Indonesia
#00252
Case study of
#00286 Rewet peatlands and block drainage canals
Implementer
Indonesian land, peat and fire-management institutions before and during the 2015 crisis
Timeline
Since Jun 1, 2015
Location
Description
During and before the 2015 fire crisis, drainage of peatlands remained widespread across Indonesia. Hydrological restoration was not implemented at the landscape scale required to prevent persistent smoldering peat fires. Surface-level fire suppression was deployed but could not compensate for critically dry peat conditions. The failure was one of implementation and scale — insufficient canal blocking and rewetting infrastructure prior to the drought and ignition season — not a failure of the rewetting concept itself.
Lessons learned
- Hydrological restoration (canal blocking, rewetting) must be completed before drought onset; reactive surface suppression cannot substitute for pre-established peat water levels at landscape scale.
- Landscape-scale peat fire prevention requires infrastructure coverage sufficient to raise and stabilize water tables across connected peat domes, not only at isolated intervention points.
Documented Jul 30, 2026