Ex-Mega Rice Project Research Articles

Mapping Degraded Area for Tropical Peatland Revegetation Using Forest Canopy Density Model Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Peatland rehabilitation in Indonesia has been massively carried out since 2016 following a huge fire event in 2015. Rehabilitation efforts have so far focused only on burned areas, although non-forested areas and areas with a limited number of juveniles must also be considered for natural regeneration. Spatial mapping can identify areas that need revegetation so that resources can be used more effectively and efficiently. This study aims to map potential areas for peatland rehabilitation by determining the distribution of tree canopy cover using the Forest Canopy Density (FCD) model from Landsat 8 OLI. The area selected for study was Ex-Mega Rice Project (MRP) area in Pulang Pisau district and Palangka Raya city, which burns almost every year. The study identifies eight areas with different levels of Forest Cover Density (FCD). Our field observation confirms that the eight different areas have different levels of natural revegetation. When forest cover is 1-30% of the FCD model, natural regeneration is insufficient and revegetation is required. This study found that 34,543.3 ha or 22.1% of the area of the MRP needs to be rehabilitated. This result provides information on which areas can be naturally revegetated and which areas need to be rehabilitated. This information is important to develop a peat restoration strategy and increase the likelihood of success.

Mapping Above-Ground Carbon Stock of Secondary Peat Swamp Forest Using Forest Canopy Density Model Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS: A Case Study in Central Kalimantan Indonesia

Mapping the above-ground carbon potential by using a non-destructive method has been a serious challenge for researchers in the effort to improve the performance of natural forest management in Indonesia, particularly in the ex-Mega Rice Project (MRP) area in Central Kalimantan Province. Nevertheless, the rapid and dynamic changes in secondary peat swamp forests are currently mapped effectively with the remote sensing technology using the Forest Canopy Density (FCD) model. FCD analysis as done by integrating vegetation index, soil index, temperature index and shadow index of Landsat 8 OLI images. The result was an FCD class map. In each class, parameter measurements were established for seedling, sapling, poles and tree stages. Above-ground carbon stock was calculated using three allometric equations. The results revealed that the values of carbon stock in ±16,147.26 ha dense secondary peat swamp forest, ±1,509.66 ha moderately dense scrub swamp forest, and ±632.07 ha sparse scrub swamp forest were, respectively, 79.28-122.96; 74.06-113.06; and 40.48-63.60 ton/ha. These results show that FCD application could be used to classify forest density effectively and in line with the variety of their attributes such us aboveground biomass and carbon stock potential.

Drought Index for Peatland Wildfire Management in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia During El Niño Phenomenon

Peatland wildfires, especially in tropical ecosystems, are often caused by drought, and lead to smoke and other related problems in all aspects of community life in Indonesia, especially in Central Kalimantan. Drought is worsened by the number of dry days in the dry season, known as the El Niño phenomenon, and the drainage system in a peatland. Additionally, drought decreases the water table and increases the probability of occurrence of wildfires in peatland areas. This study aims to modify the numerical formula of the drought factor (DFt) in the Keetch–Byram drought index (KBDI) based on tropical peatland wildfire conditions in Central Kalimantan during the El Niño phenomenon in 2015. Furthermore, it applies a revised peatland water table reference of 400 mm below the ground surface, based on previous research and the Government regulation on peatland ecosystem protection and management in Indonesia. These El Niño conditions caused a rain decline of approximately 35% in Block A, Ex-Mega Rice Project, Mantangai sub-District, Kapuas District, Central Kalimantan Province. The modified KBDI is compared with the Number of Fire Alerts (NFA) using NASA’s Active Fire Data in 2015. The analysis results demonstrate that the modified DFt under tropical peatland conditions leads to an increase in the drought index value, beginning on the driest days between July and November 2015. The value of the KBDI drought index increases from the high to the extreme index from September to November 2015, when as many as 61 extreme drought indices became indicators for peatland wildfire risk assessment. The extreme KBDI is directly proportional to the NFA recorded during 2015, and the highest number of fire alerts is observed for October 2015, with 1746 fire alerts within 31 days and extreme drought indices from 27 days. Hence, this modified formula is suitable for wildfire conditions on this peatland in Central Kalimantan. Overall, the modified DFt can be successfully applied to the El Niño phenomenon in 2015.

Short Communication: Land cover changes from 2005 to 2015 in Mantangai area of Dayak Ngaju, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract. Saharjo BH, Hadiwijoyo E. 2019. Short Communication: Land cover changes from 2005 to 2015 in Mantangai area of Dayak Ngaju, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 2596-2602. Forest and land fires in Indonesia are well recognized, directly or indirectly, as the main contributors to deforestation and greenhouse gas emission related to the global climate change. Usually, local peoples are blamed for those fires especially when negative impact occurred. Fortunately, not all of the local peoples do the same thing as it is shown by Dayak Ngaju in Block A of ex-Mega Rice Project (Ex-MRP) Project area located in Mantangai sub-district Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, where this research was conducted. The objective of this study was to know land the cover changes related to the use of fire for land preparation, and how the Dayak Ngaju people implement their knowledge and experience in the field. This objective was achieved by analyzing satellite images of Landsat 7 and 8 for a period of time starting from 2005 to 2015. Results of the research showed that the local people started clearing the land with fire at the end of September (dry season) or early October (the rainy season) yearly, as it could be seen from the changes of the land cover from secondary swamp forest into swamp shrub and from secondary swamp forest into fields. Meanwhile, at the protected area where peat was dominant, land cover change occurred due to land rights conflicts, and not to the use of fire for land preparation using fire by Dayak Ngaju communities, because they found that the results were not good and the planted rice would die three months after planting..

Forest Fire Prevention through Agricultural Innovation in the Ex-Mega Rice Project Area in Central Kalimantan

In 1995, the Government of Indonesia initiated the Central Kalimantan Peatland Development Project – commonly known as the Mega Rice Project - to convert up to one million hectares of peat and lowland swamp to rice cultivation. In order to prepare the land for cultivation the peatland was drained through the construction of thousands of kilometers of canals and forest was cut. The effects were very damaging for the environment as the soils dried and the forests degraded. Agricultural developments were largely unsuccessful in the difficult peat land conditions. Agriculture is traditionally being practiced on the mineral soils along the river. A diversity of food crops, estate crops and livestock is grown and reared in the area. The limited suitability of the peat lands for agriculture often has to do with the acidity of the soils. Much land is only suitable for a limited number of crops. This leads to low agricultural production resulting in poverty among local communities. Fire has traditionally been used for land clearing and is still a common tool for agricultural preparations and land clearing for other purposes. Farmers traditionally monitor fires as they burn to avoid spreading. However, when peat soils are dry and forests are degraded they easily catch on fire. This paper aims to reduce the incidence of forest fires through the introduction of innovative techniques that limit the use of fire in land clearing. These techniques taken from the Climate Smart Agriculture approach will be able to support the local communities to diversify their farming methods and make use of the environmental circumstances in which they live to increase their agricultural production and improve their livelihoods. The result show that land clearing with limited use of fire have positive effects on agricultural production and can reduce the incidence of forest fires.

Assessing rainfall pattern, groundwater level, and peat hydraulic conductivity for effective peat prevention measure

Severe drought and less precipitation during a prolonged dry season and El-Nino events has been observed as a main trigger of the decrease of groundwater level leads to the dryness of the degraded peat and exacerbates burning conditions. To get a better understanding of this issue, we studied fire conditions in a portion of the ex-Mega Rice Project (MRP) area, Central Kalimantan. Here, we examine fire season and hydrology factors affecting peat fires by using Terra/Aqua MODIS hotspots dataset and groundwater level data from 300 dipwells and 15 staff gauges established in the MRP area. We use the Interpolation Data Weighting (IDW) to explain the fire risk in the area based on its hydraulic conductivity. Our results clearly show that even the moderate to high rainfall intensity is not enough to rewet the dry-degraded peat and thus to leave them in dry condition. Here, we highlight the importance of considering the rainfall pattern of previous successive dry and rainy season for fire risk assessment. Most of the fires occurred in the area between 1.1×10−6 and 2.1×10−6 cm/s hydraulic conductivity and below -10 cm groundwater level, sharply pointing out the importance to keep degraded peat in wet condition for fire prevention.

Determining critical groundwater level to prevent degraded peatland from severe peat fire

Peat fires have been a severe recurrent problem for Indonesia, but droughts due to prolonged dry season aggravate burning conditions. To get a better understanding of this issue, we studied fire conditions in a portion of the ex-Mega Rice Project (MRP) area, Central Kalimantan. To examine fire season and hydrology factors affecting peat fires we analyzed daily TRMM data, Nino 3.4 SST Anomalies, and changing groundwater levels (GWL) from 300 dipwells. Our results quantify time-lags between the period of lowest precipitation and the lowest GWL; providing some ability to predict fire risk in advance of the lowest GWL. The rise of Nino 3.4 SST anomalies is significant risk factors for peat fire as they signify dry months which may yield large fire occurrences. GWL in 2011 was lower than in 2012, but fires were more frequent in 2012, indicating that low precipitation amounts in the wet season of 2011/2012 left the peat in a dry condition early in 2012. Most of the fires occurred in areas with GWL less than -30 cm, powerfully illustrating the importance of maintaining GWL at more than -10 cm, to prevent degraded peatlands from experiencing surface and deep peat fires.

Carbon emissions from oil palm development on deep peat soil in Central Kalimantan Indonesia

Abstract Of the 44 million hectares of peatland in the tropics, Indonesia has proportionately the largest area (45%) and carbon content (64%). These carbon-rich peat ecosystems play an important role in regional climate stabilization and biodiversity conservation. The Indonesian Government has enacted numerous regulatory measures since the 1990s aimed at boosting protection of the remaining intact peatland, with a threshold that peat deeper than 3 m must be conserved and cannot be cultivated. Despite these regulatory measures, extensive conversion of peatland to other land uses has occurred, especially large-scale palm oil plantation. This study shows that over 40% of palm oil plantations located in the former Ex-Mega Rice Project area (of some 1.04 million hectares) in Central Kalimantan in Indonesia are situated in deep peat areas. We estimate that continuing the present palm oil development practices on deep peat in the Ex-Mega Rice Project area will result in the release of between 93 and 217 megaton carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) over the next 25 years.

COMPREHENSIVE ECOHYDROLOGY STUDY TO SUPPORT AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN PEATLAND AREA-CENTRAL KALIMANTAN

Peat swamp forest is a unique and fragile ecosystem, with specific flora and fauna that play important roles in maintaining healthy natural conditions with high economic values. This habitat also has important role for equilibrium and maintenance of living environment such as water reservoir, carbon storage, climate change, and biodiversity. Utilization of peatland for agriculture, plantations, and other activities often lead not only to controversy, but also cause land and ecosystem degradation, including water resources availability. The objective of this research was to study comprehensive ecohydrology aspects in ex-mega rice project in Central Kalimantan in order to support sustainable agricultural practices and water resources management in peatland areas. The results of the study showed that the sustainability of agricultural systems in peatland was strongly influenced by ecological aspect. This aspect can be carried out from the condition of water management system, water color condition, and possible incidence of fires. The level of suitability for crops plantation was low (S3), with the limiting factors of pH, nutrient availability, and the risk of inundation. In this case, water gates should be installed to improve water management system. Water quality in this area was typical of peat water and do not meet the requirement for daily use for the local people.

Identifying forest ecosystem regions for agricultural use and conservation

Balancing agricultural needs with the need to protect biodiverse environments presents a challenge to forestry management. An imbalance in resource production and ecosystem regulation often leads to degradation or deforestation such as when excessive cultivation damages forest biodiversity. Lack of information on geospatial biodiversity may hamper forest ecosystems. In particular, this may be an issue in areas where there is a strong need to reassign land to food production. It is essential to identify and protect those parts of the forest that are key to its preservation. This paper presents a strategy for choosing suitable areas for agricultural management based on a geospatial variation of Shannon's vegetation diversity index (SHDI). This index offers a method for selecting areas with low levels of biodiversity and carbon stock accumulation ability, thereby reducing the negative environmental impact of converting forest land to agricultural use. The natural forest ecosystem of the controversial 1997 Ex-Mega Rice Project (EMRP) in Indonesia is used as an example. Results showed that the geospatial pattern of biodiversity can be accurately derived using kriging analysis and then effectively applied to the delineation of agricultural production areas using an ecological threshold of SHDI. A prediction model that integrates a number of species and families and average annual rainfall was developed by principal component regression (PCR) to obtain a geospatial distribution map of biodiversity. Species richness was found to be an appropriate indicator of SHDI and able to assist in the identification of areas for agricultural use and natural forest management.

Better land-use allocation outperforms land sparing and land sharing approaches to conservation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Land sparing and land sharing are contrasting strategies often aimed at improving both agricultural production and biodiversity conservation in multifunctional landscapes. These strategies are embodied in land management policies at local to international scales, commonly in conjunction with other land-use policies. Evaluation of these strategies at a landscape scale, for multiple ecosystem service benefits, and multiple elements of biodiversity has not previously been attempted. We simulated the effects of applying land sharing and land sparing strategies to the agricultural zones designated by four future land-use scenarios (reflecting both current land-use and prospective land-use plans) in the Ex-Mega Rice Project region of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We assessed impacts of each strategy on biodiversity, agricultural production, and other ecosystem service benefits at a landscape scale. We examined whether it was possible to achieve predetermined targets that reflect the aspirations and entitlements of diverse stakeholder groups. We found that the prospective land-use plans for the region would deliver considerably more benefit than the current land-use allocations, and while not all targets can be achieved, additional progress could be made with reasonable and realistic levels of land sharing or sparing. We found that species and forest types sensitive to agricultural disturbance could benefit most if land in agricultural zones was spared and prioritised for conservation. Conversely, land sharing strategies favoured the more widespread and common species, particularly if the area of wildlife-friendly agriculture is increased. However, the effectiveness of agricultural-focused land management strategies is inherently limited by the extent of agricultural zones. While agricultural land sparing and sharing strategies can deliver some gains in target achievement for multiple ecosystem services, we find that they have a limited effect over the benefits achieved by implementing better land-use allocation from the outset.

Ecosystem services from a degraded peatland of Central Kalimantan: implications for policy, planning, and management.

Increasingly, landscapes are managed for multiple objectives to balance social, economic, and environmental goals. The Ex-Mega Rice Project (EMRP) peatland in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia provides a timely example with globally significant development, carbon, and biodiversity concerns. To inform future policy, planning, and management in the EMRP, we quantified and mapped ecosystem service values, assessed their spatial interactions, and evaluated the potential provision of ecosystem services under future land-use scenarios. We focus on key policy-relevant regulating (carbon stocks and the potential for emissions reduction), provisioning (timber, crops from smallholder agriculture, palm oil), and supporting (biodiversity) services. We found that implementation of existing land-use plans has the potential to improve total ecosystem service provision. We identify a number of significant inefficiencies, trade-offs, and unintended outcomes that may arise. For example, the potential development of existing palm oil concessions over one-third of the region may shift smallholder agriculture into low-productivity regions and substantially impact carbon and biodiversity outcomes. While improved management of conservation zones may enhance the protection of carbon stocks, not all biodiversity features will be represented, and there will be a reduction in timber harvesting and agricultural production. This study highlights how ecosystem service analyses can be structured to better inform policy, planning, and management in globally significant but data-poor regions.

The socio-ecological drivers of forest degradation in part of the tropical peatlands of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Connections between human activities (social systems) and nature (ecological systems) are key factors affecting forest-cover change in tropical peatland ecosystems. However, the complexity of these socio-ecological factors is often poorly understood. This study identifies the socio-ecological factors influencing land-cover change in the ex-Mega Rice Project area of Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. A systems thinking approach was used to construct two causal loop diagrams to assess the interrelationships between land-cover change, actors' choice and their motivation to convert land cover. The analysis reveals that current community livelihood activities to improve welfare and maintain food availability are the main endogenous drivers of land-and forest-cover change in the study area. Unintentional fire resulting from uncontrolled slash-and-burn practices by local communities is the main mechanism of forest-cover change. Land tenure uncertainty has also accelerated community land claiming using fire. Our analysis indicates that forest access, commodity prices and rainfall patterns are dominant exogenous drivers of land-cover change. Programmes that emphasize sustainable sources of food and income for local communities in conjunction with physical peatland restoration activities, such as drainage canal-blocking and reforestation, should be the key features of interventions aimed at preventing further peatland degradation.