NEWS - PRESS RELEASES

New Data Analysis Conclusive About Release of CO2 When Natural Swamp Forest is Converted to Oil Palm Plantation

Tropical peatlands turn up the heat for the bali cop!

CARBOPEAT PRESS RELEASE

03 December 2007

A new data analysis undertaken by Dr. Susan Page of the University of Leicester Department of Geography and colleagues involved in the EU-funded CARBOPEAT and RESTORPEAT projects shows conclusively that large amounts of carbon dioxide are released from peatland in Southeast Asia when it is converted from natural swamp forest to plantations of oil palm or pulpwood trees.

This supports the findings of a recent Greenpeace report on the impact of growing oil palm on tropical peatlands and a feature article on palm oil and pulpwood plantations in this week’s New Scientist.

According to Professor Jack Rieley of the School of Geography, University of Nottingham these new life cycle analysis calculations show that all forms of land use change on tropical peatland lead to massive losses of carbon from the peat store and the transfer of large amounts of CO2e to the atmosphere contributing to climate change processes. The worst land use scenario is degraded peatland. This is peatland that has been deforested and drained but is not currently managed; these degraded peatlands are susceptible to fire in every dry season which leads to large carbon emissions. Plantations of oil palm and acacia trees grown for pulpwood, however, also lose large amounts of carbon (click here to see table ) owing to rapid decomposition of the peat carbon store as a result of oxidation caused by deep land drainage.

Natural peat swamp forest acts as a carbon sink accumulating at least 2.6 t ha-1 CO2e yr-1 as a consequence of tree growth and peat accumulation. Peatland under plantation agriculture and degraded peatland are both major carbon sources with oil palm and pulpwood plantations emitting CO2 e in the order of 170 and 280 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively, equivalent to 1,000 and 1,900 t ha-1 yr-1 over the 25 year life cycle.

Since the areas occupied by oil palm plantations on peatland in Malaysia and Indonesia are huge, in the order of 420,000 hectares for the former and 2,800,000 ha for the latter, the combined 25 year life cycle CO2e emissions are enormous and in the region of 13.6 Gt CO2e.

According to Professor Florian Siegert of Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, who is studying land cover change in Southeast Asia, the large increase in area of oil palm projected to take place in coming years to satisfy the biofuels market will release much more CO2 emissions than the fossil fuel it is supposed to replace (up to 30 times more depending upon management of individual plantations). The emissions associated with palm oil plantations growing on thick tropical peat are particularly massive. In Indonesia it is estimated that producing 1 tonne of palm oil on peatland will cause emissions of between 15 and 70 tonnes of CO2 over the life cycle of 25 years as a result of forest conversion, peat decomposition and emission from fires associated with land clearance. The range of emission values is so large because oil palm fruit harvest can be much lower on nutrient poor and poorly drained peat soils. Peat swamp forests are the only major land area not yet developed in Southeast Asia, but increased demand for palm oil and pulp for paper is already leading to accelerated conversion of peat swamp forests into plantations.

This new assessment of the impact of plantations on CO2e emissions from tropical peatland is very important, especially in view of the upcoming UNFCCC climate change conference that will be held in Bali, Indonesia from this week (4-14 December). Delegates to the Bali COP will discuss proposals to improve international requirements for reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Up until quite recently most attention was focused on GHG emissions from industry and the burning of fossils fuels. There is now an enhanced emphasis on emissions from non-industrial sources, such as deforestation, agricultural practices and, in the case of Southeast Asia, peat swamp reclamation. Various mechanisms to reduce emissions from deforestation have been proposed to UNFCCC and will be discussed during the Bali meeting.

Dr Susan Page said: “Current land use and land practise developments in Southeast Asia give grave cause for concern. While deforestation rates in non-peatland areas are decreasing slightly owing to depletion of forest resources, those on peatlands have been rising for the last 20 years. In 2005, 25% of all deforestation in Southeast Asia was on peatlands owing to demand for land on which to establish plantations. Current UNFCCC negotiations in Bali on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could offer a crucial opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from tropical peatlands and thus contribute to combating global climate change.”

Time for action: Dr Page went on to say that “The Government of Indonesia should regard its peatlands as a ‘bank’ because they are worth more as biodiversity and carbon stores than oil palm or pulp tree plantations. As a first step it should rescind ALL concession licenses that have been (and still are being) granted for new plantations on its peatland, especially those granted by the decentralized local governments without carrying out Environmental Impact Assessments. It is clear with current rates of peatland conversion that the Indonesian Government cannot reduce its massive non-industrial CO2 emissions unless it stops plantation and other agricultural and industrial uses of its peatlands, and takes serious measures to protect the natural resource functions of biodiversity, carbon and water stores of the remaining peat swamp forests”.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Dr Susan Page is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, University of Leicester, UK. She has been carrying out research on tropical peatlands for more than 15 years and is a leading expert on their ecology and role in the global carbon cycle, with a focus on forest biodiversity, land use change, peatland fires and sustainable development. She is leading the EU-funded CARBOPEAT project, is a Principle Investigator on the RESTORPEAT project, and is an advisor to several international projects which aim to improve land management in the humid tropics.

Professor Jack Rieley is in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is an internationally recognised expert on the ecology and wise use of tropical peatlands.

Professor Florian Siegert is a specialist in monitoring deforestation, remote sensing and geographic information systems. He is managing director of Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH, is a co-author of over 70 papers and book chapters, and lectures at the GeoBio Center of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. http://www.rssgmbh.de/

Notes for Editors

1. The CARBOPEAT and RESTORPEAT Projects are funded by the European Union. CARBOPEAT is designed to raise the awareness of carbon-climate-human interactions in tropical peatlands in Europe and SE Asia. CARBOPEAT involves partners from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Holland, Finland and the UK and is managed by Dr Susan Page of the Department of Geography, University of Leicester. Members of the RESTORPEAT project are conducting targeted research in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam on the wise use and restoration of tropical peat swamp forest to promote sustainable livelihoods of local communities.
2. Peat is formed by the accumulation of organic matter derived mainly from dead vegetation (e.g. mosses, shrubs and trees) in situations where decomposition (i.e., the breaking down of plant and animal material) is limited. Tropical peat is formed mainly from the undecomposed remains of rain forest trees.
3. Tropical peatlands occupy an area of around 400,000 km2, of which the largest portion (68%) is located in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia (56%, ~220,000 km2), Malaysia (6%, ~25,000 km2) and Papua New Guinea (4%, 16,000 km2).
4. In tropical peatlands, both the vegetation and underlying peat constitute a large and highly concentrated carbon pool, which, upon degradation, releases greenhouse gases that can have a significant effect on global environmental change processes. Tropical peatlands, although they cover only about 0.25% of the Earth's land surface, contain 50,000-70,000 million tonnes of carbon (about 3% of the amount of carbon stored in soil worldwide). Tropical peatland accounts for about 12% of the global peatland area but it may contain 25% of the total global peatland carbon.
5. In an undisturbed condition many tropical peatlands are actively accumulating peat (i.e. carbon) at the present time. Once the carbon allocation to the system is discontinued, however, for example by deforestation and drainage, the surface peat oxidises and emits carbon rapidly to the atmosphere, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse active gas. This process also results in progressive loss of peat from the surface, which leads to surface subsidence and an increased potential for flooding during the wet season.
6. In addition to their role in the global carbon cycle, tropical peatlands are also important for the maintenance of biodiversity and local community livelihoods. Tropical peat swamp forests provide unique and diverse ecosystems. For example, in Southeast Asia they are home to a number of endangered species including orang utan, Sumatran tiger and many unique species of blackwater fish. Peat swamp forests also contain timber-producing trees and a range of other products of value to local communities, including bark, resins and latex.
7. In recent years, climate change mitigation measures such as reduced deforestation have been gaining momentum through the COP process of the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). Proposed measures such as REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation – also known as Avoided Deforestation) may be able to help protect net carbon sinks by averting the loss of standing forest resources through deforestation and fire and could, with regard to tropical peat swamps, make available new opportunities for protection of the tropical peat carbon store by placing an economic value on the remaining peat swamp forests and providing an incentive for their protection.
8. About 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions during the 1990s resulted from tropical land use changes, predominantly from deforestation and forest degradation including conversion of tropical peatlands. Forty percent of the earth’s terrestrial carbon is found in tropical forests; hence forest conservation measures are regarded as a highly cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Contact details:

Dr Sue Page or Dr Chris Banks (CARBOPEAT Project Office) Department of Geography University of Leicester University Road Leicester, UK LE1 7RH Tel.: +44 (0)116 2523318 Fax.: +44 (0)116 2523854

Emails: sep5@le.ac.uk chris.banks@le.ac.uk Web: www.carbopeat.org