CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEWS

2.1. Study site

2.1.1. Location
The location of the research in this thesis is Block C area of ex-MRP. Block C
area of ex-MRP is located between Sebangau River and Kahayan River and captured
about 726 km2 in area. The location is between 2°15’6.223’’ S, 113°59’9.807’’ E
(Northwest), 2°15’4.278’’ S, 114°14’14.344’’ E (Northeast), 2°39’56.539’’ S, 114°14’
17.946’’ E (Southeast), and 2°39’58.84’’ S, 113°59’13.135’’ E (Southwest) (CDM-
UNFCCC 2008). Administratively this location is the part of Pulang Pisau District of
Central Kalimantan. Total area of this district is 8,977 km2. This area is adjacent to
Gunung Mas District (in the north), Java Sea (in the south), Katingan District and
Palangkaraya City (in the west), and Kapuas District (in the east). Study area crossed by
the Trans Kalimantan, the road connecting South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan
province. Distance from the study area to Palangkaraya, the capital of Central
Kalimantan province, is about 15 km and can be reached in about 30 minutes, with good
road conditions. The area along the Trans Kalimantan is a former peat forests that have
been built into the area of agriculture and settlement. Residential population in the area
is not too dense. The population density in this area is about 35 people per km 2 with a
total population of 119,630 inhabitants.
Focus of this research is in the northern area of Block C which captured the area
of about 10 km x 10 km. Kalampangan Canal and Taruna Canal, the biggest canals
located on the Block C of ex-MRP area, is located in this site as shown in figure 2.1.
Kalampangan Canal is the canal which connects Sebangau River and Kahayan River.
The length of constructed canal is about 10.9 km with average channel width and depth
about 30 m and 4 m, respectively. The canal is crossed by Taruna Canal at the point of
approximately 4.3 km from Sebangau River. Taruna Canal was a long canal that
stretches from the north to the south of Block C. Based on calculations performed on
the map, the channel has a length of over 115 km.

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Figure 2.1. Location of the study

2.1.2. Climate and Hydrology

Block C area of ex-MRP area is tropical and humid area. The averaged
temperatures ranged between 26.5 and 27.5 degrees of Celsius, with temperatures
reaching the maximum of 32.5 degrees of Celsius and the minimum of 22.9 degrees of
Celsius. Relative air humidity is relatively high with an annual average of above 80%.
And as tropical regions, the area received averaged solar radiation of above 50%. The
average evaporation is quite constant, varying between 3.5 mm/d and 4.8 mm/d with
annual evaporation about 1500 mm (Takahashi et al. 2004). Based on the climate
classification (Oldeman 1980), the type of climate in this area is climate types B1,
which means an area with wet months occur between 7 – 9 months (rainfall above 200
mm/month) and dry months (rainfall less than 100 mm / month) is less than 2 months.
Rain occurs almost all year round and most precipitation falls in October – March with

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the normal range of 2,000 – 3,500 mm annually. Dry season in this area falls in the
months of June to September. Annual precipitation for the period 1978–2008 is
presented in figure 2.2. The average annual rainfall over this period was 2866 mm. The
wettest year was 1988 with annual rainfall of 3,614 mm and the driest year was 1997
with annual rainfall of 1,899 mm. The wettest month was December with average
monthly rainfall of 336 mm and the driest month is August with average monthly
rainfall of 103 mm.

Figure 2.2. Average annual precipitation (top) and average monthly precipitation
(bottom) for the period 1978–2004

2.1.3. Soil and Topography

Peat soil between Kahayan River and Sebangau River along Kalampangan Canal
formed peat dome. The top of the peat dome reached the elevation of + 20.6 m located
in the middle of Kalampangan Canal. On Kahayan and Sebangau River, the top of peat
dome reached the elevation of + 17.0 m and + 15.4 m, respectively. The depth of the
peat based on field measurement on surrounding area was between 8.1 m and 10.0 m
(Boehm and Frank 2008). Peat soil in this area was containing partially decomposed
trunks, branches, roots of trees, and some inorganic material that originated from
rainforest trees (Rieley et al. 1996). The decomposition status of the peat varied over the
soil zone. In the surface layer, dominant peat was fibric (least humified) and throughout
most of its thickness was dominated by hemic (moderately humified) peat. Sapric (most

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humified) peat was found near to the bottomlayer. Peat core sample indicated low dry
bulk densities of the peat which were ranged from 0.02 to 0.21 g cm −3. Ash contents in
the sample varied between 0.33% and 1%, and mean pH was 3.2 ± 0.4 (Weiss et al.
2002). The water draining from this peatland is black in color due to high levels of
humic and fulvic acids, polyphenols and other products of organic matter decomposition
(Wosten et al. 2008).

Figure 2.3. Long section and the illustration of peat dome of Kalampangan Canal

2.2. Tropical peat environment

2.2.1. The origin and characteristics of tropical peat soil
Peat is a soil that formed from deposition of organic material derived from the
tissue plant debris. This soil was formed under specific condition which is water
saturated condition. The anaerobic condition due to flooding and the effect of tidal
make peat environment always in wet condition. As a consequence, microorganism
activities are less and incomplete decomposition happens (Noor 2001). Peat usually has
minimum thickness of 40 cm and has minimum of 20% organic content in unsaturated
condition. In saturated conditions, peat contains at least 18% of organic matter if the
clay content of 60% or more. If the clay content is less than 60%, the content of organic
matter of peat will be at least 12%. Peat is also called by different name based on its
origin. The types of peat are bog, moor, mire, and fen.
Based on degree of humification tropical peat categorized as follows (Esterle et
al. 1992):

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a. Fibric, for undecomposed peat with a fibre content >66% and a low degree of
humification
b. Hemic, for peat with a fibre content of 33-66% and a moderate degree of
humification
c. Sapric, for the most decomposed peat with a fibre content of <33% and a high degree
of humification

Figure 2.4. The illustration of peat soil based on the humification degrees (Wust et al.
2003).

Based on the thickness, tropical peat is categorized as follows: (Radjagukguk

1997):
a. Centre for Soil and Agroclimate Research (CSAR) Indonesia classified tropical peatl
into depth classes which are: shallow (50 – 100 cm), moderate (100 – 200 cm), deep
(200 – 300 cm), and very deep (>300 cm)
b. Land Resources Project categorized peat into three classes which are: shallow (<50
cm), moderate (50 – 200 cm) and deep (>200 cm)
c. RePPRot Report categorized peat into three classes which are: shallow (<50 cm),
moderate (50 – 300 cm) and deep (>300 cm).
Physical and chemical characteristics of tropical peat soil are specific and
unique. Some of physical characteristic of peat soil are described below:
a. Bulk density

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 Bulk density is defined as the mass of soil (peat) per unit volume. Peat soils have
bulk density values varying from 0.01 to 0.20 g/cm3. The lower the degree of peat
humification, the lower the value of bulk density. Low bulk density of the peat gives
the consequences of the low bearing capacity of peat soil (Noor 2001). The bulk
density of the surface peat is only 0.15 – 0.30 g/cm 3. This value showed that peat soil
is very light in weight if compared to mineral soils which have bulk density 1.25 –
1.45 g/cm3 (Brady 1997). Bulk density of surface peat in Central Kalimantan varies
between 0.12 and 0.17 g/cm3 under pristine peat swamp forest. In cultivated and fire
damaged peatlands, the bulk density is between 0.17 and 0.31 g/cm 3. This condition
happened because after land reclamation peat substrates start to decompose and
become compacted (Rieley and Page 2008).
b. Water content
Peat soil water content is the water retained by the peat, especially as capillary water
and absorbed water. The water retained in the capillaries is affected by the total
porosity and the rate of decomposition, while the absorbed water is affected by
colloidal properties and specific surface area of peat. Maximum water content of peat
is 850 – 3000%, 450 – 850%, and <450% for fibric, hemic, and sapric peat,
respectively (Andriesse 2003).
c. Shrinking and swelling
Peat soils will shrink when it is dried and will swell when it is re-wetted. On the
other hand, shrinkage values can be expressed as specific volumes of peat (McLay et
al. 1992). Specific volumes of peat from Block C of ex–MRP is between 2.7 and 6.5
cm3/g and decreasing significantly with cultivation and fire damage, especially in the
top 0 – 30 cm layer (Kurnain et al. 2001).
d. Irreversible drying
Peat soils which has experienced severe drought due to reclamation and land clearing
will experience a condition called irreversible drying. In this state, peat soil can no
longer be wet easily. Irreversible drying causes the decrease in the rate of infiltration
and water holding capacity. Rieley et al. (1996) suggested that the water holding
capacity of peat soil which has been burning is only 50% of its original capacity. In
addition, the peat soil will become dry and flammable, so the risk of peat fires is
increasing. Some experts argued that the irreversible drying increases the density of

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 peat soils and establishes water-retaining metal blanket on the surface of the peat
soil. Other experts stated that the irreversible drying establishes carboxyl and
phenolic formed from acids, humus, and high lignin which inhibits re-wetting
process (Noor 2001). As an example, irreversible drying of peat in Block C of ex-
MRP of Central Kalimantan occurs at mean critical water contents ranging from 27.9
to 17.9%, 34.7 to 22.0%, and 5.5 to 3.5% for fibric, hemic, and sapric peat,
respectively (Kurnain et al. 2001).
e. Hydraulic conductivity
Due to it porous nature, peat soil has high to moderate hydraulic conductivity.
Hydraulic conductivity in peat soils is driven by several factors, including total
porosity, bulk density and degree of decomposition. Particle density of peat soils in
Kalimantan varies between 1.23 and 1.76 g/cm3 and the total porosity of peat soils in
Kalimantan, in general, varies between 80% and 90% (Rieley and Page 2008). There
are not so many data about hydraulic conductivity for tropical peat soil. Some studies
stated that the range of hydraulic conductivity of tropical peat soil is between 0.2 to
52 cm/h (Sajarwan et al. 2002). Hydraulic conductivity of waterlogged peat 1-2 m
below the surface of peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan has been investigated
by Takahashi and Yonetani (1997). The values varied between 0.001 and 0.0001
cm/sec. At the surface, hydraulic conductivity was very high and impossible to
measure.
Some of important chemical characteristic of tropical peat soil are soil pH, ash
content, cation exchange capacity, and organic carbon content. All are described below:
a. Soil pH
Acidity (pH) of peat is related to the presence of organic compounds, aluminum, and
hydrogen that can be exchanged, as well as iron sulfide and other sulfur compounds
that can be oxidized. Tropical peat is ombrogen and olgotrophic and usually acid or
very acid with a pH range of 3.0 to 4.5 (Andriesse 1988). Peat acidity tends to be
higher if the peat is denser. Shallow peat has a pH between 4.0 and 5.1, while deep
peat has a pH between 3.1 and 3.9. In Central Kalimantan, pH of peat soil was
ranging from 3.0 to 4.0, and tends to be decreased with increasing depth in the peat.
Dry surface peat has pH that ranges from 3.2 to 7.8. The pH of tropical peat soil is

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 also depending on utilization and agricultural management such as addition of lime
and fertilizers (Suryanto 1994).
b. Ash content
Ash content in the peat soil describes the mineral content in it. The higher the ash
content, the higher the minerals it contains. Ash content in the natural undisturbed
peat is low. Based on previous study, Indonesian peat ash content was ranging from
2.4% to 16.9% (Radjagukguk 1997). Deep peat has lower levels of the ashes if
compared to the shallow one. Ash content for Indonesian peat is 11%, 12%, and 15%
for very deep peat (>3 m), middle peat (1 – 3 m), and shallow peat (<1 m),
respectively (Noor 2001). Ash contents of pristine peat soil in Kalimantan are very
low. It varied between 0.2% and 2%. On the other hand, ash content for drained peat
in Central Kalimantan ranged between 0.6% and 3% (Page et al. 2004).
c. Cation exchange capacity
The general definition of cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil is the maximum
quantity of total cations, of any class, that a soil is capable of holding, at a given pH
value, available for exchange with the soil solution. CEC describes the fertility,
nutrient retention capacity, and the capacity of the soil to protect groundwater from
cation contamination. Based on the weight, the CEC value of tropical peat soil varied
between 50 to 100 cmol(+)/kg. This value will be less if the CEC value is calculated
based on the volume of the soil (Radjagukguk, 1997). The CEC of soil depends on
the level of acidity. The CEC of tropical peat on the pH of 7 with minor
decomposition is 100 cmol(+)/kg, while the CEC of the one with major
decomposition is about 200 cmol(+)/kg (Andriesse 1988).
d. Organic carbon content
Organic carbon content of tropical peat soil depends on the level of decomposition.
The process of decomposition reduces organic carbon content in the peat soil. Based
on this circumstance, in general, organic carbon content of peat with major
decomposition such as hemic and sapric is lower than the one for fibric peat. organic
carbon content of tropical peat soil varied between 12% and 60% (Andriesse 1988).
The value of organic carbon content in peat soil can be derived from the value of C/N
ratio of the soil. Organic carbon contents, total N contents, and C/N ratios of peat

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 soils in the upper 100 cm profile at Block C of ex-MRP varied between 49% to 57%,
1.0% to 2.2%, and 29% to 52%, respectively (Kurnain et al. 2001).

2.2.2. Distribution of tropical peatland in Indonesia

Tropical peat areas are mostly located in Southeast Asia. In the area, there is
about 70% of the total area of tropical peat soils worldwide. They are mostly located
near the coasts of East Sumatera, Kalimantan, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Brunei,
Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, and Southeast Thailand. In these areas rain forest
vegetation grows on a thick mass of organic matter accumulated over thousands of
years, to form deposits up to 20 m thick (Page et al., 2006).Tropical peatlands are also
found in Africa, Central America, and South America and elsewhere around the Pacific
Ocean. The total area of tropical peatland is around 40 million hectares, which is 10%
of global peatland (Immirzi et al. 1992, Page and Banks 2008, Page et al. 2008).
Tropical peatland is carbon sinks that store carbon in large quantities. If peatland
degradation experienced degradation process, there will be a rise in the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can significantly due oxidized carbon. In overall,
tropical peatland areas cover about 0.25% of the earth land surface and containing
50.000 to 70.000 million tons of carbon (about 3% of soil carbon globally). On the other
hand, tropical peatland supports a diverse ecosystem and is home to a number of
endangered species (Rieley and Page 2005).
The archipelago country of Indonesia was historically comprised of vast areas of
wetlands. Peatland areas, which are important carbon reservoirs, accounted for 33.4
million ha of wetlands in Indonesia and it is including 13.30 million ha of lowland
swamp (39.8% of total wetland area) and 20.10 million ha of tidal marsh (60.2%).
These wetlands were spread across the country’s four major islands of Sumatera (9.37
million ha), Kalimantan (11.7 million ha), Sulawesi (1.79 million ha), and Papua (10.50
million ha). Of the original 33.4 million ha of wetlands throughout the country,
approximately 3.90 million ha have been developed for agriculture and plantations
(Harsono 2008).
Most of the wetlands in Indonesia are peatland areas. Based on the latest
mapping, peatland area in Indonesia is about 14.91 million ha and distributed in the
island of Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Papua. The largest peatland area in Indonesia is on

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the island of Sumatera, with an area of approximately 6.44 million ha with peat depth of
shallow to very deep. Peatlands in Kalimantan Island has an area of about 4.78 million
ha with peat depth of shallow to very deep. The peatland area in Papua Island is about
3.69 million ha with peat depth of shallow to moderate. Central Kalimantan is a
province with the largest area of peatland in Kalimantan Island (about 2.66 million ha).
This area is still under the area of peatlands in Riau province of Sumatera (3.87 million
ha) (BPPP 2011). Peatland areas in Indonesia are classified into conservation forest area
(about 2.34 million ha), protected forest area (1.02 million ha), and production forest
area (about 8.95 million ha). Peat land area used for plantation is about 1.42 million ha,
used as an agricultural area of 1.23 million ha, and the rest are used for other activities
(Wahyunto 2010, Bappenas 2010). Figure 2.5 illustrates the distribution of peatland
areas in Indonesia.

Figure 2.5. Distribution of peatland areas in Indonesia (Page et al. 2010).

2.2.3. Studies related to the tropical peatland of Central Kalimantan

Since the failure of the Mega Rice Project in Central Kalimantan, many
institutions and researchers conduct research and investigation on the impact of the
opening of one million hectares of peat land in the area. Some research achievements
have been used and included in this study of hydrological restoration of tropical
peatland areas in Central Kalimantan. Some of research achievements are described
below.
As tropical area, Kalimantan Island climate is characterized by quite constant
temperature throughout the year, high humidity and high rainfall (Takahashi et al.
2004). In tropical peat soil, most of rainfall infiltrates to the subsurface area due to the

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high value of hydraulic conductivity of the surface peat layer (Takahashi and Yonetani
1997). The high value of hydraulic conductivity is caused by the physical characteristics
of the top peat layer (fibric and hemic) with its open, large pore structure (Rieley et al.
1996). Once the peat soil is in saturated condition, excess rainfall flows laterally over
and through the surface and subsurface zone. Finally, it flows towards surrounding
rivers or drainage canals. There is only small proportion (<3%) of the rainfall penetrates
into the deeper peat layers which has low hydraulic conductivities (Hooijer 2005). As a
consequence, lateral water flow towards rivers and drainage canals is then larger if
compared to downward flow into deeper layers (Wosten 2008).
The relationship between groundwater level and peat fire in tropical peatlands of
Central Kalimantan has also been investigated. In order to prevent peat subsidence and
fire, groundwater levels should be maintained between 40 cm below and 100 cm above
the peat surface. If groundwater level in tropical peat drops below 40 cm from the
surface, which under hydrostatic equilibrium is equivalent to a pressure head of -4 kPa,
the moisture content of the little humified top layer decreases from about 0.90 cm 3 cm−3
at saturation to about 0.50 cm3 cm−3 at a pressure head of −4 kPa (Rieley and Page
2005). In such condition, the risk of fire occurrence is very high (Takahashi et al. 2003,
Usup et al. 2004). If the fire happened, it will spread rapidly due to biomass and dry
peat spread (Frandsen, 1997).
Human activity is the most cause of peatland degradation. Million hectares of
peatlands peatland area in Central Kalimantan has been removed as a result of both
legal (concession) and illegal logging and conversion to agricultural use that requires
drainage and water management. The MRP project in Central Kalimantan has produced
abandoned areas that experience floods in the rainy season. On the other hand, in the
dry season, groundwater levels drop significantly and decrease moisture contents of the
surface peat and the vegetation. This circumstance creates huge amounts of dry fuel for
the peat fires (Wosten 2008). Peat fire risk in tropical peatland of Central Kalimantan is
becoming higher due to environmental events such as El Nino Southern Oscillation
(ENSO). Indonesian climate, including Kalimantan climate, is strongly influenced by
the ENSO. In the El Niño years, rainfall in dry-season can be less than half of normal
and severe El Niño events have long been associated with fire, for example in the year
of 1972-73, 1982-83, 1987, 1991-92, 1994, 1997-98, 2002, and 2006 (Harrison et al.

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2009). Over 60,000 hotspots or fires were recorded in Indonesia in 1997, 2002, 2004,
and 2006. The highest number was 147,143 in 2006, making it the worst fire year since
1997 (Putra et al. 2008). The impacts of fire in dry years of El Nino year can be
extremely serious. During El Nino fire in 1997-98, about 10 million hectares of
Indonesia forests were burned, including 1.5 million hectares of peat swamp forests. Of
these, six million total hectares burned in the Kalimantan provinces, including 750,000
hectares of peat forests. (Tacconi, 2003).
Annual green house gases (GHG) emissions, especially CO2, of Central
Kalimantan in 2005 were estimated to be 292 Mt. This number is equivalent to about
15% of total Indonesia’s total emissions of GHG. Peat and Land Use, Land-Use
Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) are dominant contributors to the GHG emissions of
Central Kalimantan, which their portion is about 98 percent of total emissions of the
province. If there are no changes on the environmental restoration and management in
the area, the emissions are expected to grow in number into 340 Mt in 2030. Of this
number, the peat alone will contribute about 68% of the total emissions (DNPI, 2010).
Annual CO2 emissions from peat fires in Indonesia indicate that emissions from peat
fires vary most around 0.1 – 0.2 billion tons per year, and it will be bigger in the El
Niňo years. In 1997 El Niňo, it was estimated that peat fire caused the volume of global
CO2 emissions of Indonesia reached 2.5 billion tons (Van der Werf et al. 2008).
Estimated global CO2 emissions from drained peatland areas in 2008 were 1.3 billion
tons CO2, which 0.5 billion tons of them were from Indonesia (Joosten 2009).

Figure 2.6. World carbon release 2010 (US DECD 2011)

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