Tropical Peatland Management and Restoration

We aim to understand how human-peatland interactions have evolved over time using case study approaches and fill the knowledge gap on peat revegetation success by understanding what plant traits contribute to successful peat revegetation

Project Overview

The transboundary haze pollution is a major source of air pollution to Southeast Asian nations. At the heart of the haze lies the issue of tropical peatland degradation. The only long-term solution to effectively stop Southeast Asia’s haze is to protect remaining intact tropical peatlands, manage current land-use on peatlands, and restore degraded peatlands. However, the process of managing, protecting, and restoring peatlands is complex given the involvement of multiple actors and institutions, the different interactions of these actors and institutions with various components of the peatland ecosystem, and the varied spatial and temporal scales at which these interactions occur. We aim to understand how human-peatland interactions have evolved over time using case study approaches and fill the knowledge gap on peat revegetation success by understanding what plant traits contribute to successful peat revegetation. Lastly, we aim to evaluate how restoration programs help increase resilience of peatlands and communities. This work is led by Yuti Fatimah, Stuart Smith and Nur Estya Rahman.