REFERENSI TINGGI MUKA AIR TANAH BAGI PENCEGAHAN KEBAKARAN GAMBUT DI INDONESIA

Peat fires in Indonesia occurs annually since the last few decades resulted to a massive ecological and economic losses and placed Indonesia as one of the world's highest CO2 emitters. Repeated peat fires have degraded most of Indonesia's peatlands. The dry-degraded peat in the dry season is a major trigger for peat fire occurrences. Groundwater level greatly affects the peat moisture and therefore provide the easiness level of the peat to be burnt. To determine the lowest groundwater level to prevent the peat fire occurrences in Indonesia, this study examines the linkages between groundwater levels in peatland and the occurrence of fires in Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra and Kapuas regencies, Central Kalimantan. The results of this study indicate a close relationship between rainfall, groundwater level and fire occurrences in peatlands in both areas. This study strongly recommends 40 cm as a threshold of groundwater depth in peatlands for peat fire prevention. We noticed that that groundwater should maintain in at least 10 cm depth in a high-degraded peatlands to prevent the peat from peat fire occurrence