Indonesia is the second largest country in the world in terms of tropical rain forest areas, after Brazil in South America, which consist of many forest types and also very rich biological diversity. Indonesia is one of the main world centers for biodiversity and it can be said to have “mega diversity”. The high pressure on tropical forest ecosystems in the form of natural and man-made disturbances, i.e. deforestation and other practices has caused the high rate of biodiversity losses on an unprecedented scale. To curtail this problem, we must be aware, do more research and act to save our biodiversity, which includes ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Loss of biodiversity also means loss of human traditional knowledge on biodiversity. This paper will discuss awareness, research on biodiversity (government and non-government) and what kind action and regulation have been made by the Indonesian government, in connection with saving, protecting and conserving biodiversity.

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The Biodiversity Conservation Project in Indonesia was started under cooperation with JICA in 1995. In the project research site, Gunung Halimun National Park, field-based research was conducted using a research station to provide basic information for developing management plans for the park and conserving biodiversity. The Cikaniki Research Station (Cikaniki RS) had some obstacles such as access, maintenance cost, user fees, and support systems. However, more extensive research work could improve the situation of Cikaniki RS and contribute to the local economy. In addition, local people and park managers are expected to be involved in management and promotion of research work. The review of the project indicates that the cooperation between researchers, park managers and local people is essential for the project to succeed of conserving biodiversity.

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Contrary to conventional wisdom or hypotheses following from it, there were no differences in water use rate, vulnerability to embolism, maximum rooting depth of sapling-sized plants, or basal area increment of trees in a dipterocarp forest and a tropical heath forest. There is strong anecdotal evidence for water use partitioning in heath forest leading to strikingly different susceptibilities to drought-induced mortality among species. Good management of heath forest sites requires the maintenance of closed canopy over large areas and protection from fire and whatever else might destroy the surface organic layer.

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The fundamental notion of the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) is that ecosystem components interact through time and space to shape the ecosystem. In line with this concept, an LTER is being conducted on Mount Kinabalu jointly by the Sabah Parks and a group of Japanese researchers. Kinabalu, being thermally aseasonal with mosaics of different geologies, presents a unique LTER setting. We selected four elevations (800, 1,900, 2,700 and 3,100 m) on a slope with two sites at each elevation one on sedimentary (relatively richer biophilic nutrients) and one on ultrabasic (poorer) rocks. Mean air temperature changes predictably on the slope. With minimal facilities, but carefully designed sites under the controlled environments, we can study 1) pattern and control of primary production, 2) pattern and control of organic matter partitioning, 3) the dynamics of populations representing different trophic levels, 4) frequency of disturbances, and 5) fluxes of some biophilic nutrients. Three years after launching, we began to recognize annual patterns of primary production (litterfall) and the balance between carbon fixation and release in rainforests under different temperature and nutrient regimes.

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Indonesia peat is a tropical peat, which is deferent from the temperate and cold climate peat. Water logged and oxygen deficient condition are the main factors determining the formation of peat in tropical areas. So the sustainability of peat and its function in the area is determined by the status of biology (organic input) and hydrology, of which hydrology is the most important. Peat hydrology and thickness determine the forest type and hydrology controls the peat decomposition process.
There are many options for peat utilization, either extractive or non-extractive uses. The local community of Central Kalimantan and Riau (Sumatra) have been developing and utilizing peat land for a long period of time. And the government program of peat land development began in the early 1950s, mostly for agricultural purposes. In this last decade of the 20^th century many types of land uses have been also developed in peat land areas, such as palm oil plantation, plantation forest, and peat use for energy.

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Indonesia has a vast area of inland waters, consisting mainly of lakes, Reservoirs, rivers and swamps. There are an estimated 14 million ha of inland waters, consisting of 220 significant rivers, 50 big lakes and reservoirs, all over the country. The high population density and rapid development in all sectors has raised a lot of environmental issues, including those inland waters. The increasing demand for space, food, water and industrial products, forces Indonesia to its utilization of inland waters. The utilization of inland water resources creates some problems, such as water pollution, siltation, eutrophication and the spreading of aquatic weeds and decreasing of indigenous species. Limnological on Indonesia is still limited. Due to the large extent of inland waters in Indonesia, the have not been studied entirely. Many inland waters have been researched, however data has not been compiled to allow to the construction of an environmental information system, which is crucial to balance development and conservation of inland water resources.

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Food is essential for the continuation of human life on earth. Therefore, in this era of rapid industrialization, careful land use planning to secure adequate area for sustainable food production become imperative, particularly in the ASEAN region. This paper presents a proposed method of land use plan to allocate adequate land area for staple food production by studying the dynamics of food supply and demand in a specified area of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. For this purpose, a simple food production model was developed to secure adequate supply for basic needs for energy and protein of the community surrounding conservation forests. Using this premise, further destruction of forest land in the area, as the only source of community income, can be prevented. As a strategy for food production, a multi-attribute model will be used to select appropriate technology for the area so that sustainable development can be achieved. Computational results when the model was applied to the case of Indonesia indicated that the currently adopted SUPRA INSUS technology package has the highest utility value using six attributes:1) Energy ratio per ha; 2) Employment rate; 3) Environment degradation due to the use of fertilizers, pesticides, etc.; 4) CO2 emissions; 5) Net gains by farmers per ha; and 6) Number of working hours of the farmers for soil preparation. In addition, using the above criteria, the multi-attribute model was able to select the best alternatives from 84 possible modes of farming methods for rice production, from soil tillage to rice milling. The computational results also provide the required allocated area for food production to supply adequate energy and protein for the ever increasing population.
The final aims of this study are to determine the proper land use allocation and the required optimum technology package that can maintain a proper balance between food supply and demand in the wetland ecosystem of Central Kalimantan, while protecting the allocated area for the conservation of biodiversity and soil and water for sustainable agricultural development.

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Modern crop production in temperate regions has been developed with high input technology and intensive land use. In tropical areas, however, adverse soils such as low pH, poor nutrient, peat, and saline soils extend widely, and it is very difficult to preserve the status after cultivation or deforestation. Also, those areas are thought to be as the key ecosystems for not only preserving bioresources and biodiversity, but also for reducing carbon efflux through the preservation of peat, storage of carbon in forests, and maintenance of water balance. To avoid sacrificing tropical environments, these fragile environments should be maintained by minimizing inputs for bioproduction. To do this a new bioproduction system is required. To develop this new bioproduction system in the tropics, first it is important to know how native plants have developed the ability to adapt to, or to be tolerant of, adverse soil conditions. As for the nutritional statues in the tropics, implementing a strategy to sustain a bioproduction system using native plants adapted to adverse soils, especially peat, acid, and poor nutrients soils, is proposed.

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Most tropical peat soil is classified as Oligotrophic peat due to their low N, P, K, and Ca content. The macro- and micro-nutrient status of tropical peat soils in natural forests and under cultivation was studied in Malay peninsular and Sarawak.
The average concentrations of P, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe of tropical peat were significantly lower than those of grass peat in Japan. The P, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations of surface soils were higher than those of subsoils. Average concentrations of Ca, Mg, and Fe in Sarawak soils were lower than those of Malay peninsular soils for both surface and subsoils.
Based on the analysis of the distribution of the metal forms, most Cu and Fe occurred in strongly chelated and non-extractable forms (non-available form). The concentrations of water soluble and exchangeable forms (available form) of Mn, Zn, and Cu were very low. In the case of fertilized soil, heavy metal content of the surface soils were about 3 to 15 times as high as those of the subsoil. Most of this was accounted for by the weakly chelated, strongly chelated, or non-extractable forms, because the pH of the surface soil was higher than that of the subsoil. As the chelating effect of humic substances is likely to be pronounced for high soil pH, heavy metals applied in fertilizers were changed into non-available forms.
The concentrations of N and P were fairly high in the soil solution in tropical peat profile, except for P in the profile near the center of the peat dome in a climax forest. Dissolved P consisted mostly of ortho-phosphate, whereas a large part of N was in organic forms. K concentration was not low in the soil solution in the forest as compared with the global average of river water. Low K in soil solution profile was observed at the Sago plantation field in deep peat. Forest clear-cutting disturbs the K cycling in an ecosystem. The concentrations of Ca, Mg, and Fe were fairly low in the soil solution of peat profile as compared with the average of river water in Japan.
The potential capacity to supply K, Ca, and P was not necessarily high, in spite of the apparent high level observed for the soil solution composition. Therefore, from the viewpoint of nutrient dynamics, the potential for using reclaimed peat land is rather limited, especially under low input management.

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The recent land and forest in Indonesia, including those that occurred in Central Kalimantan, produced a smoky haze that persisted for many months and impacted the terrestrial ecosystems and the environment. These impacts can be classified into two categories, namely, those that affect human populations and those that cause damage to vegetation and wildlife. The impacts on humans generally influence public health, the quality of life and the economy. The principal effects on plants and animals consist of habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, in addition to migration and extinction of animal species when driven from their natural habitats.
According to the experience of those living within areas affected by the haze directly, technologies were not available to mitigate its damage. It could only be overcome by the incidence of rain. It is concluded, therefore, that the most important action that needs to be taken to prevent the future occurrence of haze is the prevention of fires.
At the University of Palangka Raya (UNPAR) a group of staff and students has already taken action to combat haze and its impacts by suppressing the land forest fires in and around Palangka Raya and preventing their initiation and spread. A concerted programme of education, information and training targeted at local communities in order to prevent recurrence of this serious problem is being proposed by UNPAR, in association with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and overseas aid agencies. If implemented, this will help to prevent fires being started and provide an inexpensive, but affective means of combating fires and haze if they occur in the future.

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