IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0324399.html

Transforming tropical peatland governance to manage climate risks using the Three Horizons method

Author

Listed:
  • Mark S Reed
  • Dianna Kopansky
  • Sam Beechener
  • Alexa Green
  • Patrick Scheel
  • Ian Kendrick
  • Ifo Averti Suspense
  • Corneille Ewango
  • Euridice N Honorio Coronado
  • Carlos Gabriel Hidalgo Pizango
  • Manuel Martin Brañas
  • Margarita del Aguila Villacorta
  • Haruni Krisnawati
  • Ioan Fazey
  • Susan Page
  • Lindsay C Stringer
  • Carly Maynard
  • Johannes Kieft
  • Tom Curtis
  • Sian Allen
  • Montserrat Costa-Font
  • Rosie Everett
  • Emmanuel-Tsadok N Mihaha

Abstract

Tropical peatlands occupy at least 440,000 km2 and are estimated to store around 100 megatons of carbon, but are exposed to risks from both current and anticipated future changes in climate. Integrating knowledge from diverse sources using methods that can manage complexity is vital in order to identify transformational governance options for managing climate risks in these multifunctional social-ecological systems. This paper breaks new ground by applying the Three Horizons method to the governance of tropical peatlands. It evaluates the capacity for this method to generate transformative options that address conceptual and existential risks, as well as visible climate risks, whilst integrating research evidence with local knowledge. The paper focuses on countries that collectively represent the majority of global tropical peatland area and emissions, combining evidence from the literature with in-country expertise through Three Horizons workshops in Peru, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, and additional business-to-business engagement in Indonesia. The paper identifies a number of pathways that could transform the resilience of habitats and populations dependent on tropical peatlands, with community empowerment and payments for ecosystem services emerging as key themes across all four countries. Drawing on these findings, recommendations are made for managing climate risks through tropical peatland conservation, restoration and sustainable management. Application of the Three Horizons method demonstrates the critical role of integrating multiple knowledge sources to structure dialogues that can create credible and socially acceptable policy options for managing complex social-ecological systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark S Reed & Dianna Kopansky & Sam Beechener & Alexa Green & Patrick Scheel & Ian Kendrick & Ifo Averti Suspense & Corneille Ewango & Euridice N Honorio Coronado & Carlos Gabriel Hidalgo Pizango & Ma, 2025. "Transforming tropical peatland governance to manage climate risks using the Three Horizons method," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(11), pages 1-29, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0324399
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324399
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324399&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0324399?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jens Leifeld & Chloé Wüst-Galley & Susan Page, 2019. "Intact and managed peatland soils as a source and sink of GHGs from 1850 to 2100," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(12), pages 945-947, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrey Sirin & Maria Medvedeva & Vladimir Korotkov & Victor Itkin & Tatiana Minayeva & Danil Ilyasov & Gennady Suvorov & Hans Joosten, 2021. "Addressing Peatland Rewetting in Russian Federation Climate Reporting," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Quint van Giersbergen & Alexandra Barthelmes & John Couwenberg & Kristiina Lång & Nina Martin & Cosima Tegetmeyer & Christian Fritz & Franziska Tanneberger, 2025. "Identifying hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands in the European Union," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Sigit D. Sasmito & Pierre Taillardat & Wahyu C. Adinugroho & Haruni Krisnawati & Nisa Novita & Lola Fatoyinbo & Daniel A. Friess & Susan E. Page & Catherine E. Lovelock & Daniel Murdiyarso & David Tay, 2025. "Half of land use carbon emissions in Southeast Asia can be mitigated through peat swamp forest and mangrove conservation and restoration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Barbier, Edward B., 2025. "Greening agriculture for rural development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Sommer, Pia & Lakner, Sebastian & Nordt, Anke & Tanneberger, Franziska & Wegmann, Johannes, 2024. "Deriving a justified budget for peatland rewetting – Applying the German coal phase-out as a blueprint," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Mārtiņš Vanags-Duka & Arta Bārdule & Aldis Butlers & Emīls Mārtiņš Upenieks & Andis Lazdiņš & Dana Purviņa & Ieva Līcīte, 2022. "GHG Emissions from Drainage Ditches in Peat Extraction Sites and Peatland Forests in Hemiboreal Latvia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Willenbockel, Dirk, 2024. "Peatland restoration in Germany: A dynamic general equilibrium analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    8. Sommer, Pia & Frank, Leonard, 2024. "Peatland rewetting as drainage exnovation – A transition governance perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    9. Edward B. Barbier, 2022. "The Policy Implications of the Dasgupta Review: Land Use Change and Biodiversity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(4), pages 911-935, December.
    10. Taryono Darusman & Daniel Murdiyarso & Impron & Iswandi Anas, 2023. "Effect of rewetting degraded peatlands on carbon fluxes: a meta-analysis," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1-20, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0324399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.