Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP) Design ...

1. Existing Soil Maps developed by various sources and at various scales from 1:250,000 to
1:1000,000 at different times using methodologies to be identified and assessed;
2. Information on peatland thickness, types and area from various sources collected at
different times using methodologies that do not appear to be heavily documented; and
3. Bulk density and carbon contents of peatlands where available, though this does not appear
to have been widely collected using methodologies to be identified and assessed.
Refinements required to assess peatland for national carbon accounting include:
1. Effective mapping of peatland distribution, peatlands and peat characteristics (such as
depth, density and type) through:
ο Compilation and analysis of existing data for preparation of base maps, data
compilation and processing;
ο Assessment of existing methodologies for assessing peatland and peat characteristics
and the setting out of methodologies for peer review and confirmation to establish
standardised methods;
ο Ground survey to confirm presence and characteristics of peatlands using
standardised methods;
ο Development of correlations and relationships with remotely sensed data;
ο Review of existing methods, including the field guide developed by Murdiyarso et al
(2004), and others to identify a standardised method or methods to evaluate in field
trials;
2. Area burnt is a key input for estimating GHG emissions from peat soils;
ο Burnt area assessment using remote sensing techniques has been researched with
some management applications;
ο Ground truthing and field verification is needed to confirm the reliability of estimates
based on remote sensing;
3. Combustion of peat:
ο The amount of peat actually burnt in wildfire or in management burns is a critical
determinant of GHG emissions, and highly spatially variable with subjective
judgements of this variable having been used;
ο Moisture content of the peat, which is determined by seasonal rainfall and by peat
drainage activities, appears to be the most important variable;
ο Field studies under a wide range of conditions are needed to determine the
relationship between moisture content and the depth and mass of peat burnt;
4. Emission factors for CO 2 , N 2 O and CH 4 emissions during peat fires;
ο Very little data is available for peat fires and measurements of GHG emissions during
combustion of different peat under a range of burning conditions are needed; and
5. Temporal trends in CO 2 and non-CO 2 GHG emissions:
ο Systematic field measurements to quantify the effects of disturbance in peat systems
should aim to develop a process-based understanding of the observed GHG fluxes
that can then be used, through tested models, to make broader-scale estimates.
Additional Aspects of Peat
In the mission there was the opportunity to visit and consider field activities and operations that have
been conducted by the stakeholders and actors working in the EMRP area and in Sebangau National
Park. The team and those they met noted the issues of remote sensing to track changes in peat
emissions. There were a number of aspects about peatlands that require clarification and further
consideration:
1. Peat Hydrology:
6-4 KALIMANTAN FORESTS AND CLIMATE PARTNERSHIP (KFCP) DESIGN DOCUMENT