The Impact of canal blocking to reduce fire risks and carbon emissions on tropical peatland, Siak District, Riau Province

Abstract

Tropical peatlands are wetland ecosystems formed from the accumulation of organic matter over thousand of years period. Indonesia has an area of about 13.5 million ha and play important roles for society and the environment. The development of drainage canals has caused peatlands to become dry and degraded, rendering them highly susceptible to fires. Peatland restoration through rewetting activities with canal blockings can restore the hydrological function of peatlands. In addition, groundwater level (GWL) also affects carbon emissions from peatlands. This study aims to determine the distance of canal blocking effect on groundwater level so that it can be known which areas have a lower risk of fire and carbon emissions in peatlands. This study compared areas affected by canal blocking with those without canal blocking. The results of this study show the significant effect of canal blocking in increasing the groundwater level in areas with <100 m distance from the canals and with different types of land use. The average GWL of peat during one year of monitoring period was around - 26.67 ± 2.4 cm at the location of the monitoring well close to the canal with canal blocking, equivalent to carbon emissions of 26.5 tCO2eq ha−1 year−1. This is lower than the average GWL of those areas without canal blocking that was - 58.67 ± 3.1 cm, which is equivalent to carbon emissions of 57.8 tCO2eq ha−1 year−1.