Location

Sumatra, Indonesia

The Indonesian island of Sumatra, located in West Java, is the sixth largest island in Indonesia. More than half of the island is covered with forests and peatlands. The climate is hot and rainy, but in recent years, due to climate change, rainfall has been decreasing. The dry season usually begins around March and lasts about six months.

 

Issue

Increasing risk of peatland fire in Sumatra

Peatland fires that occur during the dry season across Sumatra are a serious problem. There is concern that climate change is reducing rainfall and increasing the risk of forest fires. Fires that occur on peatlands are known to take longer to extinguish. In part, because peatlands are highly functional as carbon stores, the frequency of forest fires can set back climate change action. Furthermore, peatland fires risk affecting the livelihoods of the population by spreading to plantation areas. In fact, a fire that occurred in August 2020 lasted for 9 days and damaged about 55 hectares of land while also affecting plantations.

 

Solution / Lesson learned

Capacity building for communities to enhance their resilience against peatland fire and restore peatland

UNEP and Partners for Resilience (PfR) implemented the Community-based Peatland Restoration Program. The purpose of this program was to strengthen the capacity of local communities in peatland fire prevention, mitigation, and peatland restoration in light of the importance of local communities in peatland management. Fifteen communities from Muara Manompas and Terapung Raya Villages, South Tapanuli, Sumatra, participated in this program. In addition, the program also made participation in capacity strengthening contingent on the lending of interest-free loans to secure alternative livelihood options. This is an instructive example of how a well-designed capacity building can improve the resilience of communities living on peatlands in a multifaceted way. This program also provided co-benefits for climate change mitigation by protecting peatlands as carbon sinks.