KUCHING: Dr Lulie Melling is the director of Tropical Peat Research Laboratory (TPRL) Unit in the Chief Minister’s Department of Sarawak.
Now the unit has evolved into a full-fledged Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (Tropi) with its own self-contained complex.
The unit’s mission is to develop scientific, technical knowledge and understanding for the responsible management and conservation of tropical peats & peatlands.
To collect samples of peat soils from the field for research purposes, Dr Lulie has to go to the marshy peatlands and get soaking wet all day long. It is a dirty job and a man’s job.
The 55-year-old Iban from Saratok and Bintulu received her Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Malaya in 1990, and a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science with distinction from the University of Reading, United Kingdom in 1997. She obtained her PhD from Hokkaido University, Japan in 2005.
She started her career as a soil researcher in 1991 in the Sarawak Agriculture Department (DOA) and from there, acquired her expertise in tropical peatland research.
She has also been appointed as peat soil expert and advisor for various national and international organisations. She is an active member of the Malaysian Soil Science Society (MSSS), the International Peat Society (IPS) and the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS). Currently, she is the sixth president of the Malaysian Peat Society (MPS) for the 2019 – 2021 term.
In the international forum, Dr Lulie is the first Asian to be an Executive Board member of the IPS (2018-2022). She is also a member of the Asiaflux Science Steering Committee (2015-2021) and ambassador of Hokkaido University since 2017.
Not only that, she was voted by readers of The Malaysian Women’s Weekly as the Most Inspiring Woman in 2012. Not long after in the same year, she was presented with the Anak Sarawak Outstanding Achievement Award by Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) for bringing in more than two big events to the state which had also benefited the peatland based industry through the events.
In an exclusive interview with New Sarawak Tribune, Dr Lulie shares her achievements on tropical peatland research, Tropi’s role and achievements and the way forward for TROPL and peatlands in Sarawak.
New Sarawak Tribune: What prompted you to go into this field of peat soil research?
Dr Lulie: Initially, I wanted to specialise in soil fertility of tropical mineral soil. But I was not given the opportunity to do that.
I was also interested to do research on peat soils. Peat soils have generally been recognised as problematic soil with marginal agriculture capability. They have a multitude of limitations including high groundwater tables, extremely low levels of nutrients, high level of acidity, poor rooting conditions and low bearing capacity. Thus, peatlands were treated as wastelands of no economic value. But as available arable land is decreasing and since peatlands occupy approximately 1.7 hectares or 45 percent of the coastal lowlands of Sarawak, I thought that, aided by the right research, we should be able to convert them into valuable economic assets for the state.
So, after completing my Master’s degree in the UK, I went to Dalat and Mukah to study the sago plantations on peat soils. I was not given any budget then and had to source for support outside. Fortunately, I met the general manager of the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA) back then and told him that I was interested to conduct a research on sago plantations on peat soils. He was very happy with my research report and reported my work to Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud who was the chief minister then. There was no looking back after that.
New Sarawak Tribune: What are the challenges you faced and what is your greatest satisfaction so far?
Through Tropi, I was able to successfully produce postgraduates for the Master of Science (MSc) and PhD programmes and contribute to the growth of human capital development.
Research is not everyone’s cup of tea and the topic of peat is not really that attractive or glamorous. It is not just reporting, it is challenging research work. You need to have the inner drive to do continuous literature reviews and publications under stringent anonymous reviews to get results and recognitions.
When I was attached to Hokkaido University in Japan, I found that it had used a very interesting method to study soils.
The Japanese innovatively use a greenhouse gas (GHG) flux method to study the soils by evaluating the gas that emits from the soils. So, I began to change my mindset and thought that GHG was a very interesting research method. I discovered that I could adapt the same method to study peat soils in Sarawak rather than just used the conventional mineral soil research methodology.
My objective was to apply the GHG method on our peat soils in Sarawak after I graduated from Japan. At that time, between 2006 and 2007, carbon emission issues began to emerge with the world attacking the development of oil palm plantations on peat soils and blaming them for causing climatic change.
My timely research findings based on my Japanese experience caught the world’s attention. I was a shock to the nation and our besieged oil palm industry then because I was not from any
well-funded research organisation, yet I single handedly, backed by my small laboratory, pioneered and published the ground breaking research work on peat use and GHG emission to rebut the maligned western detractors on the use of peat as arable land. I was also hailed as the pioneer for tropical peatland research in the world.
Sarawak had been subjected to negative comments on oil palm plantations on peatlands in the state and there was even a call for a moratorium on the oil palm expansion. Tropi is now in the frontline on behalf of the state to inform the public that agriculture practices on peatlands have minimal impact on their roles as carbon sources. And today, more than 50 percent of the oil palm revenue for the state is from peatlands.
New Sarawak Tribune: Can you tell us more about Tropi’s roles?
Tropi is the first purpose-built research complex in the history of Sarawak. Secondly, we produce home-grown world-class or “Made-in-Sarawak” research scientists.
Our research complex, which houses the state of the art instrumentation, is a “Value for Money” investment by the state government for the conduct of peat soil research and training ground for academic staff.
Since its inception in 2008, Tropi had been pioneering and focusing its research on tropical peatland ecosystems. We also study the changes in GHG flux, carbon types and stock, soil properties and soil microorganisms that occurred under various land practices.
Tropi’s role is also to address environmental issues such as climate change, carbon and water footprint related to agricultural development; to support plantation industries such as oil palm and sago; to increase land productivity, and to develop technology for pest and disease control.
In 2010, as part of our research programme, we constructed three Eddy-Covariance flux towers and placed them at various peatland sites. These have enabled Tropi to accelerate and consolidate its field research as well as widen its scope to encompass the whole peatland ecosystems, covering aspects of forestry, wetland and conservation.
The unit organises several international conferences and workshops in collaboration with The Malaysian Peat Society; I am currently the president of the society. Besides having its research papers published in distinguished scientific journals, Tropi also has a long history of successful international collaborations with Japan, Europe and the USA, resulting in numerous joint-authorship publications.
New Sarawak Tribune: Apart from oil palm, what are the agricultural crops that can optimally be cultivated on peat soil?
Besides oil palm, pineapple, sago palms, including ‘midin’ (Sarawak jungle ferns) are among the crops that can be cultivated on peat soils. For more sustainable utilisation of tropical peatlands, perennial crops such as sago palm can also be a better option which can be cultivated on a big scale. But there is still a need for more aggressive systematic agronomic research, especially in the area of enhancement of soil fertility.
In some countries in Europe, after they have harvested their forests for both construction purposes and heating, peat is mined for energy, just like charcoal and also for horticulture. Now with the rapid expansion of fertigation and greenhouse methods for food production, our peats can be another good option to be used as a growing media.
New Sarawak Tribune: Do oil palm plantations on peatlands contribute to climate change?
Every anthropogenic activity of mankind on Mother Earth led to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It is always a question of how much without dis-balancing or destroying the eco culture of any land. Through research, we can identify the controlling factors to develop both the adaptation and mitigation methods on how to decrease the CO2 emissions whilst conducting economic activities.
How much leeway is needed to allow for food security?
Various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) tend to create issues about tropical peatlands without systematic empirical data from scientific research and with insufficient understanding of the tropical peatland ecosystem. Often, the understanding of tropical peatlands is postulated on temperate and boreal peats, overlooking the reality of what tropical peatlands are. Thus, Tropi is doing its part to enlighten the public through its research by patching up the misinformation being propagated by the NGOs.
In Sarawak, we have successfully practised agro-environmental management for our agriculture development on tropical peatlands and as proven in 2015 and 2019 based on the Nasa satellite images, there were no hotspots of peatland fires on managed peatlands.
New Sarawak Tribune: What is the way forward for Tropi and peatlands in Sarawak?
There is a continuous need for R&D on peat soils in Sarawak because what we know now is only the tip of the iceberg. We have to ensure sustainability of peatland development for oil palm, sago and pineapples. And most importantly, there is also a need for conservation of tropical peatlands for future generations.
To ensure the sustainability of the peatlands and the oil palm industry, there is a need to develop our academic resources by producing more scientists. The state needs to have more soil scientists, soil microbiologists, soil chemists, peat hydrologists, peat agronomists, atmospheric scientists, including statisticians.
New Sarawak Tribune: You mentioned that you are going to retire soon? What is your next plan?
After my PhD, I wanted to set up a Kitchen Club for women. The objective of the club is to help rural women with parenting and share with them effective home and financial management skills. Actually, I have already implemented the same blueprint approach here with my staff in Tropi, urging them to be independent and self-sustainable. I may look into my initial plan of setting up the kitchen club soon. We will see.
