Peatlands are a unique landscape. Peatlands are an important ecosystem containing among the largest carbon stock per hectares in the world. Degradation of peatlands will risk emitting a significant amount of carbon to the atmosphere. Peatland fires will add even more carbon emissions. With more than 15 million hectares expanse, Indonesia has a large area of peatlands. About half of which are already degraded due to various land use pressures.

Peat restoration and management is a landscape-wide approach through rewetting, revegetation, and revitalization of peat-based economies. The Peat Restoration Agency (Badan Restorasi Gambut, BRG), was established through Presidential Regulation No. 1/2016 with a mandate to restore 2.6 million hectares of degraded peatlands in the wake of one of the largest forest and peatland fires in Indonesia in 2015.

RAISE is a consortium between Landscape Indonesia and SystemIQ, financed by the Government of Norway managed by the United Nations Office for Project Support (UNOPS). RAISE provides strategic advisory on sustainable landscape restoration and management to the BRG, including on financial mobilization, incubation of peat-positive enterprises, community and local economic developments, and policy and political engagement. Meanwhile, Innovative Financing for Restoration of Peatlands in Indonesia, a chapter of a book titled Climate Change Research, Policy, and Actions in Indonesia, edited by Riyanti Djalante, Joni Jupesta, and Edvin Aldrian is in print by now.