TY - JOUR

T1 - Research agendas for the sustainable management of tropical peatland in Malaysia

AU - Padfield, Rory

AU - Waldron, Susan

AU - Drew, Simon

AU - Papargyropoulou, Effie

AU - Kumaran, Shashi

AU - Page, Sue

AU - Gilvear, Dave

AU - Armstrong, Alona

AU - Evers, Stephanie

AU - Williams, Paul

AU - Zakaria, Zuriati

AU - Chin, Sing Yun

AU - Hansen, Sune Balle

AU - Campos-Arceiz, Ahimsa

AU - Latif, Mohd Talib

AU - Sayok, Alex

AU - Tham, Mun Hou

N1 - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ENC The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Environmental Conservation, 42 (1), pp 73-83 2015, © 2015 Cambridge University Press.

PY - 2015/3

Y1 - 2015/3

N2 - There is a need for coordinated research for the sustainable management of tropical peatland. Malaysia has 6% of global tropical peat by area and peatlands there are subject to land use change at an unprecedented rate. This paper describes a stakeholder engagement exercise that identified 95 priority research questions for peatland in Malaysia, organized into nine themes. Analysis revealed the need for fundamental scientific research, with strong representation across the themes of environmental change, ecosystem services, and conversion, disturbance and degradation. Considerable uncertainty remains about Malaysia's baseline conditions for peatland, including questions over total remaining area of peatland, water table depths, soil characteristics, hydrological function, biogeochemical processes and ecology. More applied and multidisciplinary studies involving researchers from the social sciences are required. The future sustainability of Malaysian peatland relies on coordinating research agendas via a ‘knowledge hub’ of researchers, strengthening the role of peatlands in land-use planning and development processes, stricter policy enforcement, and bridging the divide between national and provincial governance. Integration of the economic value of peatlands into existing planning regimes is also a stakeholder priority. Finally, current research needs to be better communicated for the benefit of the research community, for improved societal understanding and to inform policy processes.

AB - There is a need for coordinated research for the sustainable management of tropical peatland. Malaysia has 6% of global tropical peat by area and peatlands there are subject to land use change at an unprecedented rate. This paper describes a stakeholder engagement exercise that identified 95 priority research questions for peatland in Malaysia, organized into nine themes. Analysis revealed the need for fundamental scientific research, with strong representation across the themes of environmental change, ecosystem services, and conversion, disturbance and degradation. Considerable uncertainty remains about Malaysia's baseline conditions for peatland, including questions over total remaining area of peatland, water table depths, soil characteristics, hydrological function, biogeochemical processes and ecology. More applied and multidisciplinary studies involving researchers from the social sciences are required. The future sustainability of Malaysian peatland relies on coordinating research agendas via a ‘knowledge hub’ of researchers, strengthening the role of peatlands in land-use planning and development processes, stricter policy enforcement, and bridging the divide between national and provincial governance. Integration of the economic value of peatlands into existing planning regimes is also a stakeholder priority. Finally, current research needs to be better communicated for the benefit of the research community, for improved societal understanding and to inform policy processes.

KW - Malaysia

KW - research agendas

KW - sustainable management

KW - stakeholder engagement

KW - tropical peatland

U2 - 10.1017/S0376892914000034

DO - 10.1017/S0376892914000034

M3 - Journal article

VL - 42

SP - 73

EP - 83

JO - Environmental Conservation

JF - Environmental Conservation

SN - 0376-8929

IS - 1

ER -