rinse & rePEAT

Inspiration

Deforestation in rainforests worldwide continues to obtain national attention - but without local action, and without incentives for plantations to turn away, communities, wildlife, and our atmosphere are all under threat. We wanted to focus on one area where we hope to make a difference: the Tropical Peat Swamp Forests of Indonesia, home of 50% of the entire worlds stock of such an ecosystem. TPSFs are capable of storing immense amounts of CO2 - up to 5800 tons per hectare - as well as providing a livelihood for Dayak people who depend on these forests for food, fishing, and building material.

What it does

Our solution is to utilize a carbon finance program, which is currently being implemented through the Indonesian Environmental Estate Fund, to incentivize the restoration of TPSFs taken over for palm oil plantations. After acquiring the land for ecological restoration, we plan to dam the channels used to drain the land and bring back the water. This will allow for replanting of native tree species, 5 of which we have identified as being particularly excellent at re-establishment through examination of previous TPSF restoration efforts. We will protect the seeds in peat pods, which will provide nutrients and mycorrhiza (a critical fungi for TPSF plants), and which are deployed in nets made from bamboo fiber. Bamboo is a locally sourced plant, and its addition to the soil will increase water retention, decrease erosion, and we hope, benefit native microbes critical to the development of peats through the addition of phenols and carbon.

How we built it

We designed our system through extensive research into previous efforts at restoration of tropical peat swamp forests, especially those in Indonesia, as well as the microbiome of tropical peats, seed ball effectivity, and social and environmental justice issues surrounding palm oil and indigenous populations.

Challenges we ran into

A major challenge was in coming up with a financially viable way to dissuade palm oil plantations from continuing deforestation on new land. We hope that carbon finance may be an effective way to do so, and that environmental grants may also support our operations. We also ran into challenges around restoration of TSPFs while minimizing disturbance, which initially led to the net idea, which minimizes foot traffic during replanting, and has the added benefits of adding woody material.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to put all of this together in two days, and really delve into the topic while learning a lot through the various speakers and mentors we had the chance to interact with!

What we learned

We learned about environmental justice, and its interconnections with social justice. We have also learned a lot about the palm oil industry, carbon finance, and native flora and fauna of Indonesia (specifically Borneo). In addition, we learned a lot about TPSFs in general - the microbiome that supports them, the necessary conditions for native plants to come back, and how other researchers and experts around the world have come together to support this critical issue!