indonesia’s palm oil and peatland fires that are affecting global climate change

8/18/2019 INDONESIA’S PALM OIL AND PEATLAND FIRES THAT ARE AFFECTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

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INDONESIA’S PALM OIL AND PEATLAND FIRES THAT ARE AFFECTING

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

DESCRIPTION ABOUT INDONESIA

Indonesia is an archipelagic country extending 5,120 kilometres (3,181 mi) from

east to est and 1,!"0 kilometres (1,0#$ mi) from north to south% It encompasses

an estimated 1!,508 islands, only ",000 of hich are inha&ited% It comprises 'e

main islands *umatra, +aa, orneo (knon as -.alimantan- in Indonesia),

*ulaesi, and /e uinea to maor archipelagos (/usa enggara and the 4aluku

Islands) and sixty smaller archipelagoes% orneo is the third largest island in the

orld and the original egetation as mostly orneo loland rain forests although

much of this has &een cleared ith ildlife retreating to the orneo montane rain

forests inland% ying along the e6uator, Indonesia7s climate tends to &e relatiely

een yearround% he country experiences to seasons9a et season and a dry

season9ith no extremes of summer or inter% :or most of Indonesia, the et

season falls &eteen ;cto&er and e of elgium)% Indones'a !rod()es *+ !er)ent o, the or-d.s )ert'/ed

s(sta'nab-e !a-" o'- 0CSPO1% orneo and *umatra are the to islands hich

account for #" percent of Indonesia?s palm oil production% y 2015, Indonesia adds

$ million additional hectares toards oil palm &iofuel production% @nfortunately, toexpand farmland, the farmer is doing deforestation &y &urning the landAAA

he farmers hae &een intentionally setting 'res to clear aay rainforest for

farmland and produce commodities like palm oil% he country7s small farmers are

legally alloed to &urn up to 2 hectares, though enforcement is lax, and experts say

many people set 'res illegally to gra& extra land% he real pro&lems start hen

these 'res occur in areas rich in peat, a dense, soillike mixture of partially decayed

leaes and &ranches% :ires in these peatlands can proliferate uncontrolla&ly,

smoldering underground for eeks, feeding oB the soil, releasing toxic pollutants

and ast 6uantities of car&on dioxide and methane all the hile% =eat 'res often

don7t stop until heay rains come along to extinguish them% Caily car&on emissionsfrom the 'res no exceed the daily car&ondioxide (D;2)%

he 'res contri&ute to glo&al arming as they &urn the car&onladen peat lands and

release car&on dioxide into atmosphere% It7s also terri&le for climate change%

Indonesian 'res hae no emitted roughly 1%35 gigatons of car&on dioxide

e6uialents% < gigaton is a &illion metric tons, and the planet is estimated hae less

than 1,000 gigatons of car&on dioxide left to emit to hae a tothirds chance of


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keeping glo&al arming &elo 2 degrees Delsius a&oe preindustrial leels% he

'res themseles hae &een a pu&lichealth nightmare, forcing multiple eacuations,

killing at least 1#, and triggering respiratory illnesses in more than half a million

people% /oxious ha>e and harmful particulate pollution has stretched as far as

4alaysia and *ingapore%

he deforestation in the name of expand farmland and high D*=; production alays

happen year &y year since $0 years ago% hey typically &reak out eery year during

the dry season that runs from +uly to ;cto&er%

IS THERE AN2 %A2 TO FI3 IT4

1% =oor land management has caused all sorts of pro&lems% In an ideal orld,

Indonesia ould hae &locked oB the richest peatlands in places like *umatra

and orneo from agricultural deelopment 9 those are, after all, the areas

that cause the most haoc hen they catch 're%2%


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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/20/fueled-by-el-nino-carbon-emissions-from-indonesian-peat-fires-are-rising-fast/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/20/fueled-by-el-nino-carbon-emissions-from-indonesian-peat-fires-are-rising-fast/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/dec/01/indonesia-forest-fires-how-the-years-worst-environmental-disaster-unfolded-interactivehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/dec/01/indonesia-forest-fires-how-the-years-worst-environmental-disaster-unfolded-interactivehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/20/fueled-by-el-nino-carbon-emissions-from-indonesian-peat-fires-are-rising-fast/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/20/fueled-by-el-nino-carbon-emissions-from-indonesian-peat-fires-are-rising-fast/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/dec/01/indonesia-forest-fires-how-the-years-worst-environmental-disaster-unfolded-interactivehttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/dec/01/indonesia-forest-fires-how-the-years-worst-environmental-disaster-unfolded-interactive

indonesia’s palm oil and peatland fires that are affecting global climate change

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