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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.
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 ...
These peatlands play an important role in global carbon storage and have very high biodiversity. However, peatlands in Indonesia also face major threats from deforestation and forest fires. [12] In the early 21st century, the world's largest tropical mire was found in the Central Congo Basin, covering 145,500 km 2 and storing up to 10 13 kg of ...
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).
In natural peatlands, the "annual rate of biomass production is greater than the rate of decomposition", but it takes "thousands of years for peatlands to develop the deposits of 1.5 to 2.3 m [4.9 to 7.5 ft], which is the average depth of the boreal [northern] peatlands", [2] which store around 415 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon (about 46 times 2019 ...
Malaysia is a megadiverse country, with huge variety of biota. Terrestrial ecoregions. Malaysia is in the Indomalayan realm. Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf ...
In Malaysia and Indonesia in the last twenty years, peat swamp forests have retreated from covering 77% of peatlands to 36%, endangering many mammals and birds in the region. In 2010, industrial agriculture covers about 3-3.1 million hectares, with oil palm accounting for 2.15 million hectares of this area. [ 26 ]
In addition, tropical peatlands support diverse ecosystems and are home to a number of endangered species including the orangutan. The native peat swamp forests contain a number of valuable timber-producing trees plus a range of other products of value to local communities, such as bark, resins and latex.