Vulnerability and Transformation of Indonesian Peatlands

This open access book deals with restoring degraded peatlands to help mitigate global warming, to which SDG 15 and SDG 13 are directly related. The book analyzes peatland degradation and restoration of the Indonesian peatland ecosystem through the integrated lens of resilience, vulnerability, adaptation, and transformation. It sheds light on what constitutes "resilience" of the peat swamp forest, digs deeper into local knowledge in developing the studies on institutions, governance, and ecological conditions that support the resilience of the peat swamp forest to elaborate on the idea of transformation in today's degraded peatlands.

While peat swamp forests may be resilient, they remain highly vulnerable. The book analyzes restoration efforts through rewetting, revegetation, and rehabilitation of the local livelihoods with the concepts of adaptation and transformation. The integrated analysis covers fieldwork of more than a decade and various aspects such as agrarian and socialchanges, biological changes (birds, mammals, and termites), carbon emission, water control, timber use, revegetation efforts, and the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) program implementation. It also employs the ideas of vulnerability, resilience, adaptability, and transformation based on expanded studies on peatlands and observations of and participation in multiple efforts to prevent fires and restore the degraded peatland by researchers, the government, non-government organizations (NGOs), private companies, and last but not least, the local people. The discussion includes the period of pre-degradation and several efforts at peatland restoration for a better understanding and analysis of the long-term peatland dynamics.

Kosuke Mizuno

Dr. Kosuke Mizuno is a professor of development studies at the School of Environmental Science, University of Indonesia. He is also an emeritus professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, and a visiting professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN). He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Kyoto University in 1994. He has studied the Indonesian economy from the perspective of people’s organizations and institutions, and conducted extensive fieldwork on economic development in democratizing Indonesia. He had been a professor and associate professor at CSEAS since 1996, and was CSEAS director from 2006 to 2010. He was team leader of the RIHN research project titled “Toward the Regeneration of Tropical Peatland Societies: Building International Research Network on Integrated Peatland Management.” His publication includes Rural Industrialization in Indonesia, a Study on Community-based WeavingIndustry in West Java, Institute of Developing Economies, 1996; Direktori Serikat Pekerja/Serikat Buruh Indonesia (Directory of Trade Unions in Indonesia) Pusat Analisis Sosial, 2007, AKATIGA (Center for Social Analysis); Populism in Asia, 2009, NUS Press and Kyoto University Press; Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands: Ecology, Economy and Society, 2016, NUS Press and Kyoto University Press; and Sustainability and Crisis at the Village: Agroforestry in West Java, Indonesia (the Talun-Huma system and rural social economy), 2016, UGM Press.

Osamu Kozan

Dr. Osamu Kozan is an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, and a visiting associate professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto. He has a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Kyoto University. He does hydrometeorological observation and modelling in China, Central Asia, and Indonesia to understand water-related problems. As vice president of the Japan Peatland Society, his research interests also include sustainability in environmentally vulnerable areas. He has been published in International books such as Tropical Peatland Ecosystem, Springer in 2016; Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands: Ecology, Economy and Society, NUS Press in 2016; Anthropogenic Tropical Forests: Human–Nature Interfaces on the Plantation Frontier, Springer in 2019; and Tropical Peatland Eco-Management, Springer in 2021.

Haris Gunawan

Dr. Haris Gunawan is currently a lecturer and researcher at the Ecology of Biology Department, University of Riau, and the team leader of the Global Environmental Facilities (GEF-5) Project on Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystem in Indonesia—a joint undertaking between the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with the latter as implementing agency. He earnedhis bachelor’s degree from Gadjah Mada University in 1997, then pursued his master’s and doctorate degrees at the Bandung Institute of Technology and Kyoto University, Japan. He served as deputy of research and development at the Peatland Restoration Agency, Republic of Indonesia (2016–2021). Gunawan is involved in various research cooperation teams, both local and international, which brings him in direct contact with communities living in peat swamp forest ecosystems. He has conducted ecological and environmental studies and carried out programs on peat swamp ecosystems, conservation, restoration and community assistance, and community-based ecotourism development. Recently his research work has been published in International books such as following: Tropical Peatland Ecosystem, Springer in 2016; Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands, NUS Press in 2016; Environmental Resources Use and Challenges in Contemporary Southeast Asia, Springer in 2019; and Tropical Peatland Eco-Management, Springer in 2021.