FACT SHEET
November 2012
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PEATLAND
MAPPING
METHODOLOGY
`Towards Improvement In Peatland Mapping`
The Importance of Accurate
Peatland Mapping
The well managed peatland has the potential to make a major
contribution for greenhouse gasses reduction, especially in
countries that have extensive peatland with significant peat forest
carbon reserves. Peat forests can store far more carbon than other
kinds of forest. However, if peat forests are degraded, it results in
far more emissions than other ecosystems. Consequently, protection and prevention of forest conversion to other land uses is
important.
In fact, peatland mapping with accurate data to accommodate all
the necessary things in a peatland map, including the importance
of appropriate land use management, is not yet available. This is,
concurrently, one of the obstructing challenges for the efforts
towards better peatland management. Indonesia has seen several
peatland maps published, such as the map produced by Wetlands
International in 2004 and the Ministry of Agriculture in 2011.
According to Deltares (2012), Indonesia’s existing peatland maps
need to be improved in order to guarantee their accuracy, and the
peatland boundaries indicated by the current mapping also need
improvement. The inaccuracy of these maps is the result of the use
of inconsistent data and imprecision in the appraisal of the peat
depth. There are some deep peatland that have been mapped as
being shallow and vice versa. As such, a revision of the mapping of
peatland in Indonesia is sorely needed. A method of mapping that
can be applied well in this country is also needed so that accurate
peatland maps can be obtained. For this reason, a mapping
method that will create precise maps needs to be formulated.
Peatland Mapping Theory and
the Global Experience
The largest area of tropical peatlands is found in Southeast Asia,
and the largest portion of this is primarily found in Indonesia (in
Sumatera, Kalimantan - the Indonesian name for Borneo - and
West Papua), Malaysia (the Malaysian peninsula, and Sarawak and
Sabah in Borneo), Brunei and Thailand (Whitmore 1995, Page et al.
2004). In Borneo, the peatlands extend along the coastlines of
Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam, and Sabah, and the lowlands of
Kalimantan, which is a region that is poorly drained and deep in the
forest interior. Over a period of 4,500 years, the peat has reached a
depth of 20 metres in several areas (Phillips 1998).
The existence of these tropical peatlands is extremely important,
not only as a source of biodiversity but also for storing carbon
(Tawaraya et al. 2003). Peatland and peatland forest that face
deforestation have the potential to release carbon in large
amounts, namely through fires, that can contribute significantly to
the process of climate change. Available data and information from
the field along with surveys from the air (by airborne and satellite)
indicated that the combination of human activity (clearing forest
for farming, illegal logging, etc.) and forest fires have resulted in
changes to the forest cover in the peatland (Putra et al. 2008).
Indonesia has gathered a lot of data (such as changes in forest
cover, forest management, biomass on the surface of the land,
biomass under the surface, types of forest, forest growth),
however, there is still a significant gap with regard to achieving a
national system of monitoring. The differences in terms of uncertainty about the findings and data can be caused by the different
assumptions, methods, and technology used. Different organizations can use methodology and resources that are different, which
will give rise to different estimates, for example discrepancies with
regard to estimates of carbon emissions.
Peatland Mapping Methodology Assessment in Indonesia
During the period of 1986-1990, the Geospatial Information
Agency (Badan Informasi Geospasial/BIG for short, once known as
Bakosurtanal) worked with the Department of Transmigration and
the U.K.’s Overseas Development Administration (ODA) to map the
land resources in Indonesia on a 1:250,000 scale, which included
peatland, through the RePPProT project (a Regional Physical
Planning Program for Transmigration). The natural resources
mapping method used by the RePPProT project is a land system
concept.
Basically, this land system concept always uses landforms as the
key to mapping land resources. A land system is a natural ecosystem in which rock, climate, hydrology, topography, soil, and organisms are all linked to one another closely in certain ways (RePPProT,
1990). Every land system has a unique pattern or proportions in its
structure. The method for delineation of a land system usually
involves a range of approaches such as aerial photography,
airborne radar, Landsat and SPOT.
Proposed Peatland Mapping Methodology
As a result of the meetings held several times by ICCC at which
peatland mapping experts were brought together, the ICCC recommends the consensus on peatland mapping methodology for Indonesia, which is divided into the following stages:
1. Phase I of Mapping
During this first stage, key corrections must be carried out
quickly, on a short term basis, by conducting tests in the field in
the regions that are prioritized. This stage has the target of finishing in 2012 or 2013.
• Geographical Focus:
The prioritized regions, i.e. those regions that have large peat
domes and are still forested, and the regions that have less or
no data at all.
• Data:
Use the already existing data, for example the peatland mapping by Wetlands International which uses data on peat
depth of more than 20 cm, and also integrated with data on
elevation from SRTM30, Glas, LIDAR, or others.
• Important note:
As an interpolation, apply rules for geomorphologic decisions on the connections between the thickness of the peat,
elevation, and lower peat (= spatial model)
2. Phase II of Mapping
During this second stage, a medium term correction to the
mapping of the peatland must be carried out, with the target
of finishing in 2013 or 2014.
• Geographical Focus:
All peatlands that tend to have a substantial area of peat with
depth of more than 3 metres.
• Data:
Collect additional information as follows: 1) a target survey
of the peat depth conducted in a short space of time; and 2)
correct elevation data (by using aircraft or satellite).
• Important note:
There needs to be an update of regulations and decisions
carried out, along with a validation and optimisation of data
from each complex peat dome in order to improve the database.
3. Phase III of Mapping
Details of corrections of the maps in the long term (2015 and
beyond)
• Geographical Focus:
All peatland including that with a depth of less than 3 meters
• Data:
Collect additional information as follows: 1) conduct a survey
on the depth of peat in all areas covered by peatland; 2) a
survey of the LIDAR elevation; and 3) collect satellite data
from new sources.
• Important note:
Wider knowledge needs to be developed in connection with,
for example, the role of the water table, fire hazards, and
carbon emissions.
Follow-up Activities
The ICCC will conduct an exercise in three selected pilot areas,
Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Papua in order to test the methodology
that has been formulated. Aside from this, the exercise is intended
to create an example of mapping the peatland as an ecosystem and
will result in policy recommendations about sustainable peatland
management, as one of the efforts to support the reduction of
greenhouse gasses from peatland.
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