Peatland is an essential natural resource. Indonesia is the target of increased criticism for its commercial management of peatland, especially over the last two decades. These criticisms pivot around the draining of peatland to use for (dryland) agriculture, horticulture, and forestry and include the effects of draining and burning peatland. Criticisms about Indonesia’s peatland management focuses on oil palm expansion. While we indirectly address Indonesia’s commercial peat management criticisms, our primary focus in this paper is to explore management regimes applied to commercial European peatland management. We seek to compare European management practices asking the question: What can Indonesia learn from seven centuries of European peatland management practices? A comparative understanding will inform an initial guide for defining best management practices. Our findings show that Indonesia, not Europe as we supposed, is uniquely positioned to globally establish sustainable wetland agriculture.

read more here