The Vulnerability and Transformation of Indonesian Peatlands: Navigating Social-Ecological Tipping Points for Resilient Futures

Abstract

This book provides a holistic examination of the ecological transformation of Indonesian peat swamp forests, analyzing drivers of degradation while also identifying signs of adaptation and renewal. Across 11 chapters, the volume details complex feedbacks enabling wholesale drainage, burning, and conversion to plantations since the 1980s within landscapes relatively undisturbed historically. Specific relationships between industrial timber expansion, introduced drainage canals, recurrent fires, and unclear land tenure arrangements have driven deforestation across Riau province. Resulting declines in avian biodiversity and mammal populations signal potentially irrecoverable ecosystem disruption. At the same time, the book highlights nuance, overturning assumptions about termites as purely destructive while mapping diverse local timber networks supplying development needs. Crucially, the authors spotlight early adaptation, from new national restoration commitments to on-the-ground initiatives blocking canals, raising water tables, reestablishing native vegetation, and supporting community livelihoods. While noting implementation lags, the book analyzes transition pathways toward integrated models balancing rewetting, revegetation, and participatory planning. By bridging ecological change, environmental governance, and social dynamics across scales, the volume constructs cautious narratives of systemic decline interwoven with resilient processes of renewal, offering guidance for adaptation.