Using science to help inform decision making: Stakeholder workshops on riparian buffers in Sabah

The TEE Lab is working with the South East Asian Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), the University of Kent, and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage and Environmental Protection Department of the government of Sabah to design strategies for enhancing the conservation benefits of riparian buffers. We are funded through a Newton Impacts grant and have been working together with stakeholders in Sabah since 2016 to develop decision support tools to help guide effective riparian protection and management in Sabah based on a strong scientific evidence base.

During the last two months we have participated in a series of three mini-workshops discuss in the science being undertaken in riparian areas, the current policies, and the development of a decision tree for riparian widths in preparation for our large stakeholder workshop in October when we will bring together stakeholders from government, NGOs, civil society, industry, and academia to finalize the riparian decision tree (RiTREE). It has been an interesting experiment in Zoom participation!