ASEAN Task Force on Peatlands (ATFP)

This group was established to assist the Committee (COM) under the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) in monitoring and supporting the implementation of the ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy (APMS 2006-2020). The main role of the ASEAN Task Force on Peatlands is to realize the objectives of the APMS through oversight of the design and implementation as well as monitoring of the ASEAN Programme on Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystems (2014-2020) (APSMPE) and other relevant programs/projects and facilitate cooperation with relevant partners, and to report the progress of the implementation of the APMS to COM of AATHP.

A review of the APMS was undertaken in 2012 and one of its recommendations was to establish a formal ASEAN working group or task force on peatlands to oversee, monitor and report on the progress of the implementation of the APMS to the Committee under the Conference of the Parties to the AATHP (COM) or other appropriate ASEAN structures. The 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to AATHP (COP-9) then noted that the 9th Meeting of the Committee under the COP to AATHP (COM-9) held on 23 September 2013 in Surabaya, Indonesia, agreed to establish an ASEAN Task Force on Peatlands (ATFP) to assist the Committee in monitoring and supporting the implementation of the APMS (2006-2020).