The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will host later this month the sixth ASEAN Task Force on Peatlands (ATFP) meeting and third Programme Steering Committee (PSC) meetings of ASEAN Peatland Programmes and Projects.
DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said the meetings, which are slated on June 28 to 30, will "keep the country on track in conserving the peatlands as it aims to oversee the implementation and monitoring of the ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy (APMS)."
ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Philippines is a founding member of the regional bloc.
"We want to continuously educate the public about the importance of peatlands in our ecosystems, and we could only do this by being updated with the latest methodologies on how our neighboring countries also keep their peatlands sustainably managed," Cimatu said.
Peatlands are wetland ecosystems characterized by the accumulation of organic matter derived from dead and partially decomposed plant material that has accumulated under high water saturation or waterlogged condition.
A peatland covers only three percent of the Earth’s land surface but it can store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined if kept wet. This trait makes them a globally important ecosystem in terms of carbon sequestration.
A peatland is also a rich ecosystem that supports biodiversity and plays an important role in climate change mitigation. Currently, the Philippines has nine confirmed peatlands, which are all listed as part of the tropical peatlands in the ASEAN region.
DENR Undersecretary for Special Concerns and concurrent Biodiversity Management Bureau Director Edilberto Leonardo said that one of the topics in the series of meetings would be the implementation of the ASEAN Programme on Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystems or APSMPE for 2014 to 2020.
"With the increasing effects of climate change, we have to strategize to protect our peatlands by preventing the conversion, draining and forest fire that might happen on such significant ecosystems," Leonardo said.
The DENR will chair the three meetings--PSC 3 of the Sustainable Use of Peatland and Haze Mitigation in ASEAN, PSC3 of the Measurable Action for Haze-Free Sustainable Land Management in Southeast Asia, and the ASEAN Task Force 6 or ATF6 meeting.
Participants in the series of PSC meetings will include representatives from the ASEAN member-states; donors such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development, European Union, Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; and implementing partners such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Center for International Forestry Research, Global Environment Centre, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, and World Resources Institute.
The meetings of the ATFP aim to coordinate and strengthen the efforts of ASEAN member states in the protection, conservation, and sustainable use of peatland in the region.
It also serves as a venue to update where the member states are in terms of the implementation of the APMS in relation to their respective National Action Plan on Peatlands.