Carbon Governance in Southeast Asia
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Seminar: Ponds and lakes – the missing wetlands in Natural Climate Solutions
CGSEA Principal Investigator Professor David Taylor will present an upcoming seminar titled “Ponds and lakes – the missing wetlands in Natural Climate Solutions” as part of the Asian School of the Environment (ASE) and Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) Seminar Series at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
The seminar will explore the often-overlooked role of freshwater ponds, lakes and reservoirs in the global carbon cycle and their potential significance for Natural Climate Solutions (NCS). Drawing on published and emerging evidence, Professor Taylor will consider why these freshwater ecosystems—particularly in the tropics—should receive greater attention in discussions of Natural Climate Solutions, and how their management and responses to environmental change could contribute to either the mitigation or amplification of future warming.
Date: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Time: 12:30–1:30 pm (Singapore time)
Venue: Asian School of the Environment (ASE), 3D Viz Laboratory (N2-B1c-16c), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
Format: Hybrid
Virtual access:
https://ntu-sg.zoom.us/j/87272490908?pwd=FaTanK97wCwF6sJP1Pqbwbfhfehier.1
Meeting ID: 872 7249 0908
Passcode: 177656
More information, including the full seminar abstract, speaker biography and virtual access details, is available here.
Upcoming Stakeholder Workshop:
Nature-based Carbon Governance in Southeast Asia: A Collaborative Approach to Policy Brief Development, ARI, NUS, 3-4 December 2026 (convened in a hybrid format).
We’re excited to announce that CGSEA will be hosting a Stakeholder Workshop on Nature-based Carbon Governance in Southeast Asia: A Collaborative Approach to Policy Brief Development at Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, on 3-4 December 2026.
This workshop will bring together CGSEA researchers with relevant stakeholders from NGOs, industry and government to co-develop three policy briefs aligned with the project’s thematic work packages on: (a) terrestrial forests; (b) coastal and freshwater ecosystems; and (c) peatlands and agricultural soils.
The workshop will culminate in the finalization of key points and terminology for the policy briefs, which will be translated into the national languages of targeted Southeast Asian countries. To facilitate the dissemination of the briefs, and the uptake of recommended interventions, CGSEA team members will coordinate outreach workshops, in-country meetings and stakeholder dialogues in the second and third quarters of 2027.
About Us
Carbon Governance in Southeast Asia, or CGSEA, is an online platform for the exchange of interdisciplinary knowledge, ideas and developments relating to the research project on Climate Governance of Nature-based Carbon Sinks in Southeast Asia. The research project is funded by the Social Science Research Thematic Grant (SSRTG) from the Ministry of Education, Singapore, Social Science Research Thematic Grant (SSRTG) MOE2021-SSRTG-021.
The research project is hosted at the Asia Research Institute and builds upon the research on Sustainable Governance of the Transboundary Environmental Commons in Southeast Asia which was completed in June 2022.
Our Work
The Carbon Governance in Southeast Asia grant is an interdisciplinary coming together of scholars whose interests range across various disciplines in the natural and social sciences. As such, our teams collaborate on specific work packages that address a particular kind of carbon sink–terrestrial forests, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, and peatlands and agricultural soils, each headed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Our last work package, systems, technologies and social relations, aims to compare, contrast and integrate findings from the empirical research of the other three to produce compelling, insight-rich social science research, and is headed by our Senior Research fellow. To learn more about each work package, please browse the links below:
Latest News
Follow us on social media! 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Saritha conducted fieldwork in Kampung Luagan, Suasa, and Takuli, with respondents from state and district government agencies, village leadership and community-based groups, academia, the private sector, and NGOs, from 19 to 26 July 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Yingshan Lau and Dr Miles Kenney-Lazar meeting with key stakeholders during fieldwork on forest carbon governance in Vientiane, Laos. 
CGSEA Collaborator Prof. Dan Friess delivering his presentation, Status, Potential and Constraints to Mangrove Blue Carbon in Southeast Asia, at the 7th Mangrove Macrobenthos and Management (MMM7) Conference in Ishigaki City, Okinawa, Japan. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Jay Mar D. Quevedo presenting his poster, Community-led mangrove restoration: Lessons from two divergent socio-ecological pathways in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, at the 7th Mangrove Macrobenthos and Management (MMM7) Conference in Ishigaki City, Okinawa, Japan. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Jay Mar D. Quevedo delivering his presentation, Localizing Blue Carbon Governance, at the 2026 Forum on Blue Carbon and Sustainable Development in Qingdao, China, on 6 June 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Saritha Kittie Uda undertook fieldwork in Jakarta and Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, from 20 April-3 May 2026. Her study involved 24 interviews and four focus group discussions held across three villages and in Palangka Raya city. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Saritha Uda was invited to present at the Forestry Seminar Series @FPT, organised by the Faculty of Tropical Forestry, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), where she shared insights from her research on peatland governance. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Yingshan Lau co-facilitated a Learning Journey on Carbon Project Development and MRV at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, organised by the NUS Sustainability Academy as part of a Singapore Cooperation Enterprise capacity-building programme, on 21 April 2026. 
CGSEA Collaborator Dr Rodd Myers and PhD Candidate Ms Yustina Octifanny co-organised a themed panel on ‘Global Climate Change Solutions’ and Shrinking Civic Spaces in Southeast Asia at the POLLEN Conference 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, 29 June to 4 July 2026. 
CGSEA PhD candidate Yunrui Ren presenting her research on education and capacity building in forest carbon governance at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Xishuangbanna, China, June–July 2026. 
CGSEA Work Package Three Lead Assoc. Prof. Helena Varkkey recently shared her expertise on Southeast Asia’s transboundary haze across Channel NewsAsia, BFM 89.9 and Astro AWANI, discussing the environmental and governance challenges surrounding this persistent regional issue. 28 Aug 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Saritha Uda presenting in Stakeholder Meeting for Sharing Session on Peatland Governance in Brunei Darussalam at the Tropical Biodiversity Centre, Sg. Liang, Belait District, Brunei Darussalam, on 27 Aug 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Saritha Uda conducting field observation at Badas Peat Swamp Forest – IBER UBD Research Sites, during her fieldwork in Brunei from 25-30 Aug 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Quevedo working with the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (NGO) of Cebu, Philippines, as part of his fieldwork from 13 to 22 September 2026. 
CGSEA Research Fellow Dr Quevedo conducting FGD with the People’s Organization as part of his fieldwork at Cebu, Philippines, 13-22 September 2026.
