Southeast Asia’s peatlands are in crisis. What can be done?

A significant portion of the world’s tropical peatlands are in Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia are the peatland powerhouses of the region. Indonesia alone is home to more than 30 per cent of the world’s tropical peatlands, while Malaysia contains another 6 per cent. These peatlands are primarily found in Sumatra, Kalimantan and the Malay Peninsula.

Peatlands also support the livelihoods of local communities. According to a 2018 report by researchers at the National University of Singapore, more than 10 million people in Indonesia directly depend on peatland ecosystems.

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Several global and regional initiatives have been launched in response to the peatland crisis. The Global Peatlands Initiative, funded by the International Climate Initiative of the German government, aims to improve the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands.

Between 2018 and 2023, it joined the United Nations Environment Programme to assess, measure and preserve peat carbon in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Peru.

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Peatland restoration, especially through rewetting and revegetation, is becoming a critical strategy in Southeast Asia to achieve goals set by various initiatives. Rewetting involves strategically blocking drainage canals to raise water tables, recreating the waterlogged environment, while revegetation focuses on reintroducing native plant species, which helps stabilise the peat soil and increases biodiversity.

Malaysia is also making strides. The Selangor State