Paludiculture: can it be a trade-off between ecology and economic benefit on peatland restoration?

Restoration of degraded peatlands has been taken into serious action in Indonesia. Paludiculture, which is defined as a cultivation on wet and rewetted peatlands, has been promoted as a solution of peatland restoration. The drained peatland should be blocked and rewetted to increase water table and reduce emission. While planted suitable plants and trees on wet and rewetted peatlands which have economic benefit is challenging. We conducted review and synthesis based on published and unpublished papers resulted from activities of peatland restoration in Indonesia, to show whether paludiculture may provide a balance of both ecology and economic benefits. Results show that rewetted on degraded peatlands reduces green-house-gas emission. However, few tree options for wet and rewetted peatland restoration which provides economic benefit. Tree selection usually based on specific site, price and market. Peatland restoration is complexs, therefore the paradigm of peatland restoration should focus on socio-ecological restoration first. Economic benefit will come later as both tangible and intangible economic benefits. Economic friendly schemes, such as REDD+ and rewards for environmental services (RES) may be more suitable as a trade-off in peatland restoration.