Sarawak’s Initiatives in Regulating Development in Peat Areas

Authors:
Peter Sawal

Book:
Proceedings of the 14th International Peat Congress

Venue:
Stockholm

Keywords:
modernization-of-agriculture, peat-resources, socio-economic-development, sustainable-manner

Documentfile:
Sawal 2012: Sarawak’s Initiatives in Regulating Development in Peat Areas

Summary:

Theme IX. Tropical peatlands

SUMMARY

Peatlands in Sarawak, Malaysia are distributed mainly in coastal areas. Sarawak’s peatlands have been utilised since the 1960s and contributed significantly towards the State’s socio-economic development. In recent years, Sarawak’s peatlands have become the focus for the modernization of the plantation agriculture sector, helped by various Federal and State government agencies. This paper highlights Sarawak State Government’s initiatives to regulate the development in peatlands, through legislation, institutional framework, management strategies and setting aside representative peatland areas as Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) for peatland biodiversity conservation.