JAKARTA – Another myth often voiced by certain groups of green NGOs is concerned with peatland. They said that unlike member countries of European Union (EU) which have preserved their peatlands, Indonesia has destroyed its peatlands.

The use of peatlands in Europe has been going on since the beginning of civilization, both for agriculture and other economic activities, including the use of peat as energy. The Fuel Peat Industry in EU report (VTT, 2005) shows that peatlands in Europe have been used for agriculture (horticulture) and energy (Table 1).

The World Energy Council reported in 2013 that Europe was the world’s largest consumer and producer of peat fuel. Currently, there are at least 117 power plants generated with peat energy and 651 peat energy producing companies spread across Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and other European countries. The companies use peat to produce 1.65 million Ktoe of fuel which can meet the energy needs of 1.96 million people.

The peat dredging activities have resulted in the loss of European peatlands with an area of ​​around 10.73 million hectares (International Mire Conservation Group and International Peat Society, 2002; Wetland International, 2010). The largest peatland loss in Europe (Table 4) was seen in Russia at around ​​4.36 million hectares, followed by Finland at 1.65 million hectares and the Netherlands at 1.15 million hectares.

The above data shows that European countries exploit peat and ignore the aspects of conservation. The extent of disappeared peatlands in mainland Europe proves that Europe is not preserving its peatlands. In contrast, Indonesia only has 13.4 million hectares of peatlands, of which 41 percent is used for plantation/ agriculture and the remainder (59 percent) is designated as protected peat areas. (*) (Mitos 6-19)