It is well known that at least 20 million of Indonesia's people were directly or indirectly affected by the 1997/1998 Indonesian forest and field fires, where 10-11 million acres of forest and fields burnt.

We quantified the wholesale transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Contrary to claims made in the media, peatland destroyed by open-pit mining will not be restored. Current plans dictate its replacement with upland forest and tailings storage lakes, amounting to the destruction of over 29,500 ha of peatland habitat.

Wetlands are among the most productive and economically valuable ecosystems in the world. However, because of human activities, over half of the wetland ecosystems existing in North America, Europe, Australia, and China in the early 20th century have been lost. Ecological restoration to recover critical ecosystem services has been widely attempted, but the degree of actual recovery of ecosystem functioning and structure from these efforts remains uncertain.

The upcoming global mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries should include and prioritize tropical peatlands.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of forest fire on forest structure in the peat swamp forest. The study was conducted in Raja Musa Forest Reserve which has been experiencing fire occurrences since 1996. Ten plots each measuring 50x20 m were systematically set up both in the burnt and unburnt area and plant inventory were conducted between September 2001 to June 2002.