Canal blocking keeps the water levels up in peatlands.     THE PEATLAND PROGRAMME The Peatland Programme aims to promote the sustainable management of peatlands, especially in South East Asia. It works closely with various stakeholders including government agencies to promote best management practices in peatland management and rehabilitation, and reduce fires from peatlands. The Peatland Programme has carried out several projects in the past few years to promote the concept of the sustainable management of peatlands, in the region and also beyond. In the South East Asia region, the focus of projects have been on supporting the implementation of the ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy (see below), especially in supporting the development of National Action Plans for Peatlands for the ASEAN Member States.

ASEAN PEATLAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (APMS) The APMS was developed as one of the initial actions of the APMI (see below) and due to the realization fo the pressing need for wise use and sustainable management of peatlands, and the emerging threats of peatland fires and its associated haze pollution. The goal of the Strategy is to promote the sustainable management of peatlands in the ASEAN region through collective action and enhanced cooperation to support and sustain local livelihoods, reduce the risk of fires and associated haze and contribute to global environmental management. The Strategy was developed by the ASEAN Secretariat, with assistance from GEC, through a series of regional consultative workshops involving all the ASEAN Member States. It was endorsed at the 22nd Meeting of the ASOEN-Haze Technical Task Force (HTTF) in Brunei Darussalam in Nov 2005 and the 10th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME) in  the Philippines in Nov 2006. There are four General Objectives and 13 Focal Areas in the APMS.

ASEAN PEATLAND MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE (APMI) The APMI is a mechanism for collective cooperation between the ASEAN Member States to address the issues of peatland management on a sustainable basis to reduce transboundary haze pollution as well as climate change impact. It is envisaged to be a long-term initiative working through the ASEAN structure, to be coordinated by the ASEAN Secretariat with technical and operational support from GEC. The APMI was developed by the ASEAN Secretariat, with assistance from GEC, and was adopted by the 20th Meeting of the ASOEN-Haze Technical Task Force (HTTF) in the Philippines in Feb 2003.

Contact our Peatland Programme team for more details! Shashi Kumaran-Prentice (Coordinator - Peatland Programme) David Lee Chee Leong (Senior Technical Officer)  Lew Siew Yan (Serena) (Programme Officer)

A list of our Projects, workshops and meetings can be downloaded here.