Background
Indonesia has an estimated 21 million hectares of peatlands (84% of all peatlands in the Southeast Asia region), storing around 13.6–40.5 gigatons of carbon or approximately 30% more than all the country’s mineral forests combined (Murdiyarso et al. 2010; Warren et al. 2017). As one of the largest provinces with vast peatland areas, Central Kalimantan plays an important role in meeting Indonesia’s emission reduction targets (MoEF 2022). To halt anthropogenic pressures such as deforestation, land degradation, fires, and excessive resource exploitation on peatlands, a better understanding of ways to strengthen collaborative governance between stakeholders is needed.
Collaborative governance requires key elements including participation and inclusiveness, deliberation and consensus-building, institutional design, capacity building, and adaptation and learning (Emerson et al. 2012). Fritz et al. (2024) argue that public engagement is essential for ensuring that climate-related decisions are desirable and feasible, fostering inclusivity, sustainable governance, and societal transformation pathways. Effective governance can be achieved through the understanding of the dynamics of interaction fostering cooperation and collective action through the interactions of multiple, overlapping authorities and institutions (Carlisle and Gruby 2019).
The governance of peatlands in Central Kalimantan is complex, driven by multiple and often competing interests. Research conducted from February to June 2024 revealed several key findings worth discussing. First, in peatland governance, more actors are engaged in information and knowledge exchange than in incentives and collaborative efforts. In this current stakeholder engagement level, our second finding suggests that the network structure in peatland governance is fragmented, hindering the effective flow of information, incentives, and collaboration initiatives. Third, despite having the necessary knowledge and information to protect the peatlands, some key stakeholders lack the jurisdiction or legal capacity to manage them, resulting in their exclusion from decision-making processes. Lastly, local communities are often inadequately engaged, leading to short-lived and unsustainable efforts in protecting or restoring peatlands.
CIFOR-ICRAF, BOSF Mawas, and PPIIG UPR plan to hold a validation workshop in August 2024 to discuss key findings in peatland collaborative governance research. Our goal is to better understand whether the preliminary findings accurately reflect the actual state of collaboration, information and incentive exchange in peatland governance. Additionally, we also aim to explore potential opportunities for peatlands governance in the near future.
Objectives
- Validate research findings from national, provincial and district level
- Receive feedback and comments from presented findings
- To identify the potential opportunities for the future peatlands governance
Contact: Christine Wairata (c.wairata@cifor-icraf.org)
Agenda
Registration
Welcoming addresses
Hendrik Segah
Presentation sessions
Networking among peatlands stakeholders
Bimo Dwisatrio
Findings from data collection of peatland collaborative governance national to sub-national level
Hafiz Awlia Ramadhan
Feedback and discussion
Dhanu Pitoyo
Identifying potential levers of change in collaborative governance in Mawas
Dinomika
Closing and way forward
Laura Graham
Lunch
