Global Environment Centre

Global Environment Centre is a Malaysia-based non-governmental organisation with the mission to support the protection of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources to meet local, regional and global needs, through strategic partnerships with communities and like-minded organisations.

Global Environment Centre was established in 1998 to work on environmental issues of global importance. The Centre is registered in Malaysia as a non-profit organisation but works regionally and internationally both directly and through partners. It supports information exchange and capacity building as well as undertaking strategic projects particularly in the Global South. The majority of the projects it undertakes are in Malaysia and focused on freshwater issues that critically need attention.

In its 20+ year history, Global Environment Centre compiled an impressive list of achievements, but many challenges still lie ahead.

To achieve its mission, Global Environment Centre:

• Promotes integrated management of biodiversity and water resources with a focus on community involvement and biodiversity conservation;
• Promotes the protection and sustainable use of forests and wetlands with a focus on integrated management for biodiversity and climate change; and
• Enhances awareness, understanding, and capacity as well as partnerships between different organisations and sectors to address environmental issues.

The Centre currently works across four programmes: River Care, Forests and Coastal, Peatlands, and Outreach and Partnership. It has the reputation as a leading peatland centre of expertise in Southeast Asia and has a strong community focus, while also being influential in environmental policy in Asia and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.

Peatlands are one of the major land types in Southeast Asia. In a natural state these occur as peatswamp forests. They cover approximately 35 million ha in the region. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam they form more than 10 per cent of the land area of the country. As one of the non-profit organisations that is actively involved in peatland conservation and rehabilitation, Global Environment Centre promotes sustainable management of peatlands and works closely with various stakeholders to promote best management practices in peatland management, peat fire prevention and rehabilitation.

Synchronicity Earth’s sister organisation Shoal is working together with Global Environment Centre to support conservation work on freshwater fishes in Malaysia and to lead efforts on peatland restoration and regeneration, government engagement, and coordination between experts and organisations in Malaysia. In particular, Shoal and Global Environment Centre’s collaboration works to protect and expand the North Selangor Peatswamp Forest Reserve and to initiate implementation of the Malaysian Action Plan for Peatswamp Fishes.