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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]
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 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.
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). [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Peat in Indonesia is distributed over three islands, Sumatra (8.3 million ha), Kalimantan (6.3 million ha) and Papua (4.6 million ha).
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 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 ]
Malaysia also has significant peatland in the Peninsular and Borneo, at 26,685 km 2, covering 8.1% of its land area. [ 22 ] Although originally a wetland ecosystem, much of the peatland in Southeast Asia have been drained for human activities such as agriculture, forestry and urban development.
The Klias Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Klias) is a peninsula in western of Sabah, Malaysia. It consists of coastal wetlands which become the largest mangrove and nipa swamp area in Sabah's west coast and serves as a major nurturing ground for fisheries resources in the Brunei Bay and Kimanis Bay. [1] [2] [3]