Unsri Develops Climate-Smart Aquaculture through Catfish Farming for Peatland Restoration in Perigi Village

Peatlands are ecosystems that play a vital role in both the national and global environment. However, these ecosystems face the threat of degradation, partly due to peatland fires. Therefore, restoration efforts are needed to rehabilitate damaged peatlands while preserving the ecosystem.

Indonesia has implemented a peatland restoration strategy through the 3R approach: Rewetting, Revegetation, and Revitalization. Rewetting involves re-wetting the peatland, while revegetation refers to the replanting of vegetation. Both of these approaches are primarily focused on ecological recovery. Meanwhile, revitalization emphasizes the economic empowerment of local communities so that environmental restoration activities can proceed in tandem with improvements in community well-being.

The fisheries sector is one of the main sources of livelihood for communities living in peatland areas. Although most still treat it as a side business, capture fisheries have long been a heavily relied-upon activity. However, communities are beginning to realize the importance of developing fish farming as catches become increasingly difficult to obtain and the productivity of capture fisheries declines.

Since 2018, the Center of Excellence for Peatland and Mangrove Conservation and Productivity Improvement (CoE Place) at Sriwijaya University (Unsri) has been conducting action research on the restoration of degraded peatlands in Perigi Village, Pangkalan Lampam Subdistrict, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, South Sumatra. The project employs a climate-smart agrosilvofishery approach.

Climate-smart agrosilvofishery is a land management approach that integrates various agricultural, forestry, and fisheries activities in a comprehensive manner. This approach is considered promising for supporting both the restoration and sustainable management of peatland ecosystems. One example of its implementation in Perigi Village is catfish farming on peatland.

In general, farmers who have adopted the agrosilvofishery system—particularly in fish farming—have been successful in raising catfish. The development of these activities is part of an effort to link peatland ecosystem restoration with the utilization of the local community’s economic potential.