Addressing Indonesia’s Peat Problem, Fahutan IPB University Invites Research Cooperation with Kyoto University
Addressing Indonesia’s Peat Problem, Fahutan IPB University Invites Research Cooperation with Kyoto University
A team of experts from the Faculty of Forestry and Environment (Fahutan) IPB University had the opportunity to visit Kyoto University to initiate cooperation in overcoming Indonesia’s peat problems.
The collaboration is related to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from forest and land fires (karhutla). The collaboration also aims to increase the role of the community as the spearhead in solving the peat problem that is still intertwined in the country, especially in the Riau Province area.
The Fahutan IPB University team came from the Forest Protection Division, Silviculture Department. They are Prof Bambang Hero Saharjo, Assoc Prof Ati Dwi Nurhayati, Dr Erianto Indra Putra. All three are also part of the Regional Fire Management Resource Centre Southeast Asia (RFMRC-SEA) team.
On this occasion, the IPB University team met with representatives from Kyoto University, namely Prof Okamoto Masaaki, Prof Osamu Kozan (Centre for Southeast Asian Studies), Prof Takeda Sinya (Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies), and Dr Naito Daisuke (Graduate School of Agriculture).
“The experience and information obtained by the team from the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Kyoto University is a valuable input in uncovering various problems that still arise today,” said Prof Bambang Hero.
“This is both regarding tenure issues, peatlands that are increasingly pressed because most of them are controlled by landowners, as well as technical problems of peat itself from various views,” he continued.
Prof Bambang said, the Fahutan IPB University team has long been involved with peat problems, especially emissions produced during fires, recovery, ground water levels. This effort has been worked on since 2013 with Palangkaraya University, Jambi University, and Riau University.
“This collaborative programme funded by NASA with team leaders from the University of Maryland, University of Montana, and others is a good opportunity to be integrated with the results produced by CSEAS-Kyoto University, as well as several other collaborative research results,” he added.
Thus, Prof Bambang said, the outputs produced so far can become the basic capital in solving peat problems in Indonesia. (*/Rz) (IAAS/NRA)
