Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change (2019) 24:591–623 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-018-9790-3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Is Indonesian peatland loss a cautionary tale for Peru? A two-country comparison of the magnitude and causes of tropical peatland degradation Erik Lilleskov1 & Kevin McCullough2 & Kristell Hergoualc’h3 & Dennis del Castillo Torres4 & Rodney Chimner5 & Daniel Murdiyarso3,6 & Randy Kolka7 & Laura Bourgeau-Chavez 8 & John Hribljan5 & Jhon del Aguila Pasquel4,5 & Craig Wayson9 Received: 21 November 2017 /Accepted: 4 February 2018 /Published online: 27 February 2018 # This is a U.S. government work and its text is not subject to copyright protection in the United States; however, its text may be subject to foreign copyright protection 2018 Abstract Indonesia and Peru harbor some of the largest lowland tropical peatland areas. Indone- sian peatlands are subject to much greater anthropogenic activity than Peru’s, including drainage, logging, agricultural conversion, and burning, resulting in high greenhouse gas and particulate emissions. To derive insights from the Indonesian experience, we explored patterns of impact in the two countries, and compared their predisposing factors. Impacts differ greatly among Indonesian regions and the Peruvian Amazon in the following order: Sumatra > Kalimantan > Papua > Peru. All impacts, except fire, are positively related to population density. Factors enhancing Indonesian Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-018- 9790-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Erik Lilleskov
[email protected] 1 USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Houghton, MI, USA 2 USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Madison, WI, USA 3 Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jl.