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Tropical peat ecosystem are found in three regions: Central America, Africa and South East Asia. [2] About 62% of the world's tropical peat lands occur in the Indomalayan realm (80% in Indonesia, 11% in Malaysia, 6% in Papua New Guinea, and pockets in Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand).
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 [9] (In comparison, a biodiversity study in the Pekan peat swamp forest in Peninsular Malaysia reported 260 plant species). [10]
Tropical peat is a type of histosol that is found in tropical latitudes, including South East Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. [2] Tropical peat mostly consists of dead organic matter from trees instead of spaghnum which are commonly found in temperate peat. [ 3 ]
Before setting up the tropical peat research institute, the Sarawak government was concerned with international non-governmental organisations (NGO) lobbying in Europe that calls for an import ban of palm oil coming from tropical peatlands because of the claims that cultivation of oil palms on peatland contributes to global greenhouse gases emissions. [9]
Satellite image of burning tropical peat swamp, Borneo. In 1997 alone, 73000 ha of swamp was burned in Borneo, releasing the same amount of carbon as 13-40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions of fossil fuels. The majority of this carbon was released from peat rather than overlying tropical rainforest.
The ecoregion covers an area of 3,600 square kilometers (1,400 sq mi) on both the eastern and western sides of the peninsula. The peat swamp forests have formed over hundreds of years, as sediment and organic debris deposited by rivers are trapped behind mangroves, gradually building up a layer of waterlogged, acidic, nutrient-poor soil.
The Katingan Mentaya Project (KMP) is a tropical peatland forest conservation and restoration project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, covering 149,800 ha. It protects a highly biodiverse area of tropical peat swamp forest home to over 5% of the remaining global population of the Bornean Orangutan and other High Conservation Value (HCV ...
Borneo peat swamp forests; Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests [1] [2] Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests [3] Peninsular Malaysian rain forests [4] [5] Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests; Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests [6]