for several days to dry, and then burn them.

One of the farmers, Munir, 33, said, "Crops that are planted on land burned by fire grow well. After using the land for two to three years, we'll burn the next forests."

Many of the charred trees look like they are floating in midair. That is because peat around the trees was burned to ashes while the roots remained. Peat burns at a lower temperature compared with the roots of trees.

Originally, peat in tropical regions was difficult to burn because it was protected by wetlands. But in order to develop farmlands, small waterways were constructed to transport farmers and agricultural products.

Construction of roads on wetlands is difficult. Logs to be exported to Japan are also transported through those waterways.

As a result, water from wetlands flowed into the waterways, causing the groundwater level to lower and the wetlands to dry up.

In Indonesian forests, small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture has continued. Due to the increase in population, however, people have also begun to settle in wetland areas and develop farmlands.

The development has led to the frequent occurrence of fires in the forests. Especially in years when the amount of rainfall was small, smoke soon spread to neighboring countries, becoming an international problem.

In recent years, the plantation of oil palm has spread rapidly due to growing demand for the product, used in detergents and other products.

According to an Indonesian NGO, Sawit Watch (Oil palm watch), the total area covered by oil palm plantations in Indonesia increased 20 times to 5 million hectares in 2005 from 250,000 hectares in 1978.

As palm oil could be also used as a biofuel, the Indonesian government is eager to expand production.

In fact, its oil palm production is approaching that of Malaysia, now the world's largest oil palm producer.

The Indonesian government banned the burning of forests in 1999 and has since been engaged in the creation of firefighting organizations. But its control over those who burn forests has not been strict.

If the government cracks down on farmers, it could face strong opposition.

According to a local Indonesian newspaper, when the Central Kalimantan provincial government in August issued a notice that prohibited slash-and-burn agriculture, farmers repeatedly held demonstrations.

Of the total amount of CO2 produced worldwide, about one quarter is believed to be related to the decrease of forests. The burning of peat is part of this.

While Japan and some other countries have called for halving CO2 emissions by 2050, the destruction of forests is regarded as a major problem for the international community.

The Kyoto Protocol has largely failed to stop the destruction of forests due to a lack of support from the richer countries toward developing countries.

Also, developing countries, which are not obliged to reduce CO2 emissions, receive no benefits even if they take measures to protect forests.

Consequently, the destruction of forests has been a major theme of international negotiations.

At the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Indonesia next month, participants are expected to discuss measures that lead developing countries to protect their forests.

One of the measures is for developing countries to be awarded financial benefits if they curb the destruction of forests. The benefits would come from a fund set up by developed countries.

At the COP13 conference, Indonesia will aim to secure support from developed countries for ways to protect peat bogs and restore forests.

In September, the host country formed a group with about 10 other countries with tropical rain forests to work out measures for the protection of forests. It will present them to the COP13 conference.

Some European countries as well as Australia have also started to support developing countries. The countries have helped with initiatives such as the construction of dams to prevent peat bogs from drying out.

Assistance for the planting of trees and the purchase of firefighting equipment has also been offered.

Mitsuru Osaki, professor of plant nutrition at Hokkaido University's graduate school, plans to issue an appeal in the COP13 and the Group of Eight summit meeting to be held in Hokkaido next year.

The appeal will read that it is necessary to make a financial mechanism for the protection of peat bogs.

"Fires in peat in tropical regions can be stopped by humans," Osaki said.

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Eiki Yano in Jakarta contributed to this article. (IHT/Asahi: November 8,2007)

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