A Decade of Scientific Challenge and Collaboration in Peatland Management

• Scientists on APRIL’s independent expert group have helped guide the company’s responsible peatland management.
• Research carried out by APRIL’s Peatland Science team has contributed significantly to global understanding of tropical peatlands.
• The next phase brings IPEWG expertise into the SAC to bring a more interdisciplinary lens.
• Recently launched “Challenge & Collaboration: A Decade of the Independent Peat Expert Working Group” report.

By Dr Ruth Nussbaum, Independent Peat Expert Working Group Coordinator and Director of Proforest and Dr Fahmuddin Agus National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia

In 2015, APRIL decided to set up an independent Peatland Expert Working Group (IPEWG) to provide advice on its responsible peatland management. A decade later, it is easy to forget what a leap of faith that was for all concerned.

Despite the company’s landmark pledge in 2015 to end deforestation in its concessions and supply chain, there was skepticism in many quarters about how deep its commitment to sustainability really was. Respected scientists could be forgiven for doubting whether the group they were being invited to join would have any real teeth.

APRIL’s own move also required courage. Lots of companies set up advisory groups. What was highly unusual here was the degree of freedom we were given to collaborate with the in-house science team and the access given to any data we wanted to see.

Even more unprecedented was the requirement, embedded within the newly launched sustainability policy, for operational management teams to consult with the newly established IPEWG prior to any significant operational actions in APRIL’s peatland concessions.

There was good faith on all sides, but it took time to figure out how the company and its new expert group would work together. To begin with, there were inevitable missteps and a healthy tension, but over time trust grew.

Both APRIL’s management and the IPEWG scientists started to realise how powerful the collaboration could be in terms of APRIL’s own peatland management, as well as spreading knowledge and good practice among the peatland science community more broadly.

The building blocks for that trust were the quality and professionalism of the APRIL’s peatland science team and the support they received from company leadership. That support came in the form of state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure such as the four Eddy Covariance Flux Towers that the company established to accurately measure greenhouse gas emissions from different landscapes. These are 40 to 48 metre-tall structures that carry state-of-the-art equipment for measuring carbon dioxide, methane and other variables high above the forest canopy.

The company also committed to long-term monitoring studies involving years of data collection at hundreds of sites across its peatland forestry and conservation areas. That body of high-quality peatland science has formed a solid basis for IPEWG’s advice on operational decisions, such as plans for new canal infrastructure.

Another vital contribution was to nudge the company towards even greater transparency regarding its world-leading scientific research. Rather than keeping it in house, the peatland science team have shared their work at dozens of scientific meetings and conferences to the benefit of the Indonesian and international scientific community.

IPEWG members collaborated with the in-house researchers to publish the findings in world-class scientific journals such as Global Change Biology, Nature Geoscience and Nature. That research has contributed significantly to the understanding of tropical peatlands.

Over time, the relationship between IPEWG and APRIL has evolved to become a scientific partner. Together, the collaboration achieved a lot since the group’s first meeting in January 2016 in terms of advancing tropical peatland science and making APRIL’s operational management practices more sustainable.

Given this progress, it is now the right time to evolve the way the company channels scientific advice. Though IPEWG will no longer convene in its current form, the momentum and spirit of collaboration combined with rigorous independence and challenge will carry through into the next phase.

To do that, one member of IPEWG (Dr Fahmuddin Agus) will take up a position on APRIL’s independent Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) member, starting in December 2025. His role will strengthen the SAC with deeper expertise in sustainable peatland management and greenhouse gas inventory. The SAC-predates IPEWG and oversees the implementation of the company’s Sustainable Forest Management Policy 2.0 (SMFP 2.0), and its subsequent APRIL2030 commitments and targets.

The inclusion of Dr Fahmuddin serves as an expert on peatland management and strengthen the multidisciplinary nature of the SAC advisory group. SAC meetings are minuted and those records are published online on APRIL’s Sustainability Dashboard.

One advantage of incorporating an IPEWG member into the SAC is the opportunity to assess the company’s plans with a more interdisciplinary perspective, including the social and economic aspects of the broader peatland landscape beyond APRIL’s concessions.

Huge challenges remain in managing peatlands in the face of a changing climate and evolving scientific understanding, but through the hard work of operational teams and IPEWG members alike, APRIL has laid robust foundations. We are grateful to everyone involved for their part in that.

The priorities for this next phase will be to help APRIL’s leadership to continue to maintain the high standards they have set themselves. That means striving for even better alignment with the commitments set out in SFMP 2.0 to manage peatland concessions to world-class standards in the decades to come.

(Read more in “Challenge & Collaboration: A Decade of the Independent Peat Expert Working Group”)