Peatland in Papua Selatan

Papua Selatan has about 1.12 million ha of peatland on the Ministry of Agriculture's peat map, 9.4% of its area.

Depth and function

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry's 1:50,000 peat ecosystem function map covers 106 thousand ha of peat here. 2,380 ha is designated for protection, mostly because the peat is deeper than 3 metres, and 103.6 thousand ha for cultivation. The deepest peat on record here reaches 6 metres.

Class	Area	Share
Shallow (0.5–1 m)	57.9 thousand ha	54.6%
Moderate (1–2 m)	36.3 thousand ha	34.3%
Deep (2–3 m)	9,441 ha	8.9%
Very deep (> 3 m)	2,380 ha	2.2%

Peat hydrological units (KHG)

This area touches 24 peat hydrological units (KHG) with detailed boundaries. A KHG is one peat ecosystem between two rivers, or between a river and the sea, managed as a unit under Government Regulation 57/2016.

Fires on peat

Since 2012 the VIIRS satellites have recorded 12,469 heat detections on peat in this area. The worst year was 2015, with 5,597.

VIIRS heat detections on peat per year

Since 7 October 2026: 385 confirmed fires on peat, from six-sensor satellite monitoring that started that day.

467 fires are active in this area right now, 16 of them on peat and 1 still burning.

Official hazard maps

KLHK forest and land fire hazard map (1:250,000)

Very high	47.2 thousand ha	0.4%
High	1.35 million ha	11.4%
Moderate	8.76 million ha	73.9%
Low	1.67 million ha	14.1%

Regencies and cities

Name	Peat (Ministry of Agriculture)	Detailed peat (KLHK)
Mappi	491.4 thousand ha	42.6 thousand ha
Asmat	371.6 thousand ha	62.2 thousand ha
Boven Digoel	172.4 thousand ha	709 ha
Merauke	80.3 thousand ha	498 ha

Updated 16 October 2026.