Carbon credit project expert and oversight committee member Dr Jane Koh said PPRP is pursuing certification under the Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards.

Proceeds from future carbon credit sales will be channelled back into peatland restoration efforts, fire prevention initiatives and community development programmes, creating a self-sustaining funding model for long-term conservation.

The PPRP is designed as a sustainable economic model to conserve and restore the largest contiguous peatland in Peninsular Malaysia.

To achieve this over its project lifespan, the PPRP needs a robust and sustainable economic engine, which is exactly where carbon finance comes in.

Koh said the project is structured around a 60-year conservation model, with carbon finance providing a sustainable funding mechanism for long-term restoration work including peat rewetting, fire prevention and community development initiatives.

“Carbon credits are the mechanism that funds the real, on-the-ground work in terms of rewetting the peat, preventing fires and supporting the local communities,” she told Business Times.

Koh said the project had already secured upfront financing to begin restoration work ahead of the issuance of any emission reduction credits.

Once operational, the project is expected to prevent and remove about 3.1 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, with proceeds from carbon credit sales reinvested into conservation efforts.

She said peat swamp forests are among the world’s most effective terrestrial carbon sinks, despite covering only about three per cent of global land area.

Beyond carbon storage, peatlands also regulate water flows by absorbing and gradually releasing excess water, helping reduce flood risks during monsoon seasons and mitigating drought during dry periods.

Koh said decades of drainage and logging had left the Pahang peatland landscape vulnerable to fires and degradation, making early intervention critical to prevent permanent ecological damage.

She described the project as the first nature-based carbon initiative in Peninsular Malaysia seeking certification under internationally recognised standards.

Addressing concerns surrounding the voluntary carbon market, Koh said the project welcomed external scrutiny and had adopted multiple layers of monitoring and independent verification.

She said satellite imagery, drones, real-time field sensors and dedicated fire response teams were used alongside the nationally harmonised Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool to monitor fire risks, illegal activities and track biodiversity.

The project is currently undergoing validation under Verra’s VCS and CCB standards, with independent auditors reviewing its technical calculations, field data and stakeholder engagement processes before any carbon credits can be issued.

On community engagement, Koh said the project had adopted a rights-based approach that prioritised Free, Prior and Informed Consent with Orang Asli communities living around the project area.

She said more than half of the current project workforce comprises members of the Orang Asli Jakun community, while a grievance redress mechanism has also been established.

The project is also developing a long-term community benefit programme known as the Ranok Resilience Initiatives in collaboration with local communities.

Koh said the project is progressing through Verra’s validation and verification process and has already received interest from potential corporate buyers seeking high-integrity carbon credits to support their net-zero strategies.

Nature-based carbon projects, she said, remain challenging due to the need to balance ecological restoration, scientific monitoring, stakeholder engagement and regulatory compliance over several decades.

Public awareness of nature-based carbon business models remains relatively low in Malaysia, making education and stakeholder engagement an important part of the project’s long-term development, she added.