Carbon storage and release in Indonesian peatlands since the last deglaciation 

[An example of the tragedy of the commons]

Peatlands are important carbon sinks that have over long timescales, produced a global, net-climatic cooling effect over the Holocene. However, many people are unaware of the role of tropical peatlands in the global carbon cycle, where peatlands act as significant long-term sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

This study focuses in the peatlands in Indonesia, which make up approximately half of all known tropical peatlands and 84% of those in Southeast Asia. Results have shown that the carbon uptake is significant in Indonesian and presumably other equatorial peatlands, and play an essential role in the global carbon cycle.

However, deforestation, peat drainage and fires, mostly done intentional by humans to convert the land for agricultural usage or urban development, has alarming effects. The annual losses of carbon from peat drainage and fires are on average 28 times higher than the pre-disturbance rate of uptake implying that this carbon reservoir has recently switched from being a net carbon sink to a significant source of atmospheric carbon and is currently in danger of eradication. Fires have resulted in significant carbon loses from tropical peatlands in the past few decades. For example, in the past 20 years, fires have consumed upper portions of peatlands in Kalimantan down to depths of 15-150 cm, releasing 6–104 kg C m⁻²  of carbon. These carbon losses are equivalent to approximately 190 – 3300 years of peat accumulation, stressing the scale of destruction of peat fires in the recent years. In addition, carbon emissions from fires further exacerbate the negative effects made to the carbon cycle.

In the remaining undrained, primary peat swamp forest today, the rate of carbon storage in western Indonesian peatlands has been reduced to only 17% of the annual pre-disturbance rate. Peatland degradation has not only caused significant losses from the existing carbon pool, but also a significant reduction in inputs.

Along with the expansion of drained oil-palm plantations in Indonesian peatlands, (projected to increase to 25 000 km² in 2020 and 36 700 km²  in 2030), the rate of carbon release is expected to continue to increase, resulting in an increase in carbon emissions to 227 Tg C yr⁻¹ by 2020 and to 250 Tg C yr⁻¹ by 2030 by land use changes alone. Within the recent decades this important carbon sink has switched to a significant carbon source that contributes to currently rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. 

Hence this case study highlights how current human activities are causing significant changes in nutrient cycles, in this case, through the changes in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere which affects the carbon cycle on a global scale.