On 25 April, Kyoto University, the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU), and Indonesia's Peatland Restoration Agency (Badan Restorasi Gambut: BRG) announced a partnership to restore Indonesia's peatlands. The goals of this partnership are to prevent peat fires, which are annually causing substantial emissions of smoke and CO2, rehabilitate degraded areas, and improve livelihood of local communities.
Indonesian peat fires are estimated to have produced more greenhouse gas during the five months from July through November 2015 than Japan did during the whole of 2013. Smoke from those fires is affecting the health of 43 million people in Indonesia alone, including 500,000 diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infections. In addition, the pollution has spread beyond the borders into neighboring countries, sparking international disputes.
The Indonesian government has responded to these challenges by overhauling its peatland policies, shifting their goal from short-term gains to sustainable use. BRG came about as part of these changes, launched in January 2016 to lead the country's peatland restoration efforts. Its goal for 2016-2020 is to rewet two million hectares of arid and degraded land and enable the implementation of paludiculture based on agroforestry and fishing.
Kyoto University has been conducting research on Southeast Asian peatlands since the 1970s, and has achieved significant results in related fields over recent years through its interdisciplinary research collaborations with nearby universities. Those achievements have provided the foundation for a peatland regeneration initiative being run by the Kyoto-based Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, which is a part of NIHU.
Through their partnership with BRG, Kyoto University and NIHU aim to accelerate their research on peatland-related topics, taking interdisciplinary approaches to address relevant socio-economic issues, such as disputes over land titles, in addition to investigating the natural processes involved.
From left: NIHU President Narifumi Tachimoto, KU President Juichi Yamagiwa, and BRG head Nazir Foead
Press conference
