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Peatland News

Title: The Life-Changing Canals for the People of Lingga Island
Date: 19-Oct-2016
Category: Peatland Conservation
Source/Author: Kompas.com
Description: For years, the residents of Sungai Besar village, North Lingga district, Lingga regency, Riau Islands, have been resigned to their fate. Their homes have always been inundated during the rainy seasons and they have had to deal with the smog from forest fires during the dry seasons. The cause was the same, the forest and swamp at the edge of the village.

The locals could do nothing. Water in the swamp had been there for decades. "Sometimes, there are crocodiles there. Once, officials from the regency administration busily chased after the crocodiles when they were preparing an event in the area," Sungai Besar resident Sobirin said in July.

The water in the swamp increases in the rainy seasons. Previously, as there were no water channels, the water overflowed and inundated the surrounding area.

In the dry seasons, the water subsided and left behind drying puddles. On the dry land, forest fires occurred. The smog suffocated the locals. The ash from the forest fires drifted over their homes. "Hopefully, there will be no more stories like this from this year," Sobirin said.

The Lingga regency administration has now started building a canal to channel water from the swamp into the nearest rivers. The two-meter wide and nine-kilometer long canal is being built in several stages. Two kilometers of the canal have now been completed.

Thus far, the canal walls are still made of mud. "We are waiting for the canal construction to be fully completed before we make the retaining wall," Lingga regent Alias Wello said.

Despite the canal not yet being complete, the Sungai Besar villagers have not experienced flooding this year. Overflowing water from the rains that have fallen since March this year has run into other areas that have never been inundated before. "We are turning these areas into rice fields. Lingga is making efforts to establish rice fields. In the next few years, we hope to create 3,000 hectares of rice field," Wello said.

Still in the early stages, only 40 hectares of rice field have been established. In the first harvest in July 2016, 10 hectares of rice field had an average yield of three tons per hectare. "Compared to other regions, the rice productivity in Sungai Besar is low. However, the yield is satisfying for Lingga, which has long been deemed unable to produce rice," he said.

Multifunction

The canals have multiple functions. The main one is, of course, to channel the overflowing water from the Sungai Besar swamp, which often caused flooding in the past. When the water overflowed in the past, the road connecting Sungai Besar village to other regions was often inundated, disrupting local activities.

In this year's rainy season, there has been no flooding, despite the rains arriving earlier than normal and the rainfall being higher due to the effects of La Nina.

Water in the canal not only flowed into the rice fields it also maintained the humidity of the surrounding swamp area that had often dried up during the dry seasons. "We are learning from other regions how to maintain the moisture of the peatland. Some of the area surrounding the swamp is peatland that easily catches fire if it's dry. For years, this problem has been unresolved," Wello said.

With the canal, the overflowing water is channeled to the drying areas to prevent it from catching fire. This way, the land fires that have reoccurred year after year can be prevented. "Of course, this is just one way. We need more measures to prevent land fires in Sungai Besar," he said.

The decreasing volume of water in the swamp has also facilitated efforts to modify the water's acidity. In the old conditions, the acidic water was unusable. "It is difficult to modify the water's acidity if there is too much of it," Ady Indra Pawennari said.

Ady has a local business processing coconut husks. The processed product is used as a medium to encourage plant growth in critical land. In the last few months, Ady has partnered with the Lingga regency administration to recover critical land in Lingga.

Wello asked Ady to help establish rice fields in Sungai Besar. "This all began from Lingga's desire to become a food storage area. Lingga has water and land but did not have people establishing rice fields. Apparently, it is not easy to establish rice fields in Lingga," Ady said.

Mindset

Wello agreed with this opinion. The biggest challenge was changing the mindset of the local people, who were used to working as fishermen. Furthermore, many of the Lingga people were already resigned to their fate that the regency could only depend on food supplied from other regions. "This program will serve as a real test as to whether or not Lingga can change," he said.

Another challenge was the construction of irrigation culverts. The prepared land was close to water. However, irrigation culverts were needed to provide water to 3,000 hectares of land. The Lingga regency administration is preparing the culvert network in stages. There is no shortage of water in Lingga. The problem is how to manage it. Constructing the canals is one of the ways of managing this.

To extend the canal's length and expand the irrigation network, Riau Islands governor Nurdin Basirun has pledged help. "The provincial government will provide tractors and construct additional irrigation for the network. The existing network has been made by the regency administration but additional canals are needed," he said.

The irrigation network is not only used for watering the rice fields. The locals are being encouraged to farm fish. "There is plenty of unhulled rice and rice straw in the rice fields. Mixed with a few other ingredients, this can fatten fish," he said.

Apart from the Riau Islands administration, Wello said that the Agriculture Ministry had also offered help. Lingga was still waiting for the promises to be fulfilled. "With or without their help, Lingga will continue constructing the canals and the irrigation network. The positive impact will be for us," Wello said.



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