humidity and higher temperatures, causing an increase in fire risk and fires (Agus and Wahdini 2008). Dry peat is extremely prone to fire, and both naturally occurring and man-made fires can quickly spread uncontrollably over vast areas (Harrison et al. 2009). Although the burning of peat is forbidden by Indonesian law, 459 fires were recorded by satellite in the Tripa peat swamp between November 2000 and August 2010 (NASA/University of Maryland 2002) (Map 25).
Te costs of such fires both to human health and the overall economy are extremely high. Te fires in 1997 and 1998 exposed some 20 million people living in the south-east Asian region to the harmful smoke coming from fires in Indonesia. Te cost
of these fires in terms of damages to tourism and transporta- tion, destruction of crops and timber, health care, and others have been estimated at around USD 10 billion (Barber and Sch- weithelm 2000).
Agriculture Reductions in agricultural production as a result of forest loss are a mixture of many factors such as erosion, ground water table changes, changes in flooding frequency and damage and changes in pests and pollination (van Beukering et al. 2009). Although factors such as erosion and floods are often consid- ered, pollination is less often mentioned despite its importance. Pollinator–plant relationships are seriously under-studied in