Keynote by Faizal Parish
CV
Faizal Parish has been the Director of the Global Environment Centre, a Malaysian non-profit organization working throughout East and Southeast Asia on forest and peatland management, biodiversity, water resources and climate change since 1998. He is originally from the UK but is currently a Malaysian Permanent Resident and has been living in Malaysia since 1983. He is a wetland ecologist with more than 30 years’ experience in assessment and management of peat swamp forests, mangroves and river systems. He has worked with the ASEAN Secretariat since 2000 to establish the ASEAN Peatland Management Initiative and ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy 2006-2020 (APMS) and the ASEAN Programme on Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystems 2014-2020 (APSMPE) – all key ASEAN initiatives to conserve peatland biodiversity and ecosystems. Faizal Parish has been actively working on peatland and biodiversity conservation in South East Asia since 1983, leading assessments of wetland biodiversity in many ASEAN Member States. He coordinated a global assessment on peatlands biodiversity and climate change in association with CBD from 2003-2008, andworked on restoration and management of peat swamp forests for more than 25 years . He was the Co-chair of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Peatland Working Group (2009-2012) and developed the RSPO Manual on Best Management Practice for management and rehabilitation of natural vegetation associated with oil palm cultivation on peat. He is a member of the International Mire Conservation Group for more than 10 years.