The serious degradation of the vast peatlands of Indonesia since the 1990s is the proximate cause of the haze that endangers public health in Indonesian Sumatra and Borneo, and also in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Moreover peatlands that have been drained and cleared for plantations are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This new book explains the degradation of peat soils and outlines a potential course of action to deal with the catastrophe looming over the region. Concerted action will be required to reduce peatland fires, and a successful policy needs to enhance social welfare and economic survival, support natural conservation and provide a return on investment if there is to be a sustainable society in the peatlands. This book argues that regeneration is possible through a new policy of people’s forestry that includes reforestation and rewetting peat soils. The data come from a major long-term research effort–the humanosphere project–that coordinates work done by researchers from the physical, natural and human or social sciences.

Contents

List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction: Perspectives on Tropical Biomass Societies
Kosuke Mizuno, Motoko S. Fujita, Kazuo Watanabe, Shuichi Kawai

Part 1: The Scope of Tropical Biomass Societies

Chapter 1: Land and Forest Policy in Southeast Asia
Kosuke Mizuno, Retno Kusumaningtyas

Chapter 2: The Biodiversity of southeast asian tropical rainforests
Motoko S. Fujita & Hiromitsu Samejima

Chapter 3: Biomass Assessment of Afforested Regions in Tropical Southeast Asia
Shuichi Kawai, Kazuo Watanabe

Part 2: Peat Swamps as Sustainable Humanosphere: Their History and Ecology

Chapter 4: an overview of tropical peat swamps
Tetsuya Shimamura

Chapter 5: A Socioeconomic History of the Peatland Region: From Trade to Land Development, and Then to Conservation
Kazuya Masuda, Kosuke Mizuno, Kaoru Sugihara

Chapter 6: Local Communities in the Peatland Region: Demographic Composition and Land Use
Kazuya Masuda, Retno Kusumaningtyas, Kosuke Mizuno

Chapter 7: Tropical Peat Swamp Forest Ecosystems and REDD+
Shigeo Kobayashi

Part 3: The Case Study of Riau

Chapter 8: Outline of the Survey Area in Riau Province, Indonesia
Haruka Suzuki, Hiromitsu Samejima, Motoko S. Fujita, Kazuo Watanabe, Kazuya Masuda, Kosuke Mizuno

Chapter 9: deforestation and the process of expansion of oil palm and acacia plantations
Kazuo Watanabe, Kazuya Masuda, and Shuichi Kawai

Chapter 10: Rainfall and Groundwater Level Fluctuations in the Peat Swamps
Osamu Kozan

Chapter 11: Combined Biomass Production, the Local Economy, and Societies
Kosuke Mizuno, Kazuya Masuda

Chapter 12: Biodiversity in peat swamp Forest and plantations
Hiromitsu Samejima, Motoko S. Fujita, Ahmad Muhammad

Chapter 13: Biomass Production by Companies and Smallholders
Kazuo Watanabe, Shuichi Kawai, Kosuke Mizuno, Kazuya Masuda

Chapter 14: The Rehabilitation of Degraded Peat Swamp Forest Ecosystems
Haris Gunawan, Shigeo Kobayashi

Epilogue: Towards the Regeneration of Biomass Societies
Motoko S. Fujita, Kosuke Mizuno, Shuichi Kawai, Kazuo Watanabe, Hiromitsu Samejima, Kazuya Masuda, Haruka Suzuki, Kaoru Sugihara, Shigeo Kobayashi, Osamu Kozan, Tetsuya Shimamura

Glossary of Standardised Terms Used in This Book
Contributors
Index