Underreported CO2 emissions in an oil palm plantation on tropical peat in Malaysia

Tropical peats are large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and differ markedly from their counterparts at temperate latitudes. The rapid deforestation and subsequent land conversion of tropical virgin forests in Southeast Asia have been decried by environmental groups worldwide even though there is little robust scientific evidence to ascertain the net amount of greenhouse gas released to the atmosphere. Owing to the lucrative seed oil production, the conversion to oil palm plantations at a large scale further exacerbates the situation. This paper shows CO₂ emissions in a converted oil palm plantation grown on tropical peat in northeast Malaysia. It discusses the various factors impacting the emissions including the wide range of tropical peat characteristics and the variability in the monsoon season. Robust eddy-covariance data show that during the Monsoon season, monthly mean carbon emission rate has 73-85 tons CO₂ ha^-1 yr^-1 while during the dry season, monthly mean carbon emission rate arrives at 98-133 tons CO₂ ha^-1 yr^-1.