0.019 cmÁmin
À1 . The groundwater flow velocity increases at the side of the weir
with direction to the canal. It means the groundwater still flows to the lower reach of
the canal because the gradient of the groundwater will be increased. However, this
weir stops the groundwater effectively.
19.5 Conclusion
Peatland is covering 2.84% of the terrestrial land area (Xu et al. 2018) and has a
unique and valuable ecosystem due to their water and carbon storage. Water,
vegetation, and peat are the basic components for the formation, maintenance, and
development of peatland. Vegetation in peatland assimilates the amount of carbon
from the atmosphere and stores it in the surface layer, where the microbial decomposition process is suppressed by the high moisture of soil. The total amount of
carbon is estimated >6 GtC in the world (Yu et al. 2010). This peatland ecosystem,
which continues for 1000 years under some stable situations, is very sensitive and
fragile to environmental changes such as climate, land use pattern, and vegetation
growing in the area. The construction of drainage canal, destruction of surface
vegetation, and mixing mineral soil in peat are the most destructive impacts on the
peatland ecosystem.
The Mega-Rice Project, which was conducted in the peatland of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia during the 1990s, creates the most drastic impacts on tropical
peatland. Dried surface peat, which was caused by drainage and removal of forest,
brought down the distractive peatland fire in the tropical peat swamp forest during
the dry season in 1997. The huge amount of carbon, i.e. 0.19–0.23 Gt was emitted
from the 0.75 Mha, 91.5% of the project area (Page et al. 2002; Usup et al. 2004).
Lowering the groundwater table in peatland increases the carbon emissions from
peatland due to an increase in peat decomposition by microbiological activity
(Hirano et al. 2012). Not only the tropical peatland, all peatland in the world is
also formed, developed, and maintained under the unique but fragile hydrological
system for 1000 years. It is very important for the global environment to keep a
massive amount of carbon in peatland with suitable management of hydrological
system of peatland. Therefore, human impact on the hydrological system has been
most serious for responsible ecosystem management in tropical peatland.
References
Asdak C, Jarvis PG, Gardingen PV, Fraser A (1998) Rainfall interception loss in unlogged and
logged forest area of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. J Hydrol 206:237–244
Beckwith CW, Baird JB, Heathwaite AL (2003) Anisotropy and depth-related heterogeneity of
hydraulic conductivity in a bog peat. I: laboratory measurements. Hydrol Process 17:89–101
Boelter DH (1968) Important physical properties of peat materials, Proceedings of the 3rd international peat congress, Quebec, August 1968, pp. 150–154
19 Principles of Hydrological Management of Tropical Peatland
563
À1 . The groundwater flow velocity increases at the side of the weir
with direction to the canal. It means the groundwater still flows to the lower reach of
the canal because the gradient of the groundwater will be increased. However, this
weir stops the groundwater effectively.
19.5 Conclusion
Peatland is covering 2.84% of the terrestrial land area (Xu et al. 2018) and has a
unique and valuable ecosystem due to their water and carbon storage. Water,
vegetation, and peat are the basic components for the formation, maintenance, and
development of peatland. Vegetation in peatland assimilates the amount of carbon
from the atmosphere and stores it in the surface layer, where the microbial decomposition process is suppressed by the high moisture of soil. The total amount of
carbon is estimated >6 GtC in the world (Yu et al. 2010). This peatland ecosystem,
which continues for 1000 years under some stable situations, is very sensitive and
fragile to environmental changes such as climate, land use pattern, and vegetation
growing in the area. The construction of drainage canal, destruction of surface
vegetation, and mixing mineral soil in peat are the most destructive impacts on the
peatland ecosystem.
The Mega-Rice Project, which was conducted in the peatland of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia during the 1990s, creates the most drastic impacts on tropical
peatland. Dried surface peat, which was caused by drainage and removal of forest,
brought down the distractive peatland fire in the tropical peat swamp forest during
the dry season in 1997. The huge amount of carbon, i.e. 0.19–0.23 Gt was emitted
from the 0.75 Mha, 91.5% of the project area (Page et al. 2002; Usup et al. 2004).
Lowering the groundwater table in peatland increases the carbon emissions from
peatland due to an increase in peat decomposition by microbiological activity
(Hirano et al. 2012). Not only the tropical peatland, all peatland in the world is
also formed, developed, and maintained under the unique but fragile hydrological
system for 1000 years. It is very important for the global environment to keep a
massive amount of carbon in peatland with suitable management of hydrological
system of peatland. Therefore, human impact on the hydrological system has been
most serious for responsible ecosystem management in tropical peatland.
References
Asdak C, Jarvis PG, Gardingen PV, Fraser A (1998) Rainfall interception loss in unlogged and
logged forest area of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. J Hydrol 206:237–244
Beckwith CW, Baird JB, Heathwaite AL (2003) Anisotropy and depth-related heterogeneity of
hydraulic conductivity in a bog peat. I: laboratory measurements. Hydrol Process 17:89–101
Boelter DH (1968) Important physical properties of peat materials, Proceedings of the 3rd international peat congress, Quebec, August 1968, pp. 150–154
19 Principles of Hydrological Management of Tropical Peatland
563