在World Wetlands Day2月2日nd，印度尼西亚的地理空间信息局（BIG）将宣布获胜者一场比赛to come up with the best method for mapping the nation’s peatlands. The winning team will be awarded a $1 million prize. For the rest of us, the competition could help save the wetlands thatare critically importantfor Indonesian citizens as well as for the global battle against climate change.

Peatland Destruction: When Draining the Swamp Is a Bad Idea

泥炭沼泽是独特的和不足的生态系统，富含碳和生物学多样性。当死植物在用富丁宁水浸泡的土壤中部分腐烂时，泥炭地形成，有机物逐渐积聚在一层，超过数百甚至几千年的时间里。印度尼西亚拥有一些36 percent在世界的热带泥炭地，哪个商店最多增加20倍的碳than non-peat mineral soils.

泥炭“圆顶”是复杂的水文形成，可以厚度从半米到深度超过20米。Peatland forests hold many times more carbon than a typical tropical forest, most of it below ground. Indonesia’s peatlands are also home to wildlife species includingorangutans, Sumatran tigers, leopards和世界上没有其他地方的鱼类。

But peatland ecosystems are also fragile. Disturbing just the edge of a peat dome can affect the hydrology of the whole landscape. Once the above-ground natural vegetation is cleared and the dome is drained—oftentimes to make way for industrial agriculture—peat soils rapidly dry out and become highly flammable. The catastrophic land fires that periodically engulf large swaths of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and most recently, Papua, are concentrated in peatlands that have been converted to industrial oil palm and timber plantations.

About half of Indonesia’s peatlands are now degraded. In addition to the annual burning – which in late 2015 cost the Indonesian economy160亿美元in losses,与整个美国经济相比，每日温室气体排放多，并导致100,000个过早死亡- 分析还表明，栽培的泥炭地正在经历快速的沉降。这使得该国容易遭受广泛的洪水和数十年来适合农业生产的地区的损失。

Recognizing these risks, the Government of Indonesia has introduced a suite of initiatives designed to stop further peatland conversion and restore some of the drained and denuded area. The Peatland Restoration Agency established in 2016 aims to还原200万公顷（490万英亩）的泥炭地, and President Joko Widodo issued a decree establishing a moratorium on further commercial development of peatlands pending better映射和分区。环境和森林部跟进了一系列实施法规。

印度尼西亚Riau的森林和泥炭开火。照片由Julius Lawalata/Wri摄
印度尼西亚Riau的森林和泥炭开火。照片由Julius Lawalata/Wri摄

不良地图：印度尼西亚泥炭地保护的主要障碍

问题是印度尼西亚的地图显示了该国泥炭地的位置众所周知, and don’t show the difference between shallow and deep peat. This lack of information provides cover for companies to continue peatland conversion as usual. Government agencies need better maps of peatland to enforce laws and regulations governing them, companies need them to comply with zero-deforestation commitments, and NGO watchdogs need them to hold both of those groups accountable.

泥炭地的政治像碳一样，主要在地面以下。尽管总统承认迫切需要在泥炭倒塌之前迫切需要进一步停止泥炭开发并恢复泥炭圆顶，但在某些人中的抵抗力深处agencies are opposed to reform。他们的同情在于种植园的所有者在泥炭上，还有另一种势在必行的东西 - 将纤维供应给印度尼西亚的巨大果肉和造纸厂，其中大部分来自泥炭上种植的相思树。显然，在促进泥炭地法规的地图上绘制线路的绘制线，对受影响的公司产生了重大财务后果。因此，至关重要的是，制作这些地图的方法是透明，可信和高于政治操纵的。

印尼泥炭奖：映射未知的

That’s where the印尼泥炭奖comes in. The prize is sponsored by BIG (which is mandated by Indonesian law to set standards for map-making), supported by an independent Scientific Advisory Board composed of Indonesian and international scientists, and funded by the大卫和露西尔·帕卡德基金会。获奖者的选择将基于与准确性，及时性和成本相关的透明标准。

这决赛入围者争夺该奖项的是使用各种创新方法来满足这些标准。每个团队都使用一种或多种遥感方法，包括卫星图像，机载电磁传感器，激光雷达和/或雷达。然后将这些数据与现有的数据集（地面桥接和建模）结合使用，以最大程度地减少对建立泥炭地地区边缘和深度的广泛（和昂贵）采样的需求。

泥炭奖为外交提供了更广泛的课程

印度尼西亚泥炭奖说明了如何克服经常建立的国际森林合作政治。在书里，为什么要森林？为什么现在？，作者分析了这些政治，重点是巴西和印度尼西亚。在这两个国家中，远程感应技术的革命允许卫星监视树木覆盖损失，这赋予了致力于改善森林管理的当地团体。然而，国际媒体和倡导团体的关注并不总是受到欢迎，因为人们认为这种关注侵犯了国家主权，并以牺牲当地需求为代价的全球目标优先考虑全球目标。

印尼泥炭奖设法避免了这种敏感性。该奖项是明确设计的，以支持印度尼西亚政府在e Map Policyto consolidate spatial information on a common, publicly accessible platform. The Prize process is led by an Indonesian government agency. International partners are providing the prize money and technical expertise for the Scientific Advisory Board. And each mapping team includes both Indonesian and international participants.

Indeed, the prize will not only help protect globally important peatlands that also serve local interests; it will build new scientific collaborations that are likely to extend far beyond the prize process. It thus provides a positive example of how international cooperation can help accelerate progress toward solving politically sensitive local problems that have implications for all of us.