GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM TROPICAL PEAT FOREST AND PEAT OIL PALM PLANTATION -A REVIEW
CHIENG BEND YUAN
This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of't: ngineering With Honours (('ivii Engineering)
To my beloved purenis and family
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to take the opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to people that have given contributions towards the success of this thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank God for His grace and mercy throughout this project. It is by His hands and wisdom in guiding me to finish my work within study period.
My appreciation also goes to my FYP supervisor, Professor Ir. Dr Law Puong Ling for his academic guidance throughout this project. Thanks for gave out a lot of precious time for discussion and checking errors in my thesis.
I would also like to thank Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for providing a resourceful library that enabled me to gain adequate information for my thesis.
Last but not least. I would like to thank my family members and friends for all your support and care.
Thank you.
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ABSTRAK
Ulasan jurnal telah dibuat bagi menentukan pembebasan gas rumah hijau (GI IG) dari hutan gambut and pcnanaman kclapa sawit di kawasan gambut. Kebanyakan CiII(i adalah tcrdiri daripada CO,, C114, dan N20. dcngan C'O: mangandungi 90% daripada kcscluruhan GWP manakala (. '114 dan N_O hanya mengandungi <1% daripada jumlah GWP. Kcbanyakan kawasan gambut bcrada di Asia Tenggara (69%) yang
mana Indonesia mcnyumbang 53.1% daripada potcnsi karbon tcnggclam global dengan karbon simpanan dianggarkan bcrnilai 20.28 Mt C yr''. Kawasan gambut yang tclah ditcbang mcmpunyai pcmbcbasan GII(i yang lebih tinggi daripada hutan gambut semulajadi disebabkan pertambahan pcmbebasan CO, daripada pembakaran ( 1.42 - 4.32 Gt, 'y) dan juga danpada pcnguraian setnula di parit (700 Mt yr", tahun 2009). Penanaman kelapa sawit di tanah gambut tclah mcnycbabkan hutang karbon yang tinggi (melebihi 3000 Mg ha"') uniuk dibayar discbabkan oleh pembebasan carbon yang tinggi kepada udara semasa penebangan (648 f 337 Mg ha") dan juga daripada pcnguraian semula di tanah (55 Mg of CO, ha*' yr"). Walaubagaimanapun, penanaman kelapa sawit di kawasan berrumput telah didapati berupaya mengurangkan CO, dengan nilai 135 Mg ha" C'O,. Jadi, penanaman kelapa sawit di kawasan berrumput adalah lebih sesuai bagi mcngurangkan pembebasan (ill(i.
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ABSTRACT
Reviews had been carried out on related journals in determining the G11G emissions from tropical pcatlands and peat oil palm plantations. Majorities of G11G arc CO2, CH4, and N, O, with CO2 consisted of 90% of total GWP while C: 114 and N, () contributed <1% of total GWP. A majority of tropical pcatlands arc located in
Sourthcast Asia (69%) while Indonesia alone has accounted for 53.1% of global potential carbon sink with estimated carbon storage of 20.28 Mt C yr ' Degraded pcatlands have relatively higher GHG emissions than natural peat forests due to additional CO2 emissions from peat fire (in range of 1.42 to 4.32 Gt/y) and soil decomposition in drainage (approximately 700 Mt yr i, year 2009). Establishment of
oil palm plantation on peat soil resulted in a high carbon debt (over 3000 Mg ha* 1) to pay due to large amount of carbon losses into atmosphere during land clearing (648 s
337 Mg ha") and soil decomposition in drainage (approximately 55 Mg of ('O, ha"
yr1 ). However, oil palm plantation established on grassland rehabilitation acted as carbon sink with a net sequestration of 135 Mg ha'' CO,. Therefore, it is preferable
for establishing oil palm plantations on grassland rehabilitation.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Dedication
Acknowledgement Abstrak
Abstract
Table of Content List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations and Notations List of Appendices
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Greenhouse Gases 1.2 Peat Forest
1.3 Oil Palm Plantation 1.4 Problem Statement 1.5 Scope of'study
1.6 Aim and Objectives 1.7 Structure of thesis
Page
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V vi
X
xii
xiv
xv
i
ý 3 4
5 6
K
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Tropical Pcatland: Distribution and Carbon storagc 9 2.2 GHG Emissions from Tropical Pcatland 11
2.2.1 Natural Tropical Pcatland 12
2.2.1.1 Mcthanc Fluxcs 12
2.2.1.2 Carbon Dioxidc Fluxcs 14
2.2.2 Dcgradcd Pcatland 15
2.2.2.1 Deforestation 18
2.2.2.2 Rolc of Firc 19
2.2.2.3 Draincd Pcatlands 20
2.3 Pcat oil palm plantation and GHG 23
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 General
3.2 Background Study 3.3 Data Collection
3.4 Importance of Data Collection 3.5 Results and Discussions
3.6 Conclusion and Recommendations 3.7 Progress of Work
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28 29
29
29 30
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CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Peat distribution. thickness and carbon storage 32 4.2 Deforestation Rate in South East Asia 35
vii
4.3 G11G Emissions from Natural
Tropical Peat Forest 38
4.3.1 CI{4 Flux Emissions 38
4.3.2 C02 Flux Emission 40
4.4 GIIG Emissions from Degraded Pcatland 42
4.4.1 C'11, Flux Emissions 43
4.4.2 CO, Flux Emissions 45
4.5 Comparison of GI IG Emissions from
Natural and Degraded Forest 48
4.6 Role of fire on Carbon Loss
from Tropical Pcatland 50
4.7 Carbon Flux by Location and Land Use 51
4.7.1 CO_ Flux Emissions 52
4.7.2 ('II., Flux [: missions 54
4.7.3 N"O Flux [: missions 56
4.7.4 Total GWP for Different Ecosystems 58 4. X Oil Palm Plantations and (ill(i Emissions 60
3.8.1 CO, Emissions in Grassland and Forest
by using Zero-Burning Method 60 4.8.2 CO, [: missions in Grassland and
Forest by using Burning Method 61 4.8.3 (iiI(i Balance for Oil Palm Plantation
on Grassland and on Forests 62 4. X. 4 Comparison of'Oil palm Plantations 65
and other Biofuels Plantations
VIII
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Recommendation
69
71
REFERENCES 73
APPENDIX 84
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
4.1 Global Tropical Peatland
4.2 Estimates of Carbon Polls and Carbon Sinks
4.3 Deforestation Rates (2000-2005) of Total Peat Swamp Forest, in SEA
4.4 Deforestation Rates (19X5-2000) of Peat Forests in Some SEA Countries
4.5 Carbon Gas Emissions from the Peat Surface in Natural and Degraded Peat Swamp Forest in
Central Kalimantan. Indonesia.
4.6 Carbon Flux by Location and Land Use
4.7 CO, Emissions by Location and Land Use
4.8 ('11, Flux Emissions by Location and Land Use 4.9 N, () Flux Emissions by Location and Land Use 4.10 Total GYP of the Soils for Different
Ecosystems
4.1 1 CO, (: mission (MG till'' ) Due to Complete
Decomposition of Above and Below Ground Biomass of Forest or Grassland Vegetation
alter C'om erring the Land into an Oil Palm Plantation
4.12 CO, E quiv'alent Emission I MG ha'') Caused by Burning and Decomposition of' Biomass of' Forest or (Irassland Vegetation during the First 25 year Oil Palm Rotation
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36
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53
53
56
58
59
61
62
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4.13 GHG Balance in C02 Equivalents (Mg ha') for Oil Palm Plantation on Grassland and on Forest on Mineral and Organic Soil. during the First
25-year Oil Palm Rotation
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1.1 Carbon Cycle in Natural Peat forest
2.1 Schematic Illustration of CO-, Emissions from Drained Peatlands
3.1 Progress of works
4. I Lowland peat extents in Southeast Asia
4.2 Peat Depth/Thickness Classes by Area in Indonesia
4.3 Land ('over on Peatlands in Indonesia and Malaysia
4.4 Methane Fluxes at Various Peat Watertable Depths and Annual Cumulative Methane
Emission from I lollows of Peat Swamp Forest
4.5 1lwnmock and Ilollow Mean ('O. Flux Rates from Peat Swamp Forest at Various Peat Watertable (WT) Depths
4.6 Watertable Depth and Annual Cumulative CO, Emission from Mixed Peat Swamp
Forest I lummoeks and I lollows
4.7 Peat ('I I, Fluxes Rates at Three Tropical Peatland Sites at Various Peat Watertable Depth ('lasses
4.8 Annual Cumulative C'11, and CO, Fluxes at the Peat Surface of Three Drained Sites
4.9 Peat CO, Fluxes Rates at Three Tropical Peatland Sites at Various Peat Watertable
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22 31
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35
36
39
40
42
44
44
X11
Depth Classes
4.10 Historical, Currcnt and Projcctcd CO:
Emissions from Pcatlands duc to Drainagc (fires cxcludcd)
4.11 Cumulativc CO_, cmissions from SE Asia over 100 ycars
4.12 Fire Ilotspot Data (Number of Fires Counted per ycar)for Borneo from 1997 to 2006
4.13 Tentative Estimate of Annual and Average
Annual Carbon Emissions due to Peatland Fires
4.14 GWP for CO_ by Locations and Land Usc 4.15 GWP for C'H, by Locations and Land Use 4.16 GWP for N, O by Locations and Land use 4.17 Carbon Debt. Biofuel Carbon Debt
Allocation, Annual Carbon Repayment Rate, and Carbon Debt Repayments for Different
Biofiuel Production
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51 53
56
58
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONS
GI1G GWP
co,
CHa N, O
Ha
Pg
Gt
Mg mg
FAO
Greenhouse Gases
Global Warming Potential Carbon Dioxide
Methane
Nitrous Oxide Hectare
Pctagram (g x 10
(Iigatonnc (t x 10°) Megagram (g x 10") Milligram (g x 10") Percent
Food and Agriculture Oragniiation of the United Nations
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LIST OF APPENDIX
Appendix Page
Oil Palm Plantation in Malaysia (1957-2007) 85
Oil Palm Plantation in Indonesia (1990 --- 2008) 86
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
Greenhouse effect is no doubt one of the major problems nowadays due to its contribution to the global warming. Greenhouse effect is caused by the trapping of heat from the sun in lower atmosphere of the earth. Grccnhousc gases ((ill(i) are gases in the atmosphere which give rise to this greenhouse effect. (; llG allow shortwave or solar radiation to penetrate down to the atmosphere and the Earth's surface (The Green Lane, 2003). (ili(1 traps heat in the atmosphere which then causing the radiation been absorbed and the Earth's surface becomes warm.
Greenhouse gases can be produced either in natural or man-made. "Natural greenhouse effect" is an important phenomenon to biological life on Earth.
"Enhanced greenhouse effect" is caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation or land surface change, industrial processes, etc. The additional Gl iG produced by enhanced greenhouse effect has increased the concentration of
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GHG in the atmosphere at an alarming rate thus changing the temperature and climate system which then contribute to global warming. The main GHG fluxes arc:
carbon dioxide (C02), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N20).
1.2 Peat Forest
Tropical pcatlands are major storage for carbon dioxide and source of atmospheric methane. The peat content in Southeast Asia is the highest among
regions, as much as approximately 69% of overall global peat. According to Riclcy et al. (2008), peat swamp forests in natural state have the ability to sequester carbon
from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, retain this in plant biomass and store part of it in the peat. The change in pcatland C storage results from changes in the balance between net exchange of CO,, emission of ('114. and hydrological losses of carbon (e. g. dissolved organic and inorganic C and particulate organic C) (International Peat Society, 2008). Net pcatland flux is determined largely by the net balance between CO, uptake in photosynthesis and C release by ecosystem (autotrophic and heterotrophic) respiration (Riclcy et al., 2008). Recently, (ilI(i
emissions released from peat forest have increased rapidly due to over deforestation for agricultural developments. Figure 1.1 shows the carbon cycle in natural peat forest.
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Figure I. I: Carbon Cycle in Natural Peat forest (Source: Minkkincn et al., 2008)
1.3 Oil Palm Plantation
UNDRAINED NATURAL
FOREST
Global palm oil production is increase by 9% every year due to the expanding of'biofuel markets in European Union and by food demand in Indonesia, India and China (Clay, 2004: European Commission, 2006). Oil palm plantations are structurally less complex than natural forest with uniform tree age structure, low canopy, sparse undergrowth, less stable microclimate and greater human disturbance and are cleared and replanted on a 25-30 year rotation (Corley and Tinker, 2003;
Danielsen et al., 1995; Pell et al., 2006). Oil palm is harvested in many tropical countries on more than 12 million hectares and yields over 32 million tonnes of oil annually. It accounts for more than one quarter of the global vegetable oil market and is the most important oil crop next to soy bean. (Genner and Sauerhorn, 2000)
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Indonesia and Malaysia own the largest oil palm production (over 80%) in global oil palm plantation. Oil palm plantations in Indonesia often replace forests which arc previously degraded by fire and logging and illegal oil palm development has been increased by 4.4 million ha to 6.1 million ha with the total forest loss about 28.1 million ha in pcatland and climate change (FAO, 2006; Hansen et al., 2005;
McMorrow ct al., 2001; Ministry of agricultural republic of Indonesia).
In Malaysia, oil palm was first planted commercially in Peninsular Malaysia since 1917 for replacing rubber plantations and forest (Corley et al., 2003; Abdullah et al., 2007). As land became scarce, its expansion was shifted to Sabah and Sarawak
in association with logging and was facilitated by the reclassification of some state forest reserves to allow conversion to oil palm plantations (Hansen et al., 2005;
McMorrow et al.. 2001). Between 1990 and 2005, the oil palm plantation area in Malaysia has increased by 1.8 million ha to 4.2 million ha while 1.1 million ha of forest were lost (FAO. 2006; Malaysian Palm Oil Board). Oil palm establishments usually associated with deforestation, peat fire, and peat drainage which resulted in high amount of GH(i emissions due to carbon losses in peat soil. Therefore, further studies should be done for determining oil palm plantation impact to the greenhouse effects.
1.4 Problem Statement
There are uncertainties and knowledge gaps in determine (ill(i emissions from pcatlands. According to Page et al. (2OO8). although tropical peatlands have global
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significant carbon sinks that store large amount of carbon, the data on this information are subjcctd to uncertainly and errors due to inaccuracy of precise pcatlands locations because of rapid land-use change developments in recent years.
Since the smog episode in 1997 in Southeast Asia, oil palm has been at the centre of an environmental controversy as oil palm was seen to be a polluter which
use substantial input such as fertilizers and pesticides, discharging considerable amounts of effluent from oil mills, and consuming large amounts of water during processing (Lamadc and Bouillct, 2005). However, oil palm itself has high carbon sequestration which can help to reduce atmospheric (ilIG through carbon fixation.
Therefore, this paper focuses on determining the major GIIG fluxes in pcatforcst and oil palm plantation establishment.
1.5 Scope of Study
This study focused on extensive literature review on the greenhouse gas emissions from tropical peat forest and peat oil palm plantation. It is concentrated on data compilation and statistical data analysis from journals, scientific magazines,
news, engineering websites etc which is related about greenhouse gas emission from peat forest and oil palm plantation. GlIG are compared based on its types, emission rate, and global warming potential under different situations such as waterlevel, types of vegetation. drainages, peat fire etc. By reviewing and comparing all the available data and information, it comes out with problem identification and recommendations.
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1.6 Aim and Objectives
The purpose of this research is to compare the amount of GHG emissions from peat forest and peat oil palm plantation. It is essential for determining the effectiveness of carbon sequestration in peat forests and oil palm ecosystems in order to find the best solution to mitigate global climate change which caused by GHG emissions.
The main objectives arc:
o To study the amount of greenhouse gases produced by peat forest and palm oil plantation under different situations.
o To determine the types of greenhouse gases produced by peat forest and palm oil plantation.
o To compare the emission rate of GI IG in peat forest and oil palm plantation.
o To investigate the causes for GIIG formations and emissions from peatfbrest and peat oil palm plantations.
o To study the effectiveness of peat oil palm plantations in reducing (111(1 emissions.
o To search for effective solutions for mitigating (i i(I emissions.
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1.7 Structure of Thesis
This thesis consists of five chapters which aim to clarify the concepts in
determining the major GHG emissions from peat forest and peat oil pal plantations.
Chapter 1 gives general information related to grccnhousc gases effects, grccnhousc gases (GHG) emissions from peat forest, and oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia. Figure 1 illustrate about carbon cycle in natural peat forest.
Chapter 2 is the literature review on journals and wcbsitcs about greenhouses gases (GHG) emissions from natural peat forests, degraded peat forests, and peat oil palm plantation. It focuses on the major fluxes between sources and sinks of GI IG in peatforest and oil palm plantation establishment. It also mentioned about pcatland distribution and carbon storage in Southeast Asia. (ill(; formation and emissions
from different peat ecosystems are also studied.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology which is formed from analysis of data and information collected. The steps are background study, data collections, results and discussions, and finally, conclusion and recommendations.
Chapter 4 focuses on the results and discussions of this study. Graphs and tables have been plotted for indicating the results. Discussions are made based on the given results.
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Chapter 5 assimilates the conclusion of this research. It consisted of the overall results for GHG emissions from different land use in peatlands. Effectiveness and suitability of method to mitigate greenhouse gases emissions in oil palm plantations arc discussed and recommendations are given for improving the problems.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Tropical Peatland: Distribution and Carbon storage
Tropical pcatlands arc found in mainland East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Central America. South America and southern Africa with current estimate of the total area of undeveloped tropical pcatland is in the range 30 45 million hectares, which is approximately 10-12% of the global peatland resource (Immirri & Maltby. 1992; Riclcy ct al., 1996). In lowland Southeast Asia, pcatlands
form part of the mosaic of rain forest types that includes mangrove, lowland diptcrocarp, heath, montane and cloud forests (Riclcy ct al., 1996, Page et al., 1999).
Most tropical peatlands arc located at low altitudes where peat swamp forest occurs on top of a thick mass of organic matter, to which it has contributed over thousands of years, forming accumulated deposits up to 20 in thick (Anderson.
1983). According to Fargione et al. (2008), soil and plant biomass arc the two largest biologically active stores of the terrestrial carbon which both of them contain
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