In terms of the forestry sector, in the 1940s, the first and biggest sawmill in
Southeast Asia was built in Sampit, NV Bruynzeel Dayak Houtbedrijven
(NV BDH), that changed into PT Dayak Sampit in 1955 following the nationalization program by the Government of Indonesia. The logging concession area that
supplied logs for NV BDH’s sawmill extracted timber from Seruyan, Mentaya, and
Katingan peat swamp forests. The logging activities were growing significantly in
1970–1990 after the government issued a forestry law No. 5/1967 that granted forest
utilization permits for many logging companies. In the mid to late 2000s, many local
communities have shifted their main livelihood from logging to other land-based
livelihoods following the logging-ban by the central government. Nevertheless,
nowadays, the (illegal) re-logging activities are still practiced along the Mentaya
watershed, which put the peat swamp forest more prone to fire. The logging activities
had changed the intact peat swamp forests to degrade peat swamp forests and alter
the wet forest floor into the drier condition because of the thinner canopy cover and
the lower tree density. Unlike in the mineral forest, in the peat swamp forests, the
logs are transported by skid trails or canals. The canals functioned not only to
transport the logs, but also to drain the water from the peat swamp forest, eventually
lowering the water table. These dryness in the degraded peat swamp forests caused
this area to be more susceptible to fire in the dry season.
The shifting of livelihood from the timber industry to agriculture activities had a
significant impact on the KMP peatland landscape. The heavily degraded peat
swamp forests that emerged due to unchecked logging activities nowadays have
been cleared and cultivated for rice fields, rubber, oil palm, and other horticulture
products. The increasing population following the transmigration program in the
1980s has also expanded the agricultural land to the thicker peatland area (2–4 m in
depth). Many of the local communities found that it was very challenging to cultivate
in peatland. When the cultivation failed, some of them sought another source of
income such as to become an illegal logger or poacher which eventually put more
damage on the peat swamp forest and left the failed cultivation land unmanaged
(Page et al. 2009; Medrilzam et al. 2014).
In the mid-1990s, the vast area of degraded peat swamp forest had been converted
into agricultural land, i.e., rice fields, oil palm plantations, and short-term timber
plantations under the government program and large company management. During
the 1990–2015 period, there was a significant decrease of pristine or secondary peat
swamp forest in Central Kalimantan from around 3 Mha to only around 326 thousand
hectares. These peat swamp forests have mostly been converted into an oil palm
plantation and smallholder agriculture (Miettinen et al. 2016). Based on the logistic
regression model and under a business-as-usual scenario, Austin et al. (2015)
predicted that the oil palm plantation would continue to expand, including the
KMP landscape area up to 2020. If the prediction comes into reality, then it makes
the remaining peat swamp forest under further suppression.
The peat swamp forest conversion into agricultural land always involves the
development of a drainage system to lower the water table (Page et al. 2009;
Ritzema et al. 2014). The canal networks have caused a detrimental effect to the
peatland ecosystem, e.g., a canal with dimension 3 m wide  2 m deep could drain
392
T. Darusman et al.
Southeast Asia was built in Sampit, NV Bruynzeel Dayak Houtbedrijven
(NV BDH), that changed into PT Dayak Sampit in 1955 following the nationalization program by the Government of Indonesia. The logging concession area that
supplied logs for NV BDH’s sawmill extracted timber from Seruyan, Mentaya, and
Katingan peat swamp forests. The logging activities were growing significantly in
1970–1990 after the government issued a forestry law No. 5/1967 that granted forest
utilization permits for many logging companies. In the mid to late 2000s, many local
communities have shifted their main livelihood from logging to other land-based
livelihoods following the logging-ban by the central government. Nevertheless,
nowadays, the (illegal) re-logging activities are still practiced along the Mentaya
watershed, which put the peat swamp forest more prone to fire. The logging activities
had changed the intact peat swamp forests to degrade peat swamp forests and alter
the wet forest floor into the drier condition because of the thinner canopy cover and
the lower tree density. Unlike in the mineral forest, in the peat swamp forests, the
logs are transported by skid trails or canals. The canals functioned not only to
transport the logs, but also to drain the water from the peat swamp forest, eventually
lowering the water table. These dryness in the degraded peat swamp forests caused
this area to be more susceptible to fire in the dry season.
The shifting of livelihood from the timber industry to agriculture activities had a
significant impact on the KMP peatland landscape. The heavily degraded peat
swamp forests that emerged due to unchecked logging activities nowadays have
been cleared and cultivated for rice fields, rubber, oil palm, and other horticulture
products. The increasing population following the transmigration program in the
1980s has also expanded the agricultural land to the thicker peatland area (2–4 m in
depth). Many of the local communities found that it was very challenging to cultivate
in peatland. When the cultivation failed, some of them sought another source of
income such as to become an illegal logger or poacher which eventually put more
damage on the peat swamp forest and left the failed cultivation land unmanaged
(Page et al. 2009; Medrilzam et al. 2014).
In the mid-1990s, the vast area of degraded peat swamp forest had been converted
into agricultural land, i.e., rice fields, oil palm plantations, and short-term timber
plantations under the government program and large company management. During
the 1990–2015 period, there was a significant decrease of pristine or secondary peat
swamp forest in Central Kalimantan from around 3 Mha to only around 326 thousand
hectares. These peat swamp forests have mostly been converted into an oil palm
plantation and smallholder agriculture (Miettinen et al. 2016). Based on the logistic
regression model and under a business-as-usual scenario, Austin et al. (2015)
predicted that the oil palm plantation would continue to expand, including the
KMP landscape area up to 2020. If the prediction comes into reality, then it makes
the remaining peat swamp forest under further suppression.
The peat swamp forest conversion into agricultural land always involves the
development of a drainage system to lower the water table (Page et al. 2009;
Ritzema et al. 2014). The canal networks have caused a detrimental effect to the
peatland ecosystem, e.g., a canal with dimension 3 m wide  2 m deep could drain
392
T. Darusman et al.