This August, the International Mires & Conservation Group (IMCG) Field Symposium was held in Borneo and peninsular Malaysia and was attended by Rob Stoneman and Joanna Richards from the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. The 10-day trip was led by the Global Environment Centre team, who are locally active, and visited several tropical peat swamps across Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei and peninsular Malaysia. Whilst hugely exciting to visit these vast expanses of often ‘protected’ peatland, it was sobering to witness the extent of damage to this incredibly important habitat. Fire was widespread and oil palm plantations bordered pristine forest, with no buffer zones to protect the delicate hydrology of the swamps.
In Rob Stoneman’s words following the Symposium: “SE Asian peatlands are mostly destroyed and logging, drainage and agriculture have made the remaining peat swamps extremely vulnerable to fire. Ecosystem collapse is all too clear.”
Resources for protecting Malaysia and Brunei’s precious peat resource were limited, with park rangers provided budgets that barely covered their wage, despite a remit to protect often over 80,000 ha of tropical peat forest from illegal activities. Glimmers of hope did exist however, with conservation and sustainable management at the forefront of a project led by the Global Environment Centre on North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest, where eco-tourism opportunities were being actively pursued and peatland protected with the help of the local community. Klias Peat Swamp in Sabah had also restored peatland in the hope of attracting eco-tourism and built a boardwalk with the help of funds from Denmark. These projects went to show that all is not yet lost for SE Asia’s peatlands, and the expertise lent from trips like the Field Symposium and the hard work of organisation’s such as Global Environment Centre could help turn its fate around.
Towards the end of the Symposium, the IMCG’s General Assembly was held, during which Dr Olivia Bragg, of the University of Dundee, was granted the status of IMCG Honorary Member due to the longstanding and exceptional assistance she has given to the Society. The group also went on to form a number of resolutions based on knowledge gained during the trip, which are to be shared with the Malay and Bruneian governments.
Also held in Borneo this August was the International Peat Congress, which attracted over 1000 delegates, but was criticised for the way local organisers used it to spread propaganda. The results of this can be seen in the list of news items listed in September's newsletter. More information on the Congress can also be found by reading IMCG’s bulletin.
Joanna Richards, Communications Manager
IUCN UK Peatland Programme
