🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Peatlands store more carbon per unit area than most other terrestrial ecosystems.
When peat swamps are drained for agriculture, the exposed organic soil oxidizes and compacts. Over time, this process causes land subsidence that can lower ground levels by several centimeters per year. In some regions, cumulative subsidence measures in meters over decades. For forests already near sea level, this increases flood risk and saltwater intrusion. Orangutans depending on peatland habitat face not only fire but structural land loss. Subsidence permanently alters hydrology and vegetation patterns. The ground itself becomes unstable over generational timescales.
💥 Impact (click to read)
Lowered land levels increase vulnerability to seasonal flooding, which can kill seedlings and mature trees alike. Repeated inundation shifts species composition away from original forest communities. As peat collapses, canopy structure thins and fruit availability declines. The transformation is gradual but irreversible on human timescales. Restoring drained peat to original depth is nearly impossible. Habitat shrinkage occurs from below as well as above.
Land subsidence compounds climate change effects such as sea level rise. Combined pressures accelerate long-term habitat disappearance. Protecting intact peat swamps prevents both carbon release and physical ground collapse. The stability of orangutan habitat depends on maintaining waterlogged peat conditions. Drainage converts living forest into sinking terrain.
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