No abstract

Tropical peatlands are fragile ecosystems with an important role in conserving biodiversity, water quality and availability, preventing floods, soil intrusion, erosion and sedimentation, and providing a livelihood for people. However, due to illegal logging, fire and conversion into other land use, the peatlands in Indonesia are under serious threat. Efforts to restore Indonesia’s tropical peatlands have been accelerated by the establishment of the Peatland Restoration Agency in early 2016. The restoration action policy includes the rewetting, revegetation and revitalisation of local livelihood (known as the 3Rs). This paper summarises the regulatory, institutional and planning aspects of peatland restoration, in addition to the implementation of the 3Rs in Indonesia, including failures, success stories, and the criteria and indicators for the success of peatland restoration.

Restoration through re-vegetation activities is one of the solutions to recover degraded peatlands quickly. Shorea balangeran is one of the most promising species of Dipterocarpaceae that can be chosen for the degraded peatlands rehabilitation. The bagworm is one of the potential pests to damage the S. balangeran in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) regency. The objective of the study was to provide various information about bagworm insect pests on S. balangeran. Two measuring plots of 50 x 32 m laid on 2017 planted S. balangeran in agrosilvofishery based on integrated peat restoration pilot project. The variables observed were the number of attacked plants to calculate incidence and the number of attacked leaves in each observation unit (tree) using a scoring system to calculate the intensity. The data obtained were analyzed by descriptive quantitatively. The results showed that there were two species of bagworm in S. balangeran. The incidence of both bagworms was quite high, but the intensity of damage was still relatively mild. However, control measures for bagworms still need to be carried out.

The study was aimed to evaluate agronomic characters of growth and yield of red chili peat-strains grown on peat soil with the application of chicken manure. The study was conducted in Talang Kelapa, Palembang Lat S-2°55’“Long E 104°41’”. Factorial randomized block design was used with 2 factors and 3 replicates. The first factor was chili strains consisting of G1 = Strain 1 (F10120005-141-16-35-1-3); G2 = Strain 3 (F10120005-141-16-35-7-1); and G3 = Strain 4 (F10120005-241-2-9-4-4). While the second factor was chicken manure dosage, P0 = control (without chicken manure); P1 = 10 tons/ha (250 grams/polybag); and P2 = 20 tons/ha (500 grams/polybag). Parameters observed were plant height, leaf number, root shoot ratio, plant fresh and dry weight, leaf area, flowering age, fruit weight, fruit diameter and estimated production per hectare. Results showed that the addition of chicken manure on peat soil had a good effect on growth and production of the red chili peat-strains. G3 (Strain 4= F10120005-241-2-9-4-4) showed the best response to the application of 20 tons/ha (500 grams/polybag) of chicken manure. The combination of P2G3 treatments (20 tons/hectare in G3) resulted in the highest production with an estimated yield of 2.56 tons per hectare.

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, with 17,000 islands of varying sizes and elevations, from lowlands to very high mountains, stretching more than 5000 km eastward from Sabang in Aceh to Merauke in Papua. Although occupying only 1.3% of the world’s land area, Indonesia possesses the third-largest rainforest and the second-highest level of biodiversity, with very high species diversity and endemism. However, during the last two decades, Indonesia has been known as a country with a high level of deforestation, a producer of smoke from burning forests and land, and a producer of carbon emissions. The aim of this paper is to review the environmental history and the long process of Indonesian forest management towards achieving environmental sustainability and community welfare. To do this, we analyze the milestones of Indonesian forest management history, present and future challenges, and provide strategic recommendations toward a viable Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) system. Our review showed that the history of forestry management in Indonesia has evolved through a long process, especially related to contestation over the control of natural resources and supporting policies and regulations. During the process, many efforts have been applied to reduce the deforestation rate, such as a moratorium on permitting primary natural forest and peat land, land rehabilitation and soil conservation, environmental protection, and other significant regulations. Therefore, these efforts should be maintained and improved continuously in the future due to their significant positive impacts on a variety of forest areas toward the achievement of viable SFM. Finally, we conclude that the Indonesian government has struggled to formulate sustainable forest management policies that balance economic, ecological, and social needs, among others, through developing and implementing social forestry instruments, developing and implementing human resource capacity, increasing community literacy, strengthening forest governance by eliminating ambiguity and overlapping regulations, simplification of bureaucracy, revitalization of traditional wisdom, and fair law enforcement.