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This destruction increass the carbon release to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. In addition, El Niño and Southern Oscillation ( ENSO) drought and large-scale fires are accelerating peatland devastation.
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Since the 1970s, peat swamp forest deforestation and drainage have increased greatly. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates. Unfortunately, regardless of their importance, peat swamp forests are one of the most threatened, yet least studied and most poorly understood biotypes.ĭraining and logging They are among the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon. In this biome vast amounts of carbon as soil organic matter store up – much more than natural forests contain. Tropical peatlands coexist with swamp forests in these tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. During the dry season, the peat remains waterlogged and pools lie among the trees. The water is stained dark brown by the tannins that leach from the fallen leaves and peat – hence the name ‘blackwater swamps’. The spongy, unstable, waterlogged, anaerobic beds of peat can be up to 20 m deep with low pH (pH 2.9 – 4) and low nutrients. In this area 80% is in Indonesia, 11% in Malaysia, 6% in Papua New Guinea, with pockets in Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand. About 62% of the world’s tropical peat lands occur in southeast Asia.