Not many people know this.
A couple of decades ago, the dicator of Borneo, Suhato, decided to clear the rain forest then drain the peat bogs in order to plant rice. If it had worked, Borneo would have produced enough grain to feed half the world.
It didn't work.
The trees were chopped down but the land was found to be unsuited for rice. The canals that were to bring the water into the paddy fields instead drained the water from the bogs, some of them 100's meters thick.
The peat dried out.
The peat caught fire.
It burns 20 - 30 m underground and it releases CO2.
The burning peat of Borneo produces one quarter of global CO2 emissions.
For the cost of a single bullet we might have saved ourselves a lot of angst and a really nice rain forest.
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0421-tina_butler.html
A couple of decades ago, the dicator of Borneo, Suhato, decided to clear the rain forest then drain the peat bogs in order to plant rice. If it had worked, Borneo would have produced enough grain to feed half the world.
It didn't work.
The trees were chopped down but the land was found to be unsuited for rice. The canals that were to bring the water into the paddy fields instead drained the water from the bogs, some of them 100's meters thick.
The peat dried out.
The peat caught fire.
It burns 20 - 30 m underground and it releases CO2.
The burning peat of Borneo produces one quarter of global CO2 emissions.
For the cost of a single bullet we might have saved ourselves a lot of angst and a really nice rain forest.
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0421-tina_butler.html
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