Experts from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) have been working with the local community in Dompas village, Riau, for several months, advising on measures to tackle peatland fires. Riau province has the most frequent fires in the whole of Indonesia. One of the measures is rewetting the degraded land by blocking canals and replanting native vegetation that local villagers can sell and eat, thus introducing a viable economic and environmental alternative to burning land for agricultural purposes.

Originally published by CIFOR.

This research was supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.