A series of policy dialogue events will explore the policy implications of the project’s key research findings on peatland fire prevention and restoration. These events will bring together a select cohort of senior policy-makers and policy-influencers for a deliberative forum with the project’s lead scientists and ACIAR research program managers. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on policy coordination, and whether and how the project outputs may be actioned through policy change. The intended outcomes of the policy dialogue are for policy-makers in the arena of forest and land fires to revise the current ‘no burning’ policy to be much more targeted such that fires are applied in the right season, on mineral soils only, and by smallholders who can apply proven methods of controlling fire.

For policy-makers in the second arena of peatland rehabilitation, the intended outcome is the rehabilitation of peatland environments, which minimizes negative impacts on livelihoods, and preferably provides positive benefits to communities. It is hoped that our research findings will inform policy change across the relevant Ministries and levels, and that the dialogue deliberations will also enable the project’s lead researchers to refine the project’s policy-related recommendations, paving the way for more effective fire reduction strategies and improved peatland restoration policy and implementation, better harmonization of KPH activities in the context of fire prevention and suppression, better peatland management, and positive impacts on community well-being and productivity.