Rehabilitation and Fibre Plantation Management of Degraded Wetlands in South Sumatra

摘要

A large tract of tropical wetland forests has been destroyed in the past 20 years in the province of South Sumatra in Indonesia primarily due to unsustainable land management practices and recurrent uncontrolled fires. The devastating fires during the El Nino episode in 1997 and a somewhat cyclical 2-year dry period burned whatever was left of the once rich tropical wedand forest. The recurring uncontrolled land fires resulted in accelerated peat subsidence and degradation of the landscape. Many local people have practically left their villages in search of better livelihood sources elsewhere. Three pulp fibre plantation companies were granted licences by the Government in 2003 to develop commercial tree plantations in cooperation with Sinar Mas Forestry, covering a total area of 580,000 hectares. The cumulative area successfully reforested totals more than 104,000 ha. The reforestation target in 2007 is 60,000 hectares of which some 57 percent has been planted (Aug 2007). At an average plantation development cost of USD 1,000 per hectare, total plantation investment is estimated at USD 500 million. Uncontrolled fires have been dramatically reduced to less than 100 hectares (Jan-Aug 2007) compared to the period before plantation development when the area burned every year was over 100,000 hectares. Key success factors included effective fire prevention and suppression activities with local people participation in fire prone areas, providing alternative sustainable livelihood income, and responsible plantation and water management. Science-based environmental and social impact assessments are planned to be conducted.