News
Tropical peatland agriculture is devastating
Evidence published by 139 peatland scientists
10/01/2017 After the International Peat Congress 2016, held with over 1,000 participants in Kuching (Malaysia), articles in leading regional newspapers reflected a general consensus and summary of the conference, that current agricultural practices in peatland areas, such as oil palm plantations, do not have a negative impact on the environment. Now a global alliance of 139 peatland scientists published their opinion in Global Change Biology: There is overwhelming evidence that business-as-usual management is not sustainable for tropical peatland agriculture. Failing to recognize the devastating consequences of the current landuse practices on peat soils could mean that the next generation will have to deal with an irreversibly altered, dysfunctional landscape where neither environment nor society, globally or locally, will be winners. Open access has been facilitated by Greifswald Mire Centre and Department of Forestry Sciences, University of Helsinki.