According to this report, peatlands are the largest carbon store in the terrestrial biosphere, containing twice as much carbon as all the world"s forests combined. There are an estimated 25 million hectares of peatland in the South-East Asian region, making it the most dominant wetland forest type. The objectives of this report are to review and develop potential financing and economic incentive options at the regional or country level to support the protection and sustainable management of peatlands, particularly in South-East Asia.

The focus of this report is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which was formed in 2004 to promote the use of sustainable palm. RSPO members account for around 40 per cent of global palm oil production.

In late 2009, Indonesia made a voluntary commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent by 2020, or by 41 per cent with international assistance, compared to business as usual. The country aims to achieve 87 per cent of this goal by reducing emissions from deforestation and peatland conversion. In a step towards achieving these emission reductions, a decree was signed in 2011 putting into effect a two-year moratorium on issuing new permits for use of primary natural forest and peatland.

Indonesia’s recurrent peatland fires generate toxic haze and release globally significant amounts of greenhouse gases, with severe impacts on public health and economy within Indonesia and neighboring  countries (e.g. Malaysia, Singapore).

This flyer presents a collaborative research endeavor between CIFOR, the Lancaster Environment Centre and the University of Cambridge on diverse stakeholder perceptions of the costs and benefits of the peatland fires in Riau, and opinions on the effectiveness of prospective solutions.

These guidelines, jointly developed by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), are intended to provide general guidance to scientists, planners and managers in their efforts to design, connect, manage, assess and adapt marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks to be resilient to climate change at national and continental scales.

Central Kalimantan has been selected as the primary REDD+ pilot in Indonesia. In its peatlands expectations of payments for carbon emission reduction currently shape the discourse over natural resource management as a means of influencing policy and exercising power. Different types of actors use their own interpretation of history, facts, rules and norms to support their claims. Shifting national policies have over the past decades shaped the distribution of power and actual use of peatland. Actions to reduce emissions will need to appreciate the institutional complexity.