Adapting the Forest Integrity Assessment (FIA) Tool for Monitoring Peat Swamp Forest Health

On 10 December 2025, The Tropical Ecology and Entomology (TEE) lab from the Asian School of Environment (ASE), College of Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) conducted a presentation and hands-on workshop at Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Research, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) focused on adapting the Forest Integrity Assessment (FIA) tool for peat swamp forest ecosystems. This event brought together researchers, students, and the staffs on ground to co-develop an FIA module tailored to the realities of peat swamp forest monitoring.

Top: Presentation on the FIA tool and its current indicators; Bottom: Q&A session where participants shared their adapted indicators tailored to the peat swamp forest context.

The FIA tool is currently in its beta-testing phase and has been used to quantify forest disturbance and conservation value across a range of natural habitats. Originally developed as a paper-based survey method, FIA has evolved into a smartphone application capable of producing standardized forest integrity scores. It has already been widely tested in high conservation value (HCV) forests and fragmented forests, but peat swamp forest remain an untested frontier for FIA.

Through group discussions, field examples, and collaborative reviews, participants identified which existing FIA indicators could be retained, modified, or replaced. This valuable input will guide the development of a peat-adapted FIA module that reflects the ecological realities on the ground.

We thank all participants for their insights, enthusiasm, and commitment in peat swamp forest monitoring. This workshop and ongoing adaptation of the FIA tool for peat swamp forests are made possible through collaboration and generous support from several partners:

• Climate Transformation Programme. This research is supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its MOE AcRF Tier 3 Award MOE-MOET32022-0006

• Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Research, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD)

• South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP)

• High Conservation Value Resource Network (HCVRN)