For decades we have drained peatlands, this process starts with felling natural peat vegetation and building water canals to drain the stored water to ensure that the peat is dry enough for planting industrial plants such as oil palm or acacia. Peat bogs are destroyed for use in farming and as fuel, they are broken up to form compost for farming, not only do these methods destroy vast areas of peatlands but as a result the peatland ecosystems health which once thrived and the sustainability of the peat soils is no more. New threats include upland development such as tracks and renewable energy schemes (like wind farms) which are poorly located and designed built developments, resulting in further peatland degradation and habitat loss. With the ever increasing population rate, consequently increasing the demand for food production means more peatlands are being destroyed to supply for this.
In Southeast Asia, around 60 million acres of peatlands over the past three decades have been drained and deforested, leaving only 6 per cent untouched. This news is devastating has left only around 20% of peatlands near-natural state, the remaining 80% have been modified as a result of past and present management.
Peat is essentially the early stages of coal and is of course highly flammable, the dried peatland quickly goes up in flames and then can smoulder underground for months until the rainy season starts, and when peat does set on fire it releases up to ten times more carbon than forest fires as well as mercury at a rate 15 times greater than upland forests. Small-holder farmers use the fire to cheaply clear debris to prepare the land for planting, perhaps unaware of the massive ongoing damage they are causing.
Indonesia is home to more than 24 million hectares of peatlands, making up approximately 36 per cent of the world's total tropical peatlands, placing them at the largest too. According to UNOPS (United Nation Offices for Project Services), 'seasonal forest and peatland fires now compromise Indonesia's economic and social development by creating considerable threats to the environment and the health of its residents. In 2015, peat fires and its related toxic haze resulted in the hospitalisation of more than half a million people due to acute respiratory infections, Direct and indirect damages cost the Indonesian national economy an estimated $16 billion'. Representing the wider issues related to the peatland habitat degradation.
Because Indonesia has such immense volumes of peatlands the risks of destroying these habitats is increased. Sumatra is Indonesia's largest island supporting 40 million people, and according to SPOT Vegetation 2006 data, Sumatran peat swamp forests total approximately 33,600 km2, located on its eastern coast and boast - the deepest peat in Indonesia. Though these peatland do not support an abumdance of wildlife they do support the islands rarest animals like the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian elephant, along with a number of bird species whilst playing a key role in regulating global climate, "carbon sinks". Deforestation here in Sumatra has been extensive with around 2 million hectares per year, these vast areas have mainly been burned and less than one-half of Indonesia's peat swamp forests stand today.
The list of devastating figures goes on. The real point here is for contemplation of the actions of human kind, understanding their true effects not only on the environment but the people who are also massively impacted.
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