Peat ecosystems play an important role in climate change mitigation (as carbon sinks) and are biodiversity hotspots. Efforts to preserve and restore peat ecosystems must include well-designed measures to plan and manage the ecosystems and to control inevitable adverse impacts, ensuring their functions to generate ecological and societal benefits.
Though peatlands cover only 3-4% of global area, over 25 million hectares of peatlands are in Southeast Asia. Sustainable peatland management in Southeast Asia can draw on and learn from the experiences of Indonesia, which is home to more than 80% of peatlands in the region.
Protection and sustainable management of peatland in Indonesia occurs through structured actions covering planning, utilization, control, maintenance, and supervision. The availability of guidance documents for monitoring and evaluating peat ecosystem protection and management plans can become a useful reference. The implementation of policies, plans, and programs for the protection, management, and restoration of peatlands to date offers learning materials that can be of interest to stakeholders in the region. For example, to protect and manage peat ecosystems, the Government of Indonesia has national regulations and implementing regulations from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF), representing Indonesia’s strong commitment to the protection of peatlands ecosystems.
Recognizing the potential for ASEAN Member States (AMS) to learn from Indonesia, the Center for international Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) as part of the Measurable Action for Haze-Free Southeast Asia (MAHFSA) program has translated the Indonesian national regulations on managing and protecting peatlands.
This workshop, organized in collaboration with the Directorate of Peat Degradation Control of the Directorate General of Pollution and Environmental Degradation Control of the MoEF, is to strengthen knowledge sharing around Indonesian regulations and AMS policymakers’ knowledge on peat protection planning and management. It will also generate first drafts of country briefs for each AMS.
Objectives
The objectives of the workshop are:
- to provide a forum for AMS to exchange knowledge and learn from other countries experience on regulatory and institutional framework for the protection and management of peat ecosystems,
- to provide opportunity for AMS to equip relevant peatland management agencies and institutions on the design of peatland protection and management planning systems learning from the experience of Indonesia,
- to support each AMS to develop their own “Country Brief” on actions towards peatland ecosystems conservation and management.
Contact: Swetha Peteru (s.peteru@cifor-icraf.org)
Agenda
Organizers
