Sumatra Peatland Project, Indonesia
Location
Indonesia
SDGs Contribution
8
Solution Type
Afforestation (ARR)
Project Type
Carbon Removal
Fact File
📏 Protects 22,000 hectares of critical peatland in South Sumatra, Indonesia
☁️ 1.34 M tonnes CO₂e per year avoided on average
🐅 7 Critically Endangered,
14 Endangered, 24 Vulnerable IUCN species protected
💧 147 rainwater catchment systems installed across two villages benefiting up to 846 residents
🧑🎓 479 students supported lifetime; 21 university scholarships; 314 children in afterschool programme.
Partnership &
Certification
About this Project
The Problem
Indonesia's peat-swamp forests have suffered decades of degradation through canal excavation, illegal logging and conversion to industrial acacia plantation. The Merang landscape was logged in the 1990s, drained, and burned in massive fires in 2004, 2006 and 2015.
Drained peatlands oxidise and emit very large volumes of CO₂, while the dried peat fuels haze-causing fires that threaten biodiversity, public health and global climate.
The Solution
The Sumatra Merang Peatland Project (SMPP) protects and restores 22,922 ha of degraded tropical peatland in the Merang-Kepayang peat dome, Indonesia. It combines Wetlands Restoration & Conservation (rewetting drained peatland and conserving undrained peat) with Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation activities.
Core interventions are canal-blocking dams (250 installed by end of 2024) to raise the water table, fire prevention systems, assisted natural regeneration with native species, biodiversity monitoring, and community development. The project averts the baseline conversion to industrial acacia plantation.
Project Location
SDG Contributions
