Water management for hydrological restoration and fire prevention in tropical peatland

Water management is an important aspect of hydrological restoration and fire prevention in tropical peatland because the availability of water is not well distributed in the dry and rainy seasons. The degraded peatlands with massive canalization are very vulnerable against peat fire especially in the dry season. A pilot project for water management was conducted at Tanjung Leban, Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province with the purpose not only for hydrological restoration but also for fire prevention. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, the big peat fires occurred at Tanjung Leban and many peatland areas in Riau which caused a haze disaster. Peatland restoration and peat fire prevention efforts have been continuously undertaken by Peatland Restoration Agency and stakeholders at Tanjung Leban and many peatland areas in Riau. The rewetting, revegetation, and revitalization of livelihood were the integrated approaches that were carried out to support the peatland restoration. The aim of this research is to monitor the hydrological condition as the impact of rewetting activities using canal blocking at Tanjung Leban. Forty dip wells in four transects and an automatic rainfall record equipment were set up in the research area to monitor the groundwater level (GWL) and the rainfall event as the impact of rewetting activities. The result shows that the rewetting activity using canal blocking has a significant impact on the rewetting effort so that the risk of peat fire can be minimized. The historical evidence shows that the peatland restoration has been improving after the peatland areas were kept in always wet conditions.