Tropical peatlands in the Anthropocene: The present and the future

Girkin, Nicholas T.; Cooper, Hannah V.; Ledger, Martha J.; O’Reilly, Patrick; Thornton, Sara A.; Åkesson, Christine M.; Cole, Lydia E.S.; Hapsari, K. Anggi; Hawthorne, Donna; Roucoux, Katherine H.

Abstract

Tropical peatlands are a globally important carbon store. They host significant biodiversity and provide a range of other important ecosystem services, including food and medicines for local communities. Tropical peatlands are increasingly modified by humans in the rapid and transformative way typical of the “Anthropocene,” with the most significant human—driven changes to date occurring in Southeast Asia. This review synthesizes the dominant changes observed in human interactions with tropical peatlands in the last 200 years, focusing on the tropical lowland peatlands of Southeast Asia. We identify the beginning of transformative anthropogenic processes in these carbon-rich ecosystems, chart the intensification of these processes in the 20th and early 21st centuries, and assess their impacts on key ecosystem services in the present. Where data exist, we compare the tropical peatlands of Central Africa and Amazonia, which have experienced very different scales of disturbance in the recent past. We explore their global importance and how environmental pressures may affect them in the future. Finally, looking to the future, we identify ongoing efforts in peatland conservation, management, restoration, and socio-economic development, as well as areas of fruitful research toward sustainability of tropical peatlands.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 17, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 19, 2022
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2024
• Journal: Anthropocene
• Print ISSN: 2213-3054
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Article Number: 100354
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2022.100354
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous), Ecology, Global and Planetary Change
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/15431740
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213305422000352?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).