A sengon (Falcataria moluccana) factory was recently established in 2018 in
Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan, that utilizes timber-producing species
planted by local communities on peatland (Antara News 2019). However, this is
conducted in drained peatland and cannot be considered as true paludiculture.
Provided that the hydrology is not affected by drainage, a selectively logged PSF
will usually recover within 3–4 decades, provided that fires do not enter the area.
Because removing logs via canals is easier and cheaper than using rail or tramline
system, most selectively logged areas have been drained, and as a result these logged
forests become highly vulnerable and susceptible to fires (Kumari 1997). Also, most
PSFs have not (only) been selectively logged but successively logged, with local
companies entering an area once the primary concessionaire has completed selective
logging and left the management void (Giesen 1990). There is only one example of a
commercial logging concession company conducting selective logging on a longterm basis in a Western Indonesian peat swamp, and that is located on the Senepis
peat dome northwest of Dumai, Riau, Sumatra (Van Assen 2005). This 90,000 ha
logging concession on deep peat has been ongoing since the 1980s, and uses the
Indonesia TPTI selective logging approach, but has increased the 35-year cycle to
40 years, with an annual cut of 2000 ha (Van Assen 2005). While the implementation is far from perfect, the concession continues to exist and produce timber from
natural peat swamp forest and appears to be the last of its kind in Indonesia (Van
Assen 2005).
Over the past decades there have been various trials with peatland tree species for
pulp production on rewetted peatland, but attempts by pulp companies in the more
distant past (>5 years ago) were not very promising compared to that utilizing
Acacia crassicarpa and were soon abandoned (J. Bathgate, personal communication, 2015). However, the comparison between Acacia crassicarpa on drained
peatland, with an alternative species on rewetted peatland is unjustified, as the
former is unsustainable and will ultimately have to be abandoned (due to peat
subsidence and flooding).
From 2016 to 2017 an Indonesian pulp and paper company tested four alternative
pulp species (Campnosperma coriaceum, Cratoxylum arborescens, Melaleuca
cajuputi, and Shorea balangeran) in trials on 16 ha of rewetted deep peat in Siak,
Riau province (APP 2017). All four had favorable pulping properties, although all
were (slightly) less favorable than Acacia crassicarpa. The greatest difference was
in growth rates, for although survival of Acacia crassicarpa on rewetted deep peat
was low (40%, compared to 67–95% for the four alternative species), it measured
2.6 m on average after 12 months, while the other species measured only 0.7–1.5 m
in height. One needs to bear in mind, however, that Acacia crassicarpa has benefitted from 35 years of domestication, which has undoubtedly resulted in cultivars with
the highest possible growth rates, optimal growing conditions, and so on (Thomson
et al. 2002). Trials with geronggang (Cratoxylum arborescens) in Riau by MoEF
demonstrated that “based on specific gravity, fiber dimension, and pulp properties,
geronggang is suitable as raw material for pulp and paper” (Akbar et al. 2016); they
found that the mean annual increment (MAI) of Cratoxylum arborescens was
12.8 m
3 /ha/y, which is about half that of Acacia crassicarpa. FOERDIA also
14 Tropical Peatland Restoration in Indonesia by Replanting with Useful Indigenous. . .
431
Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan, that utilizes timber-producing species
planted by local communities on peatland (Antara News 2019). However, this is
conducted in drained peatland and cannot be considered as true paludiculture.
Provided that the hydrology is not affected by drainage, a selectively logged PSF
will usually recover within 3–4 decades, provided that fires do not enter the area.
Because removing logs via canals is easier and cheaper than using rail or tramline
system, most selectively logged areas have been drained, and as a result these logged
forests become highly vulnerable and susceptible to fires (Kumari 1997). Also, most
PSFs have not (only) been selectively logged but successively logged, with local
companies entering an area once the primary concessionaire has completed selective
logging and left the management void (Giesen 1990). There is only one example of a
commercial logging concession company conducting selective logging on a longterm basis in a Western Indonesian peat swamp, and that is located on the Senepis
peat dome northwest of Dumai, Riau, Sumatra (Van Assen 2005). This 90,000 ha
logging concession on deep peat has been ongoing since the 1980s, and uses the
Indonesia TPTI selective logging approach, but has increased the 35-year cycle to
40 years, with an annual cut of 2000 ha (Van Assen 2005). While the implementation is far from perfect, the concession continues to exist and produce timber from
natural peat swamp forest and appears to be the last of its kind in Indonesia (Van
Assen 2005).
Over the past decades there have been various trials with peatland tree species for
pulp production on rewetted peatland, but attempts by pulp companies in the more
distant past (>5 years ago) were not very promising compared to that utilizing
Acacia crassicarpa and were soon abandoned (J. Bathgate, personal communication, 2015). However, the comparison between Acacia crassicarpa on drained
peatland, with an alternative species on rewetted peatland is unjustified, as the
former is unsustainable and will ultimately have to be abandoned (due to peat
subsidence and flooding).
From 2016 to 2017 an Indonesian pulp and paper company tested four alternative
pulp species (Campnosperma coriaceum, Cratoxylum arborescens, Melaleuca
cajuputi, and Shorea balangeran) in trials on 16 ha of rewetted deep peat in Siak,
Riau province (APP 2017). All four had favorable pulping properties, although all
were (slightly) less favorable than Acacia crassicarpa. The greatest difference was
in growth rates, for although survival of Acacia crassicarpa on rewetted deep peat
was low (40%, compared to 67–95% for the four alternative species), it measured
2.6 m on average after 12 months, while the other species measured only 0.7–1.5 m
in height. One needs to bear in mind, however, that Acacia crassicarpa has benefitted from 35 years of domestication, which has undoubtedly resulted in cultivars with
the highest possible growth rates, optimal growing conditions, and so on (Thomson
et al. 2002). Trials with geronggang (Cratoxylum arborescens) in Riau by MoEF
demonstrated that “based on specific gravity, fiber dimension, and pulp properties,
geronggang is suitable as raw material for pulp and paper” (Akbar et al. 2016); they
found that the mean annual increment (MAI) of Cratoxylum arborescens was
12.8 m
3 /ha/y, which is about half that of Acacia crassicarpa. FOERDIA also
14 Tropical Peatland Restoration in Indonesia by Replanting with Useful Indigenous. . .
431