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Restoring Degraded Tropical Peatlands: Case Studies from Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
1. RESTORING DEGRADED TROPICAL PEATLANDS:
CASE STUDIES FROM CENTRAL KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA
Dyah Puspitaloka
ABSTRACT
Tropical peatlands hold 15-19% of global peat carbon with Indonesia as the largest
contributor in Southeast Asia. Many of Indonesia's peatlands are degraded into ๏ฌre-prone and
non-forest vegetation state. There are several peatland restoration projects now being carried out
by several entities with public and private investments. These projects vary in their stated
restoration goals, planned activities and plan durations. Although these projects face serious
social, economic and ecological challenges, the majority of the projects (3 out of 4) are being
planned for the short term (5 to 30 years). Meanwhile, the time required for peatland restoration
varies from decades to hundreds of years depending on the damage level. Thus, ๏ฌnding ways to
sustain restoration efforts beyond the project duration is critical to restoration success. Little is
known about how different types of actors manage their restoration projects and how much it
would cost to restore degraded tropical peatlands. These aspects have rarely been studied; they
are the focus of this study. This study presents a close examination of four tropical peatland
restoration projects in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, which are initiated and managed by: 1) a
non-governmental organization (NGO) partnered with a national park, 2) a government agency
partnered with a NGO, 3) a private company partnered with a NGO, and 4) a private company
partnered with a university. We interviewed 47 key informants who are involved in these projects
and also conducted an online survey to understand costs of peatland restoration projects. In the
Dyah Puspitaloka !1
2. ๏ฌrst study, we assessed how different project actors de๏ฌned the concept of ecological restoration,
how their de๏ฌnitions were being articulated into restoration goals, plan duration, and restoration
activities. Ecological restoration of peatlands in Indonesia is being de๏ฌned with emphases on
ecological (i.e. restoring and maintaining water balance of peat) and socio-economic dimensions.
Both of these aspects are in๏ฌuenced by their socio-ecological context and the challenges they
faced in restoring degraded peatlands. In the second study, we focused on examining different
socio-economic and ecological challenges that the project actors faced and how they affected
costs of restoration. We built a cost-accounting framework for both direct (i.e. costs of
restoration activities) and indirect costs (i.e. costs to address the socio-economic and ecological
challenges) of restoration. We found that indirect costs are generally high, accounting nearly half
of the total restoration costs. The real costs are potentially higher than the estimation, especially
if we include opportunity costs of displaced economic activities. The opportunity costs may not
have to be internalized in all restoration projects, but they re๏ฌect the magnitude of anthropogenic
pressures that restoration projects face. Bene๏ฌts of peatland restoration over the long term may
justify the costs. However, if peatland restoration projects have to internalize all of these costs,
restoration efforts are unlikely to be sustained beyond project duration. There should be larger
political scale commitments to address operating contexts of restoration projects, such as
promoting good governance, land tenure security, ecosystem services market, incentives,
political commitments, and funding support. The results of this study can inform policy-makers
and practitioners for promoting peatland restoration projects in Indonesia with adequate policies,
resource and funding.
Dyah Puspitaloka !2
