Key messages

Tropical forested wetlands, including peatlands and mangroves, provide critical environmental services and store 3–5 times more carbon than other tropical forests.
• However, because these ecosystems are under significant pressure from unsustainable land-use practices, they must be credited in the national forest monitoring and measurement mechanism and integrated into the national policy agenda.
• In January 2016, the Government of Indonesia submitted a forest reference emission level (FREL) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, and is currently in the process of finalizing its second FREL.
• To achieve the intended improvement in the FREL, CIFOR has played an active role by co-producing relevant data and knowledge products, building capacity among key personnel and stakeholders, and creating a platform for communication, engagement and outreach at national and international levels.