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Title: Enhancing climate resources and sustainable peatland management
Date: 08-Mar-2021
Description: The rise of resource materials on peatlands and climate change has been nothing but a positive outlook to a more raised awareness of the environment. Besides that, efforts to mitigate environmental challenges has been gaining momentum worldwide despite hurdles. Plus, updates on palm oil boycotts.

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PEATLANDS in Southeast Asia 

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The rise of resource materials on peatlands and climate change has been nothing but a positive outlook to a more raised awareness of the environment. Besides that, efforts to mitigate environmental challenges has been gaining momentum worldwide despite hurdles. Plus, updates on palm oil boycotts.

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REVIEW OF REGIONAL HAZE SITUATION IN ASEAN REGION FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2021  
 
Northeast Monsoon conditions prevailed over the ASEAN region in January and February 2021. Dry conditions persisted over the northern ASEAN region. Hotspot activities were observed in many parts of the sub-region. The hotspot and haze situation further deteriorated when transboundary haze was observed mostly over Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

The Southern ASEAN region is in transition from wet to dry season. Hotspot activities were subdued due to the wet weather conditions and increasing hotspot detected through the end of February. Based on surveillance by the NOAA-20, a total of 40,305 hotspots with high confidence level were detected in ASEAN region where 99% were detected in Northern ASEAN region. 
More Info On Regional Haze Situation

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF PEATLANDS 
 
Drainage impacts on a raised bog
New animation explores drainage impacts on a raised bog

The IUCN UK Peatland Programme has released a new animation that explores the hydrological basis of raised bogs, considering what happens to them when they are damaged by drainage, peat cutting or agricultural land-claim, and suggests ways to aid and speed up recovery from such impacts.
More Information
 

Online Workshop: Peatland Management and Wet Livelihood Opportunities in Indonesia

The workshop was organised with technical support from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners under the Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI). The session focused on answering two focus question:
  1. What examples exist for sustainable value chain, finance and policy for peatland management? 
  2. What other landscape-level approaches exist that help to maintain peatlands wet while ensuring communities’ livelihoods?
You can access all the relevant information below:
Video Recording
Summary Of The Online Workshop

A 5-year MoU signed on Peatland Management between Pahang State Government and Global Environment Centre (GEC)
On 23 February 2021, a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Peatland Management was signed between GEC and Pahang State Government, represented by the Pahang State Forestry Department
 
The MoU will help facilitate collaboration between GEC, the State Government, the private sector and local communities to protect, restore and sustainably manage peat swamp forest as well as its resources and prevent fires within the peatland landscape in Pahang, Malaysia.
More About The Collaboration

Jokowi warns of forest fires as hotspots detected

On 22 February 2021, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said that local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hotspots had been detected on the island of Sumatra. Indonesia has been stepping up their game to prevent forest fires and showing commitments to prevent further loss from the fires through various initiatives. 
More About The Warning


CHALLENGES IN PEAT PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION

Indonesia renews peat restoration bid to include mangroves, but hurdles abound

Hope for peatland restoration in Indonesia is restored as Indonesian President Joko Widodo extended the mandate of the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) through to 2024, after it expired at the end of 2020. 

BRG was established in 2016 to restore more than 2.6 million hectares of degraded peatlands. By the end of 2020, however, the BRG had managed to restore about 94% of its target. With tenure extension, BRG’s working areas has also been expanded to rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of degraded mangrove; it is now called the Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM).
 
Read The Article

Casual Gardener: Peat set to spark a horticulture war

Campaign against peat extraction for gardening has attracted the ire of gardening traditionalists and representatives of the horticulture industry. Peat is a relatively cheap growing medium and in Ireland there's an abundance of peat soils. However, its use comes with high environmental costs.
More About The Conflict

How human activity threatens the world’s carbon-rich peatlands

The World Economic Forum has recently published a paper in Nature Climate Change, where they review the scientific literature and survey experts to explore the biggest risks to global peatlands and their potential impacts during this century and beyond. 
Read The Paper Summary
 

VALUING WETLANDS AROUND THE WORLD
 

The World Celebrated World Wetlands Day 2021

Wetlands are critical ecosystems vital to sustaining lives on Earth. Every 2nd of February, wetlands are celebrated worldwide to raise awareness about the importance of conserving wetlands. This year marks 50th World Wetlands Day and the emphasis is on water, wetlands and life are inseparable.
Get WWD 2021 Materials
Read Wetland Stories Around The Globe

RAISING AWARENESS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Himalayan glacier disaster highlights climate change risks

"Chopra and other experts had been tasked by India's Supreme Court to study the impact of receding glaciers on dams. They had warned that warming due to climate change was melting the Himalayan glaciers and facilitated avalanches and landslides, and that constructing dams in the fragile ecosystem was dangerous."
Read The Article

La Nina climate cycle has peaked, says UN 

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there was a 65 per cent likelihood that La Nina will persist during February-April. The odds shift rapidly thereafter, with a 70 per cent chance that the tropical Pacific will return to neutral conditions in the cycle by April-June.
More About The Weather

The Extraordinary Story of Peat and Carbon
Watch a short animation below that looks at the extraordinary quantities of carbon locked up on millennial timescales within peatland ecosystems. 
The Extraordinary Story of Peat and Carbon
The Extraordinary Story of Peat and Carbon

Launch of UN Race-to-Zero Emissions Breakthroughs 

Race to Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, and investors for a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth. 
More About The Campaign

Malaysian eco-warriors use art and activism to empower Orang Asli in climate crisis fight

A Malaysian climate activist group has teamed up with UK-based organisation for the “Weaving Hopes for the Future” project, which will focus on a mentorship programme to cultivate skills where Malaysian indigenous communities will create an art installation and other creative works inspired by the climate crisis and its impact on their daily lives.
More About The Collaboration

New UNEP Synthesis Provides Blueprint to Urgently Solve Planetary Emergencies and Secure Humanity’s Future

The first United Nation Environment Programme’s (UNEP) synthesis report titled “Making Peace with Nature” assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges, and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050
More About The Blueprint
Download "Making Peace with Nature" Report


UPDATES ON THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY

Stressing need for improved smallholder performance, palm oil expert suggests public-private partnership

Smallholder farmers have been underperforming in terms of productivity and income. Solidaridad Network Asia Senior Adviser Teoh Cheng Hai suggested greater ‘boots on the ground’ support to transform the smallholder sector and improve the productivity and income through public-private partnerships.
More About The Solution

Peat fires not caused by oil palm plantations – Expert

The Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (Tropi) director and tropical peat land expert, Dr Lulie Melling said peat land fires often resulted from open burnings at unmanaged land or large areas of idle land. “Looking at our border with Kalimantan, Indonesia where some part of their land was burning, people say it is peat fire. But the fires are not on peat soil but mineral soil.”
More Of Dr Melling's Remark

Indonesia, Malaysia eye joint campaign in Europe to counter palm oil critics

Through the platform of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), the world’s top producers of palm oil, Indonesia and Malaysia have sent out a request for proposals to hire an advocacy firm to run a campaign in Europe this year to counter criticism, three sources familiar with the matter said.
More Of The Joint Campaign

Malaysia initiates legal action against EU following anti-palm oil campaign

The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry (MPIC) has initiated legal action against the European Union (EU) and its member states France and Lithuania following their anti-palm oil measures. “Malaysia hopes that the WTO, through its Dispute Settlement Body, would study and consider Malaysia’s arguments and explanation in a fair and equitable manner in accordance with the WTO’s legal principles,” MPIC Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said in a statement.
More Of The Legal Action

WROs on Malaysian palm oil have ripple effect, says expert

Industry expert MR Chandran — who is also a founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO — said, “The repercussions to the action taken by the MNCs are huge. It is a damaging action as it is done without clear evidence or making known of the evidence that they found.”
More Of The Ripple Effect
 
Events
Nature at the heart of a global circular bioeconomy
An open for all digital forum on Friday, 19 Mar 2021 12:00 UTC
Find out more
16th International Peatland Congress
To be organised fully online on 3 May – 6 May, 2021. Registration is open until 30 March 2021. 
Find out more
9th SER World Conference on Ecological Restoration
An open for all virtual conference from 19 – 24 June 2021.
Find out more
Publications
Human activity behind nearly all warming

Download the publication.
IUCN UK Peatland Programme Newsletter: Winter Edition 2021

Download the publication.
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