Borneo peat swamp forests
Encyclopedia
The Borneo peat swamp forests ecoregion, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Biome
, are on the island of Borneo
, which is divided between Brunei
, Indonesia
and Malaysia.
s occur where waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time creates thick layer of acidic peat
. The peat swamp forests on Borneo occur in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan
, the Malaysian state of Sarawak
and in the Belait District
of Brunei on coastal lowlands, built up behind the brackish mangrove forests
and bounded by the Borneo lowland rain forest
s on better-drained soils. There are also areas of inland river-fed peat forest at higher elevations in central Kalimantan around the Mahakam Lakes
and Lake Sentarum on the Kapuas River
. Borneo has a tropical monsoon climate
.
has drained over 1 million hectares of the Borneo peat swamp forests for conversion to agricultural land under the Mega Rice Project
(MRP). Between 1996 and 1998, more than 4,000 km of drainage and irrigation channels were dug, and deforestation accelerated in part through legal and illegal logging and in part through burning. The water channels, and the roads and railways built for legal forestry, opened up the region to illegal forestry. In the MRP area, forest cover dropped from 64.8% in 1991 to 45.7% in 2000, and clearance has continued since then. It appears that almost all the marketable trees have now been removed from the areas covered by the MRP. What happened was not what had been expected: the channels drained the peat forests rather than irrigating them. Where the forests had often flooded up to 2m deep in the rainy season, now their surface is dry at all times of the year. The Indonesian government has now abandoned the MRP.
. The dried-out peat ignites easily and also burns underground, travelling unseen beneath the surface to break out in unexpected locations. Therefore after drainage, fires ravaged the area, destroying remaining forest and large numbers of birds, animals, reptiles and other wildlife along with new agriculture, even damaging nature reserves such as Muara Kaman and filling the air above Borneo and beyond with dense smoke and haze
and releasing enormous quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. The destruction had a major negative impact on the livelihoods of people in the area. It caused major smog-related health problems amongst half a million people, who suffered from respiratory problems.
The dry years of 1997-8 and 2002-3 (see El Niño) in particular saw huge fires in the drained and drying-out peat swamp forests. A study for the European Space Agency
found that the peat swamp forests are a significant carbon sink for the planet, and that the fires of 1997-8 may have released up to 2.5 billion tonnes, and the 2002-3 fires between 200 million to 1 billion tonnes, of carbon into the atmosphere. Using satellite images from before and after the 1997 fires, scientists calculated (Page et al, 2002) that of the 790000 hectares (1,952,130.8 acre) that had burned 91.5% was peatland 730000 hectares (1,803,867.7 acre). Using ground measurements of the burn depth of peat, they estimated that 0.19–0.23 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon were released into the atmosphere through peat combustion, with a further 0.05 Gt released from burning of the overlying vegetation. Extrapolating these estimates to Indonesia as a whole, they estimated that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia. This is equivalent to 13–40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957.
Indonesia is currently the world's third largest carbon emitter, to a large extent due to the destruction of its ancient peat swamp forests (Pearce 2007).
Despite the extreme conditions the Borneo peat swamp forests have as many as 927 species of flowering plants and ferns recorded (By comparisom a biodiversity study in the Pekan peat swamp forest in Peninsular Malaysia reported 260 plant species). Patterns of forest type can be seen in circles from the centre of the swamps to their outer fringes which are made up of most of the tree families recorded in lowland dipterocarp
forests although many species are only found here . Many trees have buttresses and stilt roots for support in the unstable substrate, and pneumatophores and hoop roots and knee roots to facilitate gas exchange. The trees have thick, root mats in the upper 50 cm of the peat to enable oxygen and nutrient uptake.
The lowland peat swamps of Borneo are mostly geologically recent (<5000 years old), low lying coastal formations above marine muds and sands but some of the lakeside peat forests of Kalimantan are up to 11,000 years old.
One reason for the low nutrient conditions is that streams and rivers do not enter these forests (if they did, nutrient rich freshwater swamps would result), they only flow out of them, so the only input of nutrients is from rainfall, marine aerosols and dust. In order to cope with the lack of nutrients, the plants invest heavily in defences against herbivory such as chemical (toxic secondary compounds) and physical defences (tough leathery leaves, spines and thorns). It is these defences that prevent the leaves from decaying and so they build up as peat. Although the cellular contents quickly leach out of the leaves when they fall, the physical structure is resistant to both bacterial and fungal decomposition and so remains intact, slowly breaking down to form peat (Yule and Gomez 2008). This is in stark contrast to the lowland dipterocarp forests where leaf decomposition is extremely rapid, resulting in very fast nutrient cycling on the forest floor. If non-endemic leaf species are placed in the peat swamp forests, they break down quite quickly, but even after one year submerged in the swamp, endemic species remain virtually unchanged (Yule and Gomez 2008). The only nutrients available for the trees are thus the ones that leach from the leaves when they fall, and these nutrients are rapidly absorbed by the thick root mat. It was previously assumed that the low pH and anaerobic conditions of the tropical peat swamps meant that bacteria and fungi could not survive, but recent studies have shown diverse and abundant communities (albeit not nearly as diverse as dry land tropical rainforests, or freshwater swamps) (Voglmayr and Yule 2006; Jackson, Liew and Yule 2008).
s, orangutan
s, and crocodiles. In particular the riverbanks of the swamps are important habitats for the Crab-eating Macaque
(Macaca fascicularis) and the Silvery Lutung
(Presbytis cristata) and are the main habitat of Borneo's unique and endangered Proboscis Monkey
(Nasalis larvatus) which can swim well in the rivers, and the Borneo Roundleaf Bat
(Hipposideros doriae). There are two birds endemic to the peat forests, the Javan White-eye
(Zosterops flavus) and the Hook-billed Bulbul
(Setornis criniger) while more than 200 species of birds have been recorded in Tanjung Puting
National Park in Kalimantan. Rivers of the peat swamps are home to the rare arowana
fish (Scleropages formosus), otters, waterbirds, false gharial
s and crocodiles.
is to preserve the peat swamp forest of Mawas using a combination of carbon finance
and debt-for-nature-swap. Peatland conservation and rehabilitation are more efficient undertakings than reducing deforestation (in terms of claiming carbon credits through REDD
initiatives) due to the much larger reduced emissions achievable per unit area and the much lower opportunity costs involved .About 6% of the original peat-forest area is contained within protected areas, the largest of which are Tanjung Puting
and Sabangau National Park
s.
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....
Biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
, are on the island of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, which is divided between Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Malaysia.
Location and description
Peat swamp forestPeat swamp forest
Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time creates a thick layer of acidic peat...
s occur where waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time creates thick layer of acidic peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
. The peat swamp forests on Borneo occur in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan
Kalimantan
In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
, the Malaysian state of Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
and in the Belait District
Belait District
Belait is the largest district in Brunei, as well as the western-most. The word 'Belait' is taken from the name of the native inhabitants of Belait, the Belait People. The district is administered from the town of Kuala Belait, its capital. Belait is governed by an appointed District Officer. The...
of Brunei on coastal lowlands, built up behind the brackish mangrove forests
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
and bounded by the Borneo lowland rain forest
Borneo lowland rain forest
Borneo lowland rain forest is an ecoregion, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, of the large island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It supports approximately 10,000 plant species, 380 bird species and several mammal species...
s on better-drained soils. There are also areas of inland river-fed peat forest at higher elevations in central Kalimantan around the Mahakam Lakes
Mahakam River
The Mahakam River is in Indonesia. It flows 980 km from the district of Long Apari in the highlands of Borneo, to its mouth at the Makassar Strait....
and Lake Sentarum on the Kapuas River
Kapuas River
The Kapuas River is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At in length, it is the longest river of Indonesia and one of the world's longest island rivers...
. Borneo has a tropical monsoon climate
Tropical monsoon climate
Tropical monsoon climate, occasionally also known as a tropical wet climate or tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate in climate classification, is a relatively rare type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category "Am."Tropical monsoon climates have monthly...
.
Recent history
Over the past decade, the government of IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
has drained over 1 million hectares of the Borneo peat swamp forests for conversion to agricultural land under the Mega Rice Project
Mega Rice Project (Kalimantan)
The Mega Rice Project was initiated in 1996 in the southern sections of Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of Borneo. The goal was to turn one million hectares of unproductive and sparsely populated peat swamp forest into rice paddies in an effort to allieviate Indonesia's growing food shortage....
(MRP). Between 1996 and 1998, more than 4,000 km of drainage and irrigation channels were dug, and deforestation accelerated in part through legal and illegal logging and in part through burning. The water channels, and the roads and railways built for legal forestry, opened up the region to illegal forestry. In the MRP area, forest cover dropped from 64.8% in 1991 to 45.7% in 2000, and clearance has continued since then. It appears that almost all the marketable trees have now been removed from the areas covered by the MRP. What happened was not what had been expected: the channels drained the peat forests rather than irrigating them. Where the forests had often flooded up to 2m deep in the rainy season, now their surface is dry at all times of the year. The Indonesian government has now abandoned the MRP.
Fires
Fires were used in an attempt to create agricultural lands, including large palm tree plantations to supply palm oilEnvironmental impact of palm oil
Palm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many farmers in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. It is locally used as a cooking oil, exported for use in many commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. It produces up...
. The dried-out peat ignites easily and also burns underground, travelling unseen beneath the surface to break out in unexpected locations. Therefore after drainage, fires ravaged the area, destroying remaining forest and large numbers of birds, animals, reptiles and other wildlife along with new agriculture, even damaging nature reserves such as Muara Kaman and filling the air above Borneo and beyond with dense smoke and haze
1997 Southeast Asian haze
The 1997 Southeast Asian haze was a large-scale air quality disaster which occurred during the second half of 1997, its after-effects causing widespread atmospheric visibility and health problems within Southeast Asia...
and releasing enormous quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. The destruction had a major negative impact on the livelihoods of people in the area. It caused major smog-related health problems amongst half a million people, who suffered from respiratory problems.
The dry years of 1997-8 and 2002-3 (see El Niño) in particular saw huge fires in the drained and drying-out peat swamp forests. A study for the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
found that the peat swamp forests are a significant carbon sink for the planet, and that the fires of 1997-8 may have released up to 2.5 billion tonnes, and the 2002-3 fires between 200 million to 1 billion tonnes, of carbon into the atmosphere. Using satellite images from before and after the 1997 fires, scientists calculated (Page et al, 2002) that of the 790000 hectares (1,952,130.8 acre) that had burned 91.5% was peatland 730000 hectares (1,803,867.7 acre). Using ground measurements of the burn depth of peat, they estimated that 0.19–0.23 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon were released into the atmosphere through peat combustion, with a further 0.05 Gt released from burning of the overlying vegetation. Extrapolating these estimates to Indonesia as a whole, they estimated that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia. This is equivalent to 13–40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957.
Indonesia is currently the world's third largest carbon emitter, to a large extent due to the destruction of its ancient peat swamp forests (Pearce 2007).
Ecology
About 62% of the world’s tropical peat lands occur in the Indo-Malayan region (80% in Indonesia, 11% in Malaysia, 6% in Papua New Guinea, with small pockets and remnants in Brunei, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Thailand . They are unusual ecosystems, with trees up to 70 m high - vastly different from the peat lands of the north temperate and boreal zones (which are dominated by Sphagnum mosses, grasses, sedges and shrubs). The spongy, unstable, waterlogged, anaerobic beds of peat can be up to 20 m deep with low pH (pH 2.9 – 4) and low nutrients, and the forest floor is seasonally flooded. The water is stained dark brown by the tannins that leach from the fallen leaves and peat – hence the name ‘blackwater swamps’. During the dry season, the peat remains waterlogged and pools remain among the trees.Despite the extreme conditions the Borneo peat swamp forests have as many as 927 species of flowering plants and ferns recorded (By comparisom a biodiversity study in the Pekan peat swamp forest in Peninsular Malaysia reported 260 plant species). Patterns of forest type can be seen in circles from the centre of the swamps to their outer fringes which are made up of most of the tree families recorded in lowland dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 17 genera and approximately 500 species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus Dipterocarpus, is derived from Greek and refers to the two-winged fruit...
forests although many species are only found here . Many trees have buttresses and stilt roots for support in the unstable substrate, and pneumatophores and hoop roots and knee roots to facilitate gas exchange. The trees have thick, root mats in the upper 50 cm of the peat to enable oxygen and nutrient uptake.
One reason for the low nutrient conditions is that streams and rivers do not enter these forests (if they did, nutrient rich freshwater swamps would result), they only flow out of them, so the only input of nutrients is from rainfall, marine aerosols and dust. In order to cope with the lack of nutrients, the plants invest heavily in defences against herbivory such as chemical (toxic secondary compounds) and physical defences (tough leathery leaves, spines and thorns). It is these defences that prevent the leaves from decaying and so they build up as peat. Although the cellular contents quickly leach out of the leaves when they fall, the physical structure is resistant to both bacterial and fungal decomposition and so remains intact, slowly breaking down to form peat (Yule and Gomez 2008). This is in stark contrast to the lowland dipterocarp forests where leaf decomposition is extremely rapid, resulting in very fast nutrient cycling on the forest floor. If non-endemic leaf species are placed in the peat swamp forests, they break down quite quickly, but even after one year submerged in the swamp, endemic species remain virtually unchanged (Yule and Gomez 2008). The only nutrients available for the trees are thus the ones that leach from the leaves when they fall, and these nutrients are rapidly absorbed by the thick root mat. It was previously assumed that the low pH and anaerobic conditions of the tropical peat swamps meant that bacteria and fungi could not survive, but recent studies have shown diverse and abundant communities (albeit not nearly as diverse as dry land tropical rainforests, or freshwater swamps) (Voglmayr and Yule 2006; Jackson, Liew and Yule 2008).
Fauna
These forests are home to wildlife including gibbonGibbon
Gibbons are apes in the family Hylobatidae . The family is divided into four genera based on their diploid chromosome number: Hylobates , Hoolock , Nomascus , and Symphalangus . The extinct Bunopithecus sericus is a gibbon or gibbon-like ape which, until recently, was thought to be closely related...
s, orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s, and crocodiles. In particular the riverbanks of the swamps are important habitats for the Crab-eating Macaque
Crab-eating Macaque
The Crab-eating macaque is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. It is also called the "long-tailed macaque", and is referred to as the "cynomolgus monkey" in laboratories.-Etymology:...
(Macaca fascicularis) and the Silvery Lutung
Silvery Lutung
The silvery lutung , also known as the silvered leaf monkey or the silvery langur, is an Old World monkey. It is arboreal, living in coastal, mangrove, and riverine forests in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo....
(Presbytis cristata) and are the main habitat of Borneo's unique and endangered Proboscis Monkey
Proboscis Monkey
The proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo...
(Nasalis larvatus) which can swim well in the rivers, and the Borneo Roundleaf Bat
Borneo Roundleaf Bat
The Borneo Roundleaf Bat is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found in Borneo, Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. Hipposideros sabanus is a synonym of this species.-Literature cited:...
(Hipposideros doriae). There are two birds endemic to the peat forests, the Javan White-eye
Javan White-eye
The Javan White-eye is a species of bird in the Zosteropidae family.It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.It is threatened by habitat...
(Zosterops flavus) and the Hook-billed Bulbul
Hook-billed Bulbul
The Hook-billed Bulbul is a species of songbird in the Pycnonotidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Setornis.It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia....
(Setornis criniger) while more than 200 species of birds have been recorded in Tanjung Puting
Tanjung Puting
Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located on the island of Borneo in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The park is famous for its orangutan conservation.- Geography :...
National Park in Kalimantan. Rivers of the peat swamps are home to the rare arowana
Arowana
Arowanas are freshwater bony fish of the family Osteoglossidae, also known as bonytongues. In this family of fishes, the head is bony and the elongate body is covered by large, heavy scales, with a mosaic pattern of canals. The dorsal and the anal fins have soft rays and are long based, while the...
fish (Scleropages formosus), otters, waterbirds, false gharial
False gharial
The false gharial , also known as the Malayan gharial, false gavial, or Tomistoma is a freshwater crocodile of the Crocodylidae family with a very thin and elongated snout...
s and crocodiles.
Preservation
Attempts at preservation have been minimal in comparison to recent devastation while commercial logging of peat swamp forest in Sarawak is ongoing and planned to intensify in Brunei. One plan by the environmental NGO Borneo Orangutan SurvivalBorneo Orangutan Survival
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit NGO founded by Dr Willie Smits in 1991 and dedicated to the conservation of the endangered Bornean Orangutan and its habitat through the involvement of local people...
is to preserve the peat swamp forest of Mawas using a combination of carbon finance
Carbon finance
Carbon finance is a new branch of Environmental finance. Carbon finance explores the financial implications of living in a carbon-constrained world, a world in which emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases carry a price....
and debt-for-nature-swap. Peatland conservation and rehabilitation are more efficient undertakings than reducing deforestation (in terms of claiming carbon credits through REDD
Redd
Redd is a Turkish rock band established in 1996 by tenor opera singer Doğan Duru and guitarist Berke Hatipoğlu under the name Ten. They used to play at bars until they set up their own studio in 2004. Their first album, entitled "50/50", produced by Levent Büyük was published a year later by...
initiatives) due to the much larger reduced emissions achievable per unit area and the much lower opportunity costs involved .About 6% of the original peat-forest area is contained within protected areas, the largest of which are Tanjung Puting
Tanjung Puting
Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located on the island of Borneo in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The park is famous for its orangutan conservation.- Geography :...
and Sabangau National Park
Sabangau National Park
Sabangau National Park is a national park in Central Kalimantan, a province of Indonesia in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.- Geography :...
s.
See also
- Mega Rice Project (Kalimantan)Mega Rice Project (Kalimantan)The Mega Rice Project was initiated in 1996 in the southern sections of Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of Borneo. The goal was to turn one million hectares of unproductive and sparsely populated peat swamp forest into rice paddies in an effort to allieviate Indonesia's growing food shortage....
- 1997 Southeast Asian haze1997 Southeast Asian hazeThe 1997 Southeast Asian haze was a large-scale air quality disaster which occurred during the second half of 1997, its after-effects causing widespread atmospheric visibility and health problems within Southeast Asia...
- 2006 Southeast Asian haze
- Sabangau River
- Kahayan RiverKahayan RiverThe Kahayan river, or Great Dyak, is the largest river in Central Kalimantan, a province of Indonesia in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The provincial capital Palangkaraya lies on the river. The main inhabitants are Dyaks, who practice slash-and-burn rice cultivation and...
- Tropical peatTropical peatAreas of tropical peat are found mostly in South East Asia although are also found in Africa, Central and South America and elsewhere around the Pacific Ocean. Tropical peatlands are significant carbon sinks and store large amounts of carbon and their destruction can significantly impact on the...
- Deforestation in BorneoDeforestation in BorneoBorneo, the third largest island in the world, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, was once covered with dense rainforests, but along with its tropical lowland and highland forests, there has been extensive deforestation in the past sixty years. In the 1980s and 1990s the forests of...
- Borneo Orangutan Survival FoundationBorneo Orangutan SurvivalThe Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit NGO founded by Dr Willie Smits in 1991 and dedicated to the conservation of the endangered Bornean Orangutan and its habitat through the involvement of local people...
- Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forestsPeninsular Malaysian peat swamp forestsThe Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests ecoregion, in the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, are of the Malay Peninsula, which includes portions of Malaysia and southern Thailand.-Setting:...
- Environmental impact of palm oilEnvironmental impact of palm oilPalm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many farmers in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. It is locally used as a cooking oil, exported for use in many commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. It produces up...
- Environmental issues in IndonesiaEnvironmental issues in IndonesiaEnvironmental issues in Indonesia are associated with the country's high population and rapid industrialisation, and they are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels and weak, under-resourced governance...
- The Burning SeasonThe Burning Season (2008 film)The Burning Season is a documentary about the burning of rainforests in Indonesia which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. The main characters featured in the film are: Dorjee Sun from Australia; Achmadi, a small-scale palm oil farmer from Jambi province in Indonesia; and Lone Drøscher...
External links
- Borneo peat swamp forests (World Wildlife Fund)
- Envisat focuses on carbon-rich peat swamp forest fires (European Space Agency)
- Smoking out the world's lungs BBC report (accessed 12th Feb. 2007)