Farming, not logging or mining, is now the single biggest reason tropical peatlands are disappearing in Indonesia, Peru and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new study published in Nature Communications found that agriculture accounted for more than half of all tropical peatland loss in those three countries between 2015 and 2023.
Peatlands are being cleared for crops and plantations
Researchers analyzed satellite data and land use records across the three nations, which together hold most of the world’s tropical peatlands. In Indonesia, the loss was driven mainly by the expansion of oil palm and pulpwood plantations. In Peru, small scale farming and cattle ranching were the primary causes. In the DRC, smallholder agriculture and the clearing of land for subsistence crops led the destruction.
Peatlands are waterlogged ecosystems that store vast amounts of carbon. When they are drained and burned for farming, that carbon is released into the atmosphere. The study found that fires set to clear land caused especially large short term greenhouse gas emissions.
Why local communities are feeling the effects
For people living near these peatlands, the changes are not abstract. In Indonesia, farmers who rely on peat forests for fishing and nontimber products have seen their resources shrink. In Peru, ranchers and settlers have moved into peat areas that were once too wet to farm, draining them and triggering fires that sometimes spread out of control. In the DRC, communities that depend on peatlands for dry season water and wild foods are watching them disappear.
The study’s lead author said that while peatland loss has slowed in some parts of Indonesia due to government restoration efforts, the overall trend remains troubling. The researchers found that the rate of peatland loss in the DRC and Peru has accelerated in recent years.
Tropical peatlands cover only about 3 percent of global land area but hold roughly a third of all soil carbon. Their destruction releases carbon dioxide and methane, two potent greenhouse gases. The study did not calculate exact emissions, but it noted that fires on cleared peatlands produce emissions far higher than those from fires on mineral soils.
This research adds to a growing body of evidence that agricultural expansion, not industrial logging or mining, poses the greatest immediate threat to the world’s most carbon dense ecosystems. For the people living on the front lines of that expansion, the loss of peatlands means losing a landscape that has sustained them for generations.
