Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Although tropical peatlands only cover about 0.25% of the Earth's land surface they contain 50,000–70,000 million tonnes of carbon (about 3% global soil carbon). In addition, tropical peatlands support diverse ecosystems and are home to a number of endangered species including the orangutan.
The economic value of a tropical peatland was once derived from raw materials, such as wood, bark, resin and latex, the extraction of which did not contribute to large carbon emissions. In Southeast Asia, peatlands are drained and cleared for human use for a variety of reasons, including the production of palm oil and timber for export in ...
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).
The peatland ecosystem covers 3.7 million square kilometres (1.4 million square miles) [12] and is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet, [2] [13] because peatland plants capture carbon dioxide (CO 2) naturally released from the peat, maintaining an equilibrium.
Peat swamp forests 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 ...
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 ...
This is even more true given the limited success of restoration projects especially in tropical peatlands. The conserved peatland still holds value for humans and hence provides a number of ecosystem services e.g. carbon storage, water storage and discharge. Conserving peatlands also avoids costly investments.
Indonesia has the largest area of tropical peatland. Of the total 440,000 km 2 (170,000 sq mi) tropical peat swamp, about 210,000 km 2 (81,000 sq mi) are located in Indonesia (Page, 2001; Wahyunto, 2006). The Vasyugan Swamp is a large swamp in the western Siberia area of the Russian Federation.