Chapter 14
Tropical Peatland Restoration in Indonesia
by Replanting with Useful Indigenous Peat
Swamp Species: Paludiculture
Wim Giesen
Abstract This chapter identifies the key paludiculture (swamp cultivation) plant
species from various commodity categories, including food (fruit, nuts, vegetables,
beverages, spices, oils, and fats), medicines, other non-timber forest products (utensils, dyes, weaving, latex, resins, and so on), as well as a range of wood products
such as species producing timber and pulp. 512 useful peat swamp plant species are
recognized, including 81 species with a major economic use and 379 non-timber
forest product species, representing a cornucopia of paludiculture options. However,
although 380,000 ha of degraded peatland has been rewetted by mid-2018, less than
2000 ha has been converted for true paludiculture, i.e. with full rewetting and using
peat swamp adapted species for economic benefit. While a range of technical
challenges exist, the main reasons for not carrying out true paludiculture are a lack
of examples to follow and a lack of information about paludiculture species (their
performance, markets, growth, and so on).
Keywords Rewetting peat · Paludiculture · Indonesia · NTFPs · Pulp · Timber ·
Alternative species
14.1 Introduction
In western Indonesia, peatlands are mainly found in coastal lowlands of Sumatra
(7.2 Mha) and Kalimantan (5.8 Mha) (Wahyunto and Subagjo 2003, 2004; Miettinen
et al. 2012). Up to the 1990s these peatlands were largely forested, and the only
forms of exploitation were for forestry purposes and the collection of non-timber
forest products (NTFPs). In the 1990s pressure mounted to convert peat swamp
forests for other land uses, especially agriculture and plantations, as more suitable
mineral soil areas became scarce. Extraction of valuable timber resources often
W. Giesen (*)
Euroconsult Mott MacDonald, Arnhem, the Netherlands
e-mail: wim.giesen@mottmac.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Osaki et al. (eds.), Tropical Peatland Eco-management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4654-3_14
411
Tropical Peatland Restoration in Indonesia
by Replanting with Useful Indigenous Peat
Swamp Species: Paludiculture
Wim Giesen
Abstract This chapter identifies the key paludiculture (swamp cultivation) plant
species from various commodity categories, including food (fruit, nuts, vegetables,
beverages, spices, oils, and fats), medicines, other non-timber forest products (utensils, dyes, weaving, latex, resins, and so on), as well as a range of wood products
such as species producing timber and pulp. 512 useful peat swamp plant species are
recognized, including 81 species with a major economic use and 379 non-timber
forest product species, representing a cornucopia of paludiculture options. However,
although 380,000 ha of degraded peatland has been rewetted by mid-2018, less than
2000 ha has been converted for true paludiculture, i.e. with full rewetting and using
peat swamp adapted species for economic benefit. While a range of technical
challenges exist, the main reasons for not carrying out true paludiculture are a lack
of examples to follow and a lack of information about paludiculture species (their
performance, markets, growth, and so on).
Keywords Rewetting peat · Paludiculture · Indonesia · NTFPs · Pulp · Timber ·
Alternative species
14.1 Introduction
In western Indonesia, peatlands are mainly found in coastal lowlands of Sumatra
(7.2 Mha) and Kalimantan (5.8 Mha) (Wahyunto and Subagjo 2003, 2004; Miettinen
et al. 2012). Up to the 1990s these peatlands were largely forested, and the only
forms of exploitation were for forestry purposes and the collection of non-timber
forest products (NTFPs). In the 1990s pressure mounted to convert peat swamp
forests for other land uses, especially agriculture and plantations, as more suitable
mineral soil areas became scarce. Extraction of valuable timber resources often
W. Giesen (*)
Euroconsult Mott MacDonald, Arnhem, the Netherlands
e-mail: wim.giesen@mottmac.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Osaki et al. (eds.), Tropical Peatland Eco-management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4654-3_14
411