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e are now just realizing the big economic, social and ecological costs that we have to bear as a consequence of our government'€™s inability to manage our peatland ecosystem in a sustainable and wise manner. Scientific communities have been telling policymakers for years that precautionary measures needed to be taken to better manage the peatland ecosystem.

In spite of advice and warnings, however, the government has continued to give out licenses that permit the conversion of peatland for other use, notably for the large--scale activities of oil palm and industrial timber plantations. Has our government compared how much economic gain has been generated from peatland conversions as opposed to the economic, social and ecological costs incurred as a result of peat fires and peat degradation? I am pretty sure that our government has never considered or recognized the socioeconomic- ecological value of peatland to our country and communities.

I reckon that the current peat fires disaster is what it will take for all stakeholders, particularly the government, to review existing national and local regulations on peatland management so as to avoid recurrent issues from happening again in the coming years. Therefore, the following suggestions need to be considered with respect to improving the country'€™s peatland management.

It is necessary to review and strengthen existing regulatory and policy regulations on peatland conservation, protection and utilization by revising criteria not only on the basis of peat depth criteria (currently a 3-meter regulatory threshold), but should be on the basis of economic, social and ecological values and services that peatland provides our country, communities and ecosystem.

Stakeholders should prioritize the restoration of existing degraded peatland areas so as to improve the socioeconomic and ecological functions and value of those degraded peatland areas. Restorative measures and strategies such as water management (peat rewetting through canal-and ditch-blocking activities), vegetation management (maintaining natural regeneration, tree planting, seedling transplanting),  fire management (preventive and suppressive methods) and socioeconomic intervention (sustainable livelihood development) need to be simultaneously and integrally carried out.

National and local land-use policies need to be adjusted and strengthened by promoting and allowing land swaps to shift cultivation and production activities from peatland to non-peatland areas, including land swaps between other non-forestland for other purposes.

Awareness raising and education programs for stakeholders need to be planned and implemented so as to raise common understanding and awareness about the importance of implementing sustainable and wise-use principles when managing the peatland ecosystem. Those stakeholders are government policymakers, politicians, the private sector and communities.

The central and local governments need to allocate adequate resources to improve and update its existing peatland database. It is a pity to learn that as the largest contributor in terms of total area and peat carbon biomass in the tropics (over 40 percent and 65 percent of total global tropical peatland area and peat carbon biomass respectively), Indonesia has failed to use its peatland resources potency as a means to gain a better bargaining position at global UNFCCC negotiation battles due to, among other things, the lack of an reliable peatland database.

Alue Dohong
Central Kalimantan