26.8 Peatland Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is an effort to help the forest recover some of its original characteristics or properties; often by replanting some of trees species at degraded area due to
fire or other forms of damage. Rehabilitation is important to reduce vulnerability to
fires and to improve the quality of the forest after disturbance occurred (Parish et al.
2019b). Rehabilitation process aims to restore the ecosystem as far as possible
towards its original state and reintroduce the species lost by forest disturbance.
Rehabilitation of degraded PSFs can be started through rewetting to encourage
natural regeneration process. If the natural regeneration is minimum, enrichment
planting or selective planting with fast growing secondary forest species is needed.
The plan should focus on rewetting to restore water regime—by installing canal
blocks and/or water gates. Repairing hydrological function to raising water table and
enable revegetation—natural regeneration has better sustainability for the plants to
survive compared to the planted saplings.
26.8.1 Engagement of Private Sector
Concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) holds that companies should be
responsible to more than just their owners and investors. As a socially responsible
company, there are options to engage the corporate to contribute to elements of
environment, education and/or community. Some corporates have introduced and
encouraged in their business practices and models to include these elements for
green branding. There are corporates that have been in partnerships with different
environmental NGOs in the country to undertake tree planting programmes, river
clean-ups, even supporting schools for environmental related events. Rehabilitation
effort can be undertaken with access to CSR funds from the private companies.
Beside the CSR programmes, large plantation companies who are members of
RSPO will need to comply with the RSPO standard requirements—include elements
on labour, minimum wage, BMPs, HCV, etc. There are two specific BMPs Peat
Manuals (Parish et al. 2019a, b) updated based on RSPO P&C 2018 (Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil 2018).
26.8.2 Engagement of Public
Community, Education, Public Awareness (CEPA) is a key instrument to enhance
knowledge and increase awareness of general public, through governmental
programmes, corporate supported events, activists driven campaigns and others.
GEC has developed Peatland Ranger and Peatland Junior Ranger Programmes to
engage school children through collaboration with Department of Education for
awareness raising on the importance of the peatland ecosystems (Global
26 National Strategies on Responsible Management of Tropical Peatland in Malaysia
711
Rehabilitation is an effort to help the forest recover some of its original characteristics or properties; often by replanting some of trees species at degraded area due to
fire or other forms of damage. Rehabilitation is important to reduce vulnerability to
fires and to improve the quality of the forest after disturbance occurred (Parish et al.
2019b). Rehabilitation process aims to restore the ecosystem as far as possible
towards its original state and reintroduce the species lost by forest disturbance.
Rehabilitation of degraded PSFs can be started through rewetting to encourage
natural regeneration process. If the natural regeneration is minimum, enrichment
planting or selective planting with fast growing secondary forest species is needed.
The plan should focus on rewetting to restore water regime—by installing canal
blocks and/or water gates. Repairing hydrological function to raising water table and
enable revegetation—natural regeneration has better sustainability for the plants to
survive compared to the planted saplings.
26.8.1 Engagement of Private Sector
Concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) holds that companies should be
responsible to more than just their owners and investors. As a socially responsible
company, there are options to engage the corporate to contribute to elements of
environment, education and/or community. Some corporates have introduced and
encouraged in their business practices and models to include these elements for
green branding. There are corporates that have been in partnerships with different
environmental NGOs in the country to undertake tree planting programmes, river
clean-ups, even supporting schools for environmental related events. Rehabilitation
effort can be undertaken with access to CSR funds from the private companies.
Beside the CSR programmes, large plantation companies who are members of
RSPO will need to comply with the RSPO standard requirements—include elements
on labour, minimum wage, BMPs, HCV, etc. There are two specific BMPs Peat
Manuals (Parish et al. 2019a, b) updated based on RSPO P&C 2018 (Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil 2018).
26.8.2 Engagement of Public
Community, Education, Public Awareness (CEPA) is a key instrument to enhance
knowledge and increase awareness of general public, through governmental
programmes, corporate supported events, activists driven campaigns and others.
GEC has developed Peatland Ranger and Peatland Junior Ranger Programmes to
engage school children through collaboration with Department of Education for
awareness raising on the importance of the peatland ecosystems (Global
26 National Strategies on Responsible Management of Tropical Peatland in Malaysia
711