8 - Enhancing Landscape Resilience

Summary

Resilience to agroecological disturbances, i.e., the capacity of the landuse systems to anticipate and adapt to environmental changes in a timely and efficient manner, has gained more and more attention not only for its environmental implications but also for socio-economic importance. A resilient production system is able to absorb shocks and stresses like droughts, floods, pests, and diseases while maintaining production. Some shocks and stresses can be predictable, but some can come at unexpected times. Coping with these is therefore critical to protect the economies (Walker et al. 2010). This requires rethinking and redesigning the existing production systems from a conventional economy that focuses on maximizing short-term production to an eco-economy that considers long-term resilience.

The recurring droughts and uncontrolled peat fires throughout Borneo are prominent examples. In 2015, the direct economic loss due to peat fire was estimated to be US$16 billion for Indonesia alone (Glauber et al. 2016) and the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere in one month was more than the annual emission of Japan (Field et al. 2016). Not yet included are indirect health impacts and ecological damage, e.g., increased tree mortality (Kumagai and Porporato 2012). Neighbouring countries, especially Malaysia and Singapore have experienced tremendous economic losses due to transboundary haze (Nguitragool 2010).

One of the key factors is the large-scale degradation of peatland as a result of the Mega Rice Project (MRP) by the Indonesian government in 1995 which aimed to convert 1 million ha of peatland for rice production (see Chapter 2). Not only did it fail to achieve its objective of rice production, but it has also drastically exacerbated the impacts of droughts and fire. In addition to protection, careful restoration of degraded peatland and damaged ecosystem services are necessary to ensure the long-term resilience of not only Borneo but also the entire region (Possingham, Bode, and Klein 2015). However, reversing the natural systems that have been altered for decades is a very challenging task (Laurance 2016). The rising temperatures and extreme precipitation regimes due to global climate change may further increase the frequency, duration, and severity of the drought and fire events in Borneo.