Enhancing the benefits of tropical peatland restoration for supporting local communities and ecosystem processes.

There is a requirement to feed a rapidly growing human population whilst maintaining ecosystem services and reducing biodiversity losses. Across the world, previously extensive tracts of natural habitats have been degraded by human activities, with detrimental impacts for biodiversity and soils, and for the livelihoods of local communities living in these landscapes. Indonesia's forests are extremely biologically diverse but this hyper-diversity is threatened due to widespread loss of rainforest.

Peat swamp forests contain particularly large stores of carbon and support unique flora and fauna not occurring elsewhere, but have been drained and degraded to make way for agriculture, threatening wildlife and releasing large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere from loss of trees and soil. Much of this recent forest loss is due to conversion to oil palm plantations, which provide important sources of local incomes, although drained peatlands produce many ecosystem disservices (e.g. bare land and soil with low/no agricultural value, poor air quality). Thus there are moves to rehabilitate degraded peatlands with a focus on reducing emissions, but potential co-benefits (and risks) of restoration for biodiversity and consequences for local communities whose livelihoods are dependent on agriculture are not well understood.

The aim of this project is to understand the consequences of draining peatlands for biodiversity and local livelihoods, and to examine different scenarios for prioritising peatlands for restoration, according to biodiversity and emissions considerations and local community benefits and trade-offs.

Restoration of degraded peat forest and re-wetting of drained areas may remove agricultural areas from production thereby reducing small holder farmer incomes and food. Moreover, decisions about sites to restore need to be compatible with systems of local governance, land rights and devolved administrations, and require the identification of alternative livelihood options for communities in restored habitats. The size and degree of connectivity of forest areas is also important for maintaining population networks of species in degraded landscapes, and for promoting the responses of biodiversity to climate change, and so decisions about peatland locations for restoration also need to include consideration of connectivity and adaptation of species to climate change.

The issues we will address in this multi-disciplinary project will have a direct impact on local communities living in Indonesian peatland landscapes but the wider issues of balancing environmental, biodiversity and local community needs in multi-functional landscapes will be of broad generic importance.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE RESEARCH AND HOW:
Peat forests contain unique and poorly understood biodiversity and store vast amounts of carbon, but large areas have been degraded and drained for logging and agriculture and remaining areas are at risk from continued agricultural expansion. Restoration of peatlands is being proposed as an effective way to mitigate carbon emissions from degraded peatlands and to restore the natural species community, and such activities could be implemented by a range of stakeholders including government wishing to meet emissions targets and tackle fires and haze, the oil palm industry and other commodity sectors that need to comply with certification standards, and environmental NGOs aiming to restore habitat and connectivity for endangered species. The following key outputs from our research will be directly relevant to decision making for better land-use planning in peat dominated landscapes.
1) Mapping of fragmentation, connectivity and emissions risk of peatlands in Sumatra.
2) New data and insight into peatland biodiversity and species responses to degradation and restoration
3) Understanding and incorporating the needs of local communities and the benefits/ dis-benefits of peat restoration projects on livelihoods and wellbeing
4) Priority areas for restoration which consider carbon, biodiversity, connectivity and communities.

KEY BENEFICIARIES AND HOW THEY WILL USE THE RESEARCH:
Local communities- Local communities are most affected by changes in our study system and by the potential impact of our findings and recommendations. Improved land planning which incorporates the needs of local communities as well as environmental considerations. will help to secure livelihoods and improve wellbeing through increased water, soil and air quality (especially linked to haze associated with fires)
ASEAN governments- Many ASEAN governments have commitments to meet Aichi targets and CBD commitments and to safeguard their natural resources and assets and this research will aid land planning to target areas for restoration and protection that will have the greatest benefits for environment and society.

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-The voluntary certification standard for sustainably produced palm oil has more than 2500 members including some of the world's largest oil palm growers, and international consumer goods companies. The standard aims to minimise the environmental impact of the palm oil industry and will benefit from knowledge to inform their policies on land-use planning, placement and rehabilitation of conservation set asides, and management of existing oil palm plantations on peatlands to minimise negative environmental impacts and avoid fires.

Oil palm companies- RSPO member companies are required to avoid clearance and degradation of peatlands and to maintain and enhance High Conservation Value forest set asides within their concession areas. Additionally, companies are required to remediate and compensate for past non-compliance with certification standards, and restoration projects could be an effective option for meet this requirement. Our research will inform better land planning and management in peat dominated regions.

NGOs- Local and international NGOs concerned with protecting, managing and restoring forests, reducing carbon emissions/ mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity, and improving livelihoods and wellbeing of communities in Indonesia and the SE Asian region will benefit from new biodiversity information for peatlands, bottlenecks for species dispersal, and priority areas for conservation efforts that will be identified by the project.