CARBOPEAT Partner Presentations at International Symposium
and Workshop, Kuching, August 2008
A number of CARBOPEAT partners will be presenting their
research during the Kuching conference, below are brief details
of some of these.
Soil characteristics of burned peat
swamp forest underlain by acid sulfate soils at Vo Doi National
Park in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Nguyen My Hoa, Tran Ba Linh, Phan Thanh Bang, Vo Thi Guong
Peatland development: wise use
and impact management.
Herbert Diemont, Henk Ritzema, Raymond Schrijver, Jan Verhagen,
Casper Verwer, and Henk Wösten
Canal blocking strategies
to restore hydrology in degraded tropical peatlands in the
former Mega Rice Project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Henk Ritzema, Suwido Limin, Kitso Kusin, and Jyrki Jauhiainen
Requirements for and operational
aspects of water management in tropical peatlands.
Henk Wösten, Henk Ritzema and Jack Rieley
Land use change in tropical peatlands
& current uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions.
Harri Vasander and Jyrki Jauhiainen
Restoration ecology of tropical peatlands:
Opportunities and challenges
Susan Page and Laura Graham
Coastal development in peatlands:
a challenge or a curse – are experiences from The Netherlands
useful in the tropics?
Henk Ritzema
Soil characteristics of burned
peat swamp forest underlain by acid sulfate soils at Vo Doi
National Park in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Nguyen My Hoa, Tran Ba Linh, Phan Thanh Bang, Vo Thi Guong
Peat swamp forest fires have great impacts on peat land
ecology. In Vo Doi National Park at U Minh Ha peat land area,
the peat soil is underneath by acid sulfate soils. The environment
can be threatened because of the fire-damaged peat land. Objective
of the study was to determine the changes in soil and water
quality under the affects of loss of surface peat by fires.
Peat layer at Vo Doi had characters of a fibric peat : low
bulk density, low water holding capacity, low shrinking and
swelling, high hydraulic conductivity, low pH, high total
and labile N and low total and available P. In the burned
peat soil area, sulphuric layer was exposed to the surface
with lower soil pH , high exchangeable Al, and low nutrient
availability. The low pH and permanent flooded condition in
burned peat swamp forest may lead to loss of plant biodiversity
and wild life. The burned peat land underneath by acid sulfate
soils in Vo Doi National Park leads to the negative impact
on soil and water quality therefore related to the loss of
biodiversity of the peat land area.
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Peatland development: wise
use and impact management.
Herbert Diemont, Henk Ritzema, Raymond Schrijver, Jan Verhagen,
Casper Verwer, and Henk Wösten
CO2 emissions from drained peat lands form a significant
part of global carbon emissions and have become an important
part of the global debate on climate change. Mitigation of
land use based carbon emissions can only be achieved by internalizing
the issue in spatial planning. In this paper we summarize
the efforts made so far with respect to peat land located
in coastal areas in The Netherlands, making reference to coastal
peat lands in Sarawak. It is concluded that increased flooding
risks caused by climate change are being incorporated in spatial
policy, but with respect to CO2 emission the policy has yet
to be developed. The coastal regions of Sarawak and The Netherlands
have many features in common. Therefore it is recommended
to intensify cooperation between The Netherlands and Sarawak.
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Canal blocking strategies
to restore hydrology in degraded tropical peatlands in the
former Mega Rice Project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Henk Ritzema, Suwido Limin, Kitso Kusin, and Jyrki Jauhiainen.
The construction of thousands of kilometres of canals in
Central Kalimantan, Indonesia has resulted in over-drainage
and since then the area has been subject to severe forest
and peat fires. Canal blocking strategies to restore the hydrology
are in the early stages of understanding. The results of the
blocking experiments show that blocking canals resulted in
higher water levels. These positive effects, however, did
not offset the negative effects of the accelerated subsidence
caused by the low water levels in the canals. The canals have
“eating” themselves in the peatland, creating
depression in the peatland surface. As a result the overland
and interflow is intercepted by the canals, resulting in the
risk of overtopping during extreme rainstorms. Based on these
experiences, blocking strategies have been refined.
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Requirements for and
operational aspects of water management in tropical peatlands.
Henk Wösten, Henk Ritzema and Jack Rieley
Large areas of globally important tropical peatland in Southeast
Asia are under threat from land clearance, degradation and
fire, jeopardizing their natural functions as reservoirs of
biodiversity, carbon stores and hydrological buffers. Adequate
water management is a key issue both in protecting designated
peatlands as well as in their agricultural use. Three major
land uses are distinguished: (i) natural peatswamp forest;
(ii) agricultural areas; (iii) plantation crops. Each of these
major land uses has specific water management requirements
in terms of low or high water levels being constant or variable.
As a consequence, each type of land use also needs a specific
operational water management in terms of number and size of
dams to meet the requirements. The paper presents examples
of requirements and operational aspects for each of the three
land uses.
Land use change in tropical
peatlands & current uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions
Harri Vasander and Jyrki Jauhiainen
This presentation focuses on the principal human impacts
on tropical peatland carbon stores and their contribution
to climate change processes. It will review data on greenhouse
gas exchange between tropical peat and the atmosphere, and
threshold factors influencing the processes in various land
use types. As there is a high rate of peatland land use change
and expected changes in the regional climate of SE Asian peatlands,
projections of future carbon emissions from tropical peatlands
under different land use scenarios are needed. This must lead
to development of best peatland management practices that
can reduce carbon loss now and in the future.
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Restoration ecology of tropical
peatlands: Opportunities and challenges
Susan Page and Laura Graham
Restoration ecology is the study of renewing a degraded,
damaged, or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention,
whilst ecological restoration is the practice of reviving
the natural resource functions of degraded ecosystems, thus
reinstating the environmental and economic services that these
provide. The discipline of restoration ecology can be an ambiguous
science because social realities are often as important to
restoration plans as scientific theories and predictions.
This paper will address some of the opportunities and challenges
facing those involved in both the restoration ecology and
ecological restoration of tropical peatlands. It will review
and illustrate the current state of knowledge and consider
some of the opportunities that large-scale restoration efforts
could offer in terms of recovering natural resource functions
of tropical peatlands and thus reinstating the environmental
and economic services that these provide.
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Coastal development in
peatlands: a challenge or a curse – are experiences
from The Netherlands useful in the tropics?
Henk Ritzema
The Malaysian Government has identified the coastal peatlands
of Sarawak as a major region for development. Innovative solutions,
e.g. floating roads, buildings and structures, buildings on
piles, etc., are required to reduce and counterbalance the
never-ending subsidence. Higher water levels and more space
for water will fundamentally change the way peatlands are
being managed. Cooperation between Universities and research
institutions in Southeast Asia and Europe is most relevant
with respect to the coastal development as in both regions
coastal areas are dominated by densely populated peatlands
with the challenge of climate change, including sea level
rise.
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