Borneo peat swamp forests

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Satellite image of the island of Borneo on August 19, 2002, showing smoke from burning peat swamp forests

The Borneo peat swamp forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Peat swamp forests occur where waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time creates thick layer of acidic peat. Peat swamp forests occur in coastal lowlands, behind the brackish or salt-water mangrove forests that lie near the coast, and bounded by the Borneo lowland rain forests on better-drained soils.

Over the past decade, the government of Indonesia has drained some of the Borneo peat swamp forests for conversion to agricultural land. The dry years of 1997-8 and 2002-3 (see El Niño) saw huge fires in the peat swamp forests. A study for the European Space Agency found that the peat swamp forests are a significant carbon sink for the planet, and that the fires of 1997-8 may have released up to 2.5 billion tonnes, and the 2002-3 fires between 200 million to 1 billion tonnes, of carbon into the atmosphere.