Time bomb or gold mine? Policy, sustainability and media representations of tropical peatlands in Malaysia

Tropical peatlands represent an acute site of contested development on the front line of global climate change and action. Media analysis reveals how and why these ecosystems are understood in the context of local and national discourse, and the implications of these representations for peatland policy-making. In this study, we provide an instructive account of media representations of tropical peatlands in Malaysia – a country home to 6% of the world’s tropical peat by area and 12% by magnitude of the peat carbon pool. Set against an examination of the policy context for peatland media representations, we analyse how this critical ecosystem is framed in Malaysian media, and explore how these representations cast light on current sustainability-related policy and management debates. Drawing on media framing methodology, we analysed three English language newspapers (News Straits Times, The Star and Borneo Post) and one popular news website (Malaysiakini) from 1995 to 2018. From a sample of 1359 news articles, we found four dominant frames: development, conservation/protection, sustainable development and fire/haze. Within these frames, a number of key themes emerged including ecological benefits, community livelihoods, threats to peatland, integrated management approaches, and the value of peatland research. Our findings also reveal a polarising representation present across the study period – peatlands portrayed as a ‘time-bomb’ of ecological destruction and as a ‘gold mine’ in terms of their opportunities for development. We argue that contrasting interpretations of the sustainable development of peatlands may serve to obfuscate rather than facilitate current peatland policy discourses. Finally, we conclude that the fate of Malaysian peatlands hinges on recognising the localised challenges faced by peatland communities. We urge policy makers to consider food systems transformation approaches to move beyond a vision that relies entirely on drainage-based development.