Malaysia

Project overview

The Sustainable Agriculture and Forests in Peatland Landscapes in Malaysia (SAFPLIM) Project focuses on enhancing the management of agriculture, plantations and forests in peatland landscapes in Sabah State in Malaysia. The project will build upon the current IFAD-GEF supported Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystems in Malaysia (SMPEM) Project which is being implemented from 2021-2026. which has supported the development of the National Action Plan on Peatlands (NAPP), State Action Plans on Peatlands (SAPP) in four states, as well as preparing integrated management plans (IMP) for key peatland landscapes. 

The overarching goal of SAFPLIM is to develop and showcase methods for enhancing the sustainability of forests, agriculture, and plantations in peatland landscapes, and to contribute to Malaysia’s Low Emission Development Strategy and food system transformation. The project is a country project under the GEF-8 Food Systems Integrated Program; it focuses on supporting food system transformation by integrating climate mitigation and adaptation as well as biodiversity conservation into the oil palm supply chain with a focus on peatland landscapes. It will also support engagement with the oil palm supply chain, linking smallholders, plantation companies, and mills/refineries to facilitate the adoption of improved practices.

Our approach

The focus of the project is on Sabah State in order to allow efficient financial and institutional set-up and maximizing on-the-ground impacts. Within Sabah state the SAFPLIM project will work in two landscapes: Klias and Kinabatangan. These two landscapes both contain important peatland areas, but have a different geography, with the Klias Landscape comprising four major peat domes, and in the Kinabatangan Landscape a mix of peatlands, forests and croplands on mineral soils, mangroves and other wetlands in a river basin.

Oil palm cultivation is a main activity in both landscapes, Klias is dominated by smallholder cultivation of oil palm and other crops such as pineapple and rice; while Kinabatangan is dominated by medium and large-scale private sector oil palm plantations. The project will focus on these two peatland landscapes in Sabah State but will specifically examine lessons for scaling up both in Malaysia (i.e., to other states) and internationally.  

Sites

The project will be undertaken in the areas of Klias and Kinabatangan.