Professor Susan Page

Professor Susan Page’s research focuses on peatland ecosystems, both in the UK and the tropics, focusing on peatland land use and management, including consequences for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land subsidence. She has been a partner in several multinational research programmes and is currently investigating the environmental impacts of agricultural land uses on peat soils, including the burdens caused by peat fires in Indonesia. She has a strong interest in opportunities for climate change mitigation that ensure beneficial outcomes for people and planet. 

Professor Page applies multidisciplinary geographical approaches to developing more responsible management of global peatlands. This requires a more in depth understanding of the trade-offs between environmental impacts and social and economic development. This has involved working with rural communities in several parts of Indonesia and in the UK in an effort to reduce peatland carbon losses and greenhouse gas emissions, whilst also determining pathways for livelihood security under improved peatland management. 

I am an ecologist by training with research interests in wetland ecology and functioning and wildlife conservation. My current research primarily focuses on tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia, but I m also involved in research projects on peatlands in South America, Central Africa, and lowland peatlands in England.

Many people still find it hard to believe that there are extensive peatlands in the tropical zone: after all, peat bogs are usually associated with the cool, wet, midge-infested regions of the north! There are approximately 450 km2 of peatlands in the tropics, mainly located in Indonesia and Malaysia, but also in South and Central America and central Africa.

In an undisturbed condition, peatlands in Southeast Asia support peat swamp forest, which provides a habitat for a number of rare and endangered species. Underground, the thick peat layers, accumulated over thousands of years and often exceeding a thickness of 10 m, store enormous amounts of carbon. Globally, tropical peatlands store ~120 billion tonnes of carbon and perform other important environmental and landscape functions (e.g. flood mitigation, wildlife habitat maintenance and livelihood support).

My research on tropical peatlands began in 1993 in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. From 1998 onwards, I have been a partner in various collaborative research programmes investigating the ecology, biodiversity, natural resource functions and carbon dynamics of these systems. Increasingly, my research has focused on the role of tropical peatlands in the global carbon cycle, and the impact of forest fires and land use change. Interest in and research on tropical peatlands in South America and Central Africa has also increased in recent years.

Throughout my career I have become increasingly aware of the value of converting scientific knowledge into policy and practice. This transfer of expertise and experience has led to inputs as a Lead Author for IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories, and as an advisor to plantation companies and government agencies in SE Asia.

Research areas

• Peatland ecosystems – temperate and tropical
• GHG mitigation from peatlands under agriculture
• Peat and forest ecosystem restoration
• Peatland ecosystem services

I am interested in supervising students on the following topics:

• Impact of fire on tropical peatland ecosystem functions and recovery
• Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands
• Peatland restoration
• Peatland ecosystem services and their valuation

Current students

Completed students

• Asima Khan - A three-dimensional approach to habitat-centric conservation in the European biodiversity coldspots
• Matthew Payne - Role of oil palm plantation development on forest degradation in Peru (with Dr K Barrett)
• Thomas Newman - Greenhouse gas emissions and aeolian C fluxes from degrading agricultural peatlands in eastern England (with Dr J Kaduk)
• Carla Gomez (based at the Open University) - Cycling of powerful greenhouse gases in tropical wetland trees (with Professor V Gauci and Dr K Olsson-Francis)
• Kampanat Deeudomchan - Carbon stock assessment in Thailand from satellite remote sensing (with Professor H Balzter)
• Valentin Louis – ‘Remote sensing of forest and plantation dynamics’ (with Professor H Balzter)
• Akihito Kono – ‘Effect of sectoral policies and institutional coordination on forests and sustainable forest management in the context of REDD+’ (with Dr C Upton)
• Wayne Murphy – ‘Role of Amazonian peatlands in carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions’ (with Dr A Boom & Dr J-C Berrio and Dr Yit Arn Teh, University of Aberdeen)