Addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation in tropical wetland ecosystems of Indonesia

Eldis.org: Tropical wetland ecosystems, especially peatlands and mangroves, are important in global carbon cycling. This brief notes that Indonesia has more tropical wetlands than any other country on Earth and that coastal mangroves are important for both mitigation and adaptation. It examines ramifications for Indonesia’s wetlands and calls for ecosystem-based or watershed-wide approaches for communities to manage wetlands. The brief highlights the following key messages:

• Standardised methods and protocols are needed for effective monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions from land use and land cover change in tropical wetlands
• Low-lying coastal ecological zones are already affected by rising sea levels and other marine-related climate change effects and yet mangroves are key to both climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Conservation and reducing degradation to tropical wetlands are sound mitigation approaches and important adaptation strategies
• Watershed-wide approaches provide the best lens through which communities can assess and manage changing climate conditions.

The brief makes the following recommendations:

• The understated roles of tropical wetlands in the existing IPCC Guidelines require the growing body of science to improve the IPCC recommendations relating to tropical freshwater and coastal wetlands
• Carbon-rich tropical wetland ecosystems including mangroves and peatlands should be considered high priorities in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies globally and Indonesia has much to offer to the global climate agenda and REDD+ mechanisms...

From the Tropenmuseum, via Wikimedia Commons -- an Indonesia marsh in 1913