Issues and Opportunities in coastal and peatswamp forests in South East Asia

By

Marcel Silvius

Brunei

22 March 2012

Issues and opportunities in coastal and peat swamp forests in South-east Asia

Mangrove forest

Don’t forget the ecosystem values:•Carbon store•Coastal protection•Fisheries•Biodiversity•Amenity values: Tourism

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Many migratory species

Migratory waders depend on healthy coastal ecosystems

• East Asian – Australasian Flyway (EAAF) extends

from Alaska, the Russian Far East and Siberia

through SE Asia to Australia and New Zealand

• > 50 million waterbirds

• Migration in north-south ‘flyways’

Mangrove loss

Drivers:

•Logging

•Conversion for aquaculture

and agriculture

•Conversion for infrastructure (roads,

housing)

Peat swamp forest

Inside primary peat swamp forest (Belait peat swamp forest, Brunei)

Mineral SoilRiver River

Peat swamp forest

Organic matter

A peat bog is rain water fed

Peat: organic matter accumulated over thousands of years storing carbon in thick layers

What is so special about peatlands?

+ 90% water

Peatlands cover 3% of the global land surface

Key role in the water cycle

• Globally 10% of all freshwater

• Source areas of many rivers

• Important for water storage and supply

• Crucial for mitigation of droughts and floods

Peatlands: Threatened carbon stores

Peatlands store large amounts of carbon Peatland degradation leads to CO2 emissions which contribute to global warming

• Globally peatlands store 550 Giga ton (Gt) C

• 30% of terrestrial carbon

– twice the carbon stored in forests

• drained and degrading: 15% (50 million ha)

• emissions: 2 Gt CO2 per annum (25% increase since 1990)

• 6% of global emissions

Globally degrading peatlandsare hotspots of CO2 emissions

Russia160 Mt

EU

174 Mt

115 MtCentral Asia

USA

72 Mt

1 Gt SE Asia

Drivers of peatland degradation in SE Asia

•Deforestation

–Legal & illegal logging

•Fires

•Drainage

–Agriculture

– Infrastructure

–Pulpwood & Palm oil plantations

Loss of CarbonNatural forest into plantation:

above ground Carbon release 153 – 359 t C ha-1

(once)

Logged forest to plantation:

above ground Carbon release 47 – 214 t C ha-1

(once)

Drainage of peat:

continuous Carbon release: 7 - 40 t C ha-1

every year !!

Oil palm on peat

Crop Emission tCO2/TJ Fuel Emission tCO2/TJ

Palm oil 600 Fuel oil 73

Berbak National park, Jambi, Indonesia

Trade / economic consequences

• Opportunity loss

– EU

• Renewable Energy directive: No biofuel from feed stock derived from drained peatlands

• Fuel Quality Directive: No biofuels from

peatlands

– USA

• EPA-420-F-11-046: December 2011: Palm oil does not meet the minimum 20% lifecycle GHG

reduction threshold needed to qualify as renewable fuel

• Extra costs for responsible producers to certify and market sustainable palm oil

Long-term impacts of peatland degradation

• Climate change

• Loss of biodiversity

• Loss for other business sectors

• Major soil subsidence and flooding

Socio-economic impact of peatland fires on people

Peatland fires:

• Millions ha peat forest burned

• Major public health issues

• Millions of working & school days lost

• Billions of $ lost through impacts on transport and tourism sectors

• 30% of children under 5 have respiratory illnesses and stunted growth

• Social & ethnic tensions

• Vicious cycle of environmental degradation & over-exploitation

Smog and smoke

over SE-Asia

22 Oktober 1997

International tensions / political impacts

© NASA TOMS

Malaysia in September 2005

Towards solutionsTowards solutions

Green Coast Policy

• Shift coastal settlements inland• Adjust coastal spatial planning • Maintain a Green Belt• Apply Sylvo-fisheries & place ponds behind mangroves

Sylvo-fishery: DRR + Livelihood + Mitigate CC

A model being promoted in Aceh

DRR

Silvo-fishery pond- Cikeong, West Java

Silvo-fishery pond- Pemalang, Central Java

• International cooperation for the conservation and

sustainable management of coastal areas that are key for migratory waterbirds

• Join the EAAF Partnership

• Nominate key areas for the network.

East Asian Australasian Flyway

South-east Asian peatlandsrehabilitation and conservation

• Rehabilitation of half of SE Asia’s degraded peatlands (6.5 million ha) can prevent 1 Gt of CO2/yr:

= 6 ppmv over 100 year

• Conservation of undeveloped peat swamps (Moratorium) can prevent 1.5 Gt CO2/yr:

= 9 ppmv over 100 years

• Peatland emission reduction can prevent major atmospheric carbon increase:

15 ppmv over 100 years,

or about 15% of what is needed to stop climate change

1. Preventing further peatland degradation:

• No more logging

• No more conversion

• Revoke existing concessions - shift to degraded mineral soil areas

• Exclude products of drained peatlands from supply chains

2. Rehabilitation of degraded peatlands

Priorities for achieving reduction targets

Peatland Ecosystem Restoration

• Rewetting & reforestation

• Fire prevention & control

• Local economic development

• Sustainable finance

� Carbon markets

� Private sector

• Policy embedding

� Ecosystem Restoration legislation

� REDD+

Moratorium on Conversion and Drainage of Peatlands

Wetlands International’sframeworks of cooperation

• UNFCCC– Wetlands in LULUCF

– Peatlands in REDD+

• Private sector– world wide portfolio of peatland and

mangrove projects targeting carbon markets

• German International Climate Initiative– 65,000 ha peatland restoration in Moscow

Oblast; German-Russian cooperation

• IPS – Responsible Peatland Management

Strategy

– Development certification

• RSPO– Peat Land Working Group

– GHG working group – Carbon neutral palm

oil production

• EU & USA– No biofuel produced on peat

Community-based implementation

• Local stakeholders can benefit

– Employment

– Benefit sharing

– Micro-credits (Bio-rights www.wetlands.org/bio-rights) & CSR

• Sustainable development in bufferzones• Sharing of business in concession

– tourism, fisheries, NTFP, timber

• in return participation in environment management

– Build capacity of local NGOs and science institutes

– Healthy environment

Available at www.wetlands.org

Science base development

Peatland restoration is possible & MRV-able

• Brunei’s peat and mangrove swamp forests are in

good shape.

• This offers opportunity for sound development and

conservation

• fisheries, including aquarium fish trade• international carbon trade• freshwater supply for coastal municipalities and industry• tourism development

• Interesting investment option for international research

• ecosystem functioning• genetic and species biodiversity• carbon sequestration

• Benefit of disaster risk reduction, preventing the

significant costs related to soil subsidence, flooding and resulting land loss

Message

More information on

www.wetlands.org

Thank y u