Carbon Stocks from Peat Swamp Forest and Oil Palm Plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Nisa Novita,Kristell Hergoualc’H,Daniel Murdiyarso,J Boone Kauffman,Joni Jupesta,Dede Hendry Tryanto

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-55536-8_10

Nisa Novita, Kristell Hergoualc’H + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55536-8_10

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Abstract

AbstractConserving high carbon density tropical peat forests is one of the most cost-efficient strategies for climate change mitigation at national and global levels. Over past decades, large areas of tropical peat forests have been converted to oil palm plantation in Indonesia resulting in significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Here, we quantified the ecosystem carbon stocks in a total of six sites: two primary peat swamp forest sites, one secondary peat swamp forest site, and three young oil palm plantation sites in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We further determined potential carbon emissions from vegetation change due to peat swamp forest conversion to oil palm plantation. The mean total ecosystem carbon stock of primary and secondary peat swamp forests were 1770 ± 123 Mg C/ha and 533 ± 49 Mg C/ha, respectively. In contrast, the mean carbon stock of oil palm plantations was 759 ± 87 Mg C/ha or 42% of peat swamp forests. The ratio of the aboveground to belowground C stock was highest in secondary forest with an estimated value of 0.48, followed by primary forest at 0.19 and oil palm plantation at 0.04. Using a stock difference approach, we estimated potential carbon emissions from vegetation change resulting from the conversion of primary peat swamp forest to oil palm plantation of 640 ± 114 Mg CO2/ha. Finally, while restoring peatlands is important, avoiding peat conversion is imperative for Indonesia’s climate change mitigation effort.

Highlights

Tropical peat swamp forests provide a broad array of important ecological functions and environmental services (Page et al 2006)
The range in diameters was larger in Beguruh and Pesalat sites compared to Tanjung Harapan site
Living trees with dbh >60 cm were present in primary forests (Pesalat and Beguruh) while in the secondary forest, Tanjung Harapan, they were not present

Summary

Introduction

Tropical peat swamp forests provide a broad array of important ecological functions and environmental services (Page et al 2006). This ecosystem is known as a biodiversity hotspot supporting the existence of endemic and endangered flora and fauna (Posa et al 2011). Tropical peat swamp forests are imperative for the socioeconomics of local communities, as resource for food, shelter, plant-based medicine, and cultural activities at local and global scale (Hergoualc’h et al 2016). They exert hydrological controls on water flow during wet and dry seasons (Wösten et al 2006). 84% of peat carbon in Southeast Asia is found in Indonesia (Page et al 2011) which equals to 18% of volume peat globally (Gumbricht et al 2017), where extensive deforestation and degradation of peat swamp forests has occurred since the 1990s

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