Save our peat swamps
IN the past week, the important role of another lowly and neglected habitat has come to the fore – the peat swamp forest. I am surprised at the palpable lack of appreciation from our elected representatives and policy-makers for the importance of the peat swamp ecosystem. The current controversy about the proposal to develop the Selangor Business Capital project in Kuala Langat Utara by Selangor State Development Corporation is self-evident.
Malaysia is left with less than 60% of forest cover. That is about 19.5 million hectares of forests of one type or another. Peat swamp forests constitute a significant component of that forest cover with an estimated 1.54 million hectares still remaining. More than 70% of these peat swamp forests are in Sarawak, less than 20% in Peninsular Malaysia and the remainder in Sabah. Huge tracts of peat swamp forest in Malaysia have already been cleared and drained for human activities.
The role of peat swamp forest in relation to climate change has not been totally ignored in Malaysia. In 2008, a brief survey was undertaken by a team from Wetlands International Malaysia on the peat dome north west of Marudi and to the west of the Baram River as part of its project on the ‘‘Status of Peatlands in Malaysia: Its relation to CO2 Emissions and Climate Change’’.
Sphagnum or peat moss grows in wet areas and can gradually fill a size comparable to that of a massive lake. Over years, colossal amount of mosses continually and ultimately sink to the bottom and create peat deposits that act as carbon sink. Hence, draining and burning of peat swamps would only help in releasing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, the two greenhouse gases primarily blamed for powering global warming.
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