Ecologists: Draining, Burning Peat Bogs In SE Asia Puts More Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Air Than Fossil Fuel Emissions From Major Polluting Countries
Ecologists: Draining, Burning Peat Bogs In SE Asia Puts More Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In Air Than Fossil Fuel Emissions From Major Polluting Countries
22 May 2009
published by www.allheadlinenews.com
South East Asia — If CO2 from draining and burning peat bogs in Southeast Asia was factored into greenhouse gas emissions along with fossil fuels, Indonesia would rank third behind the United States and China for causing CO2 pollution.
Peat bogs around the world are being drained for development. But the practice is sometimes causing more problems and more costs than anticipated.
Draining peat bogs to burn the matter for fuel or to create farms and plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei is not only harming the environment by contributing to global warming, but the practice poses a threat to water resources as well, experts say.
Dutch non-profit Wetlands International estimates CO2 emissions from drained or burned Indonesian peatlands at about two billion tons annually.
Not only is that equal to about 10 percent of the emissions being spewed out from burning coal, oil and natural gas, but drained or burned Malaysian peat bogs are putting out a similar amount of CO2 as well.
Marcel Silvius of the Dutch non-profit Wetlands International told Earth Talk that “annual peatland emissions from Southeast Asia far exceed fossil fuel contributions from major polluting countries.”
Silvius says that CO2 emissions from peat bogs are such a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that factoring them in – along with emissions from fossil fuels – would move Indonesia from 21st place, for such pollution, to third place behind the U.S. and China.
In Brunei, draining peat bog forests is also posing a risk to water supplies and experts from the Wetlands International Indonesia Programme are involved in a project to rehabilitate damaged peat bog forests there.
The peat bog forest serves as the domestic water supply storage area for Brunei. But draining it not only reduces water supplies, but the resulting drying of the area would increase the fire risk as well.
“The water supply for the oil and gas industry and domestic use is derived from the Belait river. If you drain the peat swamp, there would be no water storage capacity,” ecologist Dr. Jonathan Davies told the Brunei Times. “During dry periods, the river level may be very low and they might not be able to get enough water for industrial processes and consumption. That means they can lose millions of dollars a day just because of draining the peat swamp.”
