Journal article
Keep wetlands wet: the myth of sustainable development of tropical peatlands – implications for policies and management
Global Change Biology, Vol.23(2), pp.534-549
2017
Abstract
Pristine tropical peat swamp forests (PSFs) represent a unique wetland ecosystem of distinctive hydrology which support unique biodiversity and globally significant stores of soil carbon. Yet in Indonesia and Malaysia, home to 56% of the world's tropical peatland, they are subject to considerable developmental pressures, including widespread drainage to support agricultural needs. In this article, we review the ecology behind the functioning and ecosystem services provided by PSFs, with a particular focus on hydrological processes as well as the role of the forest itself in maintaining those services. Drawing on this, we review the suitability of current policy frameworks and consider the efficacy of their implementation. We suggest that policies in Malaysia and Indonesia are often based around the narrative of oil palm and other major monocrops as drivers of prosperity and development. However, we also argue that this narrative is also being supported by a priori claims concerning the possibility of sustainability of peat swamp exploitation via drainage-based agriculture through the adherence to best management practices. We discuss how this limits their efficacy, uptake and the political will towards enforcement. Further, we consider how both narratives (prosperity and sustainability) clearly exclude important considerations concerning the ecosystem value of tropical PSFs which are dependent on their unimpacted hydrology. Current research clearly shows that the actual debate should be focused not on how to develop drainage-based plantations sustainably, but on whether the sustainable conversion to drainage-based systems is possible at all.
Details
- Title
- Keep wetlands wet: the myth of sustainable development of tropical peatlands – implications for policies and management
- Authors
- S Evers (Author) - University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, MalaysiaCatherine M Yule (Author) - Monash University Malaysia, MalaysiaR Padfield (Author) - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MalaysiaP O'Reilly (Author) - Crops For the Future, MalaysiaH Varkkey (Author) - University of Malaya, Malaysia
- Publication details
- Global Change Biology, Vol.23(2), pp.534-549
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2017
- DOI
- 10.1111/gcb.13422
- ISSN
- 1354-1013; 1354-1013
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2017 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is the accepted version of the following article: Evers, S; Yule, Catherine M; Padfield, R; O'Reilly, P; Varkkey, H (2017) Global Change Biology 23, 534-549, doi: 10.1111/gcb.13422, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13422
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450797602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
- Research Statement
- false
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- Biodiversity Conservation
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