Lack of high-resolution peatland

map hinders restoration

 Hans Nicholas Jong

The Jakarta Post

Jakarta / Wed, February 3, 2016 / 05:14 pm

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The government'€ ™s plan to restore at least 2 million hectares of peatland

destroyed through decades of mismanagement by oil palm plantations will likely face
a setback, especially on account of a lack of high-resolution peatland maps.

Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) head Priyadi Kardono said on Tuesday that
the newly established Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) would have to wait for
the agency to boost the resolution of the national peatland map before it could kick
off the restoration in four priority areas.

'€ œFor the four peatland areas [planned to be restored first by the BRG], we will
boost the resolution of the map to 1:5,000,'€ • Priyadi said in Jakarta, adding that
BIG expected to finish the map by the end of the year.

He said that the BIG would soon begin mapping the four peatland areas severely
damaged by this year'€ ™s forest fires: Pulang Pisau regency in Central Kalimantan,
Ogan Komering Ilir regency and Musi Banyuasin regency, both in South Sumatra
and Meranti regency in Riau, seeing as how the four areas were prioritized by the
government to be restored.

BIG'€ ™s thematic geospatial information deputy, Nurwadjedi Fahmi, said that the
current national peatland map had a scale of 1:250,000.
'€ œOur current peatland map is a compilation of various maps, obtained mostly from
desk study. Our field survey [to map peatland] needs improvement, covering only
around 5 percent [of the country'€ ™s total peatland area]. So its not surprising that
our map lacks in accuracy,'€ • he said on Tuesday. '€ œThat'€ ™s why our map only
has a resolution of 1:250,000.'€ •

The government plans to restore damaged protected-category peatland by pumping

in sufficient water to restore dampness.

If a peatland area has been taken over by oil palm trees, the government plans to
begin the restoration by blocking the canals that are built by palm oil producers to
drain all the water out from the peatland.

Such a low quality map will make it difficult for BRG to carry out its job, a crucial
element of the government'€ ™s attempt to combat the annual forest fires.

'€ œIf you want to manage peatland with a map that lacks detail, it will be difficult.
How can you make a good canal blocking if you don'€ ™t know the contour [of the
area]? In which direction the water will go?'€ • Priyadi said.

A more detailed map is needed to determine the category of individual peatland

areas, separating them into either protected or cultivated.

To boost the resolution of the map, BIG plans to use light detection and ranging
(LiDAR) technology, which is more expensive than using satellite images.

'€ œIf we use a high-resolution satellite image like IKONOS, we still couldn'€ ™t
display three dimensional images. That'€ ™s why we'€ ™re using LiDAR,'€ •
Nurwadjedi said.

The cost of mapping using LiDAR is estimated to be much higher than using
satellites.

BIG has also launched a competition called the Indonesian Peat Prize, aiming to find
a more accurate and faster way to map the extent and thickness of peatland.

The winner of the competition, to be announced in fall 2017, will receive a US$1
million prize. The winner'€ ™s method will be used to revise the national standard for
mapping Indonesian peatland.

BRG head Nazir Foead said on Tuesday that his agency would use the current map
despite its poor resolution.

'€ œI have to work with the existing map because I can'€ ™t wait until 2017,'€ • he
said.