Public Consultation Announcement for Independent Smallholders Peat BMP

With the adoption of the RSPO Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard in November 2019, Independent Smallholders with existing cultivation on peatland commit to using Best Management Practices (BMP) to primarily but not exclusively minimise subsidence and degradation of peat (Criteria 4.4). Additionally, for plots on peat with plans for replanting, they are to complete an assessment related to flooding/ saline intrusion (Criteria 4.5).

The Peatland Working Group-2 (PLWG-2), through the ISH-PLWG-2 sub-group, has been tasked to develop a series of smallholder BMP for existing cultivation on peat, comprising seven (7) smallholder friendly handbooks. These draft handbooks has been developed in three (3) languages which are English, Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia. These documents are put for Public Consultation for thirty (30) days following the timeline below:

• English and Bahasa Malaysia: 4th August 2021 until 4th September 2021
• Bahasa Indonesia: 9th August 2021 until 9th September 2021

The drafts (in PDF format), along with the comments template, are now available for downloading and can be found at the end of this announcement.  All comments must be submitted before 9th September 2021 to [email protected].

For more information about the public consultation, you may reach out to [email protected].