Peat swamp forest

Southeast Asian haze series
Haze in Borneo, 2019
History
1990s 1997 Southeast Asian haze 1997 Indonesian forest fires
2000s 2005 Malaysian haze 2006 Southeast Asian haze 2009 Southeast Asian haze
2010s 2010 Southeast Asian haze 2013 Southeast Asian haze 2015 Southeast Asian haze 2016 Malaysian haze 2016 Southeast Asian haze 2017 Southeast Asian haze 2019 Southeast Asian haze
Key topics
Chemical equator Deforestation in Borneo in Indonesia Mega Rice Project Peat swamp forest Borneo
Responses
ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution Operation Haze Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 People's Movement to Stop Haze
See also
Air pollution in Malaysia API Singapore PSI Social and environmental impact of palm oil
Category
v t e

Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat.^[1] Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates.

Peat swamp forests are typically surrounded by lowland rain forests on better-drained soils, and by brackish or salt-water mangrove forests near the coast.

They are a kind of peatland, which store and accumulate vast amounts of carbon as soil organic matter—much more than forests on mineral soil (i.e. non-peatland) contain. Peat formation is a natural carbon sink; because the decomposition of the organic matter is slower than its production rate, the surplus accumulates as peat. Their stability has important implications for climate change; they are among the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon.^[2] Tropical peat swamp forests, which have ecological importance, are one of the most threatened, yet least studied and most poorly understood biotypes.

Since the 1970s, tropical peat swamp forest deforestation and drainage have greatly increased in South East Asia.^[3] In addition, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drought and large-scale fires are accelerating peatland devastation. Peat fires, drainage and deforestation enhances the decomposition of soil organic matter, increasing the release of stored carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.^[4]

Tropical peat swamp forests are home to thousands of animals and plants, including many rare and critically endangered species such as the orangutan and Sumatran tiger, whose habitats are threatened by peatland deforestation.^[5]