ID: 2007
Presenting Author: Jane Koh
Session: 756 - Assessing Integrity: The Role of Impact Assessment in High-Quality Nature-Based Carbon Projects
Status: pending
Malaysia’s flagship peatland restoration project uses continuous adaptive process instead of conclusive assessment for “net positive impact”, ensuring long-term ecological & social outcomes.
“Net positive impact” has become a defining promise of nature-based solutions (NbS), making its assessment and monitoring critically important. Conventional environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) capture baseline and immediate impacts, but rarely the long-term human and ecological trajectories that define a project’s real legacy.
In Malaysia, SIAs are not a legal requirement while EIAs only apply to certain forestry and agricultural projects – not conservation. The Pahang Peatland Restoration Project (PPRP)—a 59-year initiative to restore and conserve tropical peat swamp forest in Malaysia—illustrates how NbS projects can institutionalize continuous impact assessment through adaptive management and participatory monitoring. Instead of outsourcing a one-off ESIA, the project invests in internal capacity to understand the landscape, engage communities, and apply iterative learning aligned with Verra’s VCS and CCB Standards.
Through detailed monitoring, transparent reporting, and active community involvement, the project integrates free, prior, and informed consent, grievance redress mechanisms, and public comment protocols into daily operations. Each carbon credit issuance becomes a checkpoint of reassessing impact, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.
By embedding IA into the project’s governance, PPRP demonstrates that long-term NbS initiatives must evolve with the people and ecosystems they serve. Net positive impact, therefore, is not a static outcome—but a dynamic process sustained through transparency, inclusion, and adaptive management.
Dr. Jane Koh leads the Pahang Peatland Restoration Project, a flagship NbS project in Malaysia. She is a political ecologist and policy expert specializing in forestry carbon credit.