Ecowatch: You cannot burn peatland. Ever

Open burning advancing through cleared land in Malaysia. Smoke is already visible at canopy level. Under Malaysian law, activities like this near or on peatland are prohibited without exception. — Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department/research team

EVERY dry season, the same question surfaces in rural Malaysia: Can I burn my land? The honest answer is sometimes yes – but never on peatland. And always under conditions most people are not aware of.

Malaysia has a specific law governing this. The Environmental Quality (Declared Activities) (Open Burning) Order 2003, gazetted under the Environ-mental Quality Act 1974, lists activities that are permitted under controlled conditions. It also makes one prohibition absolute: Burning on peatland is not allowed under any category.

What the law says: “Paragraph 3(g), P.U.(A) 460/2003: Small farmers (pekebun kecil) owning or occupying land under 40ha may burn vegetation to prepare land for planting, up to 2ha per day, provided that: – Vegetation is cut and dried before burning. – Burning takes place during dry weather, between 8am and 6pm only. – Fire is closely monitored and controlled until fully extinguished. – The village headman (penghulu or ketua kampung) is informed beforehand. IMPORTANT: This activity is NOT permitted on any peatland area.”

That last line matters more than most people realise. The peatland prohibition appears in seven separate categories of the same order, from burning rice stalks to clearing farm vegetation to sugar-cane leaf burning before harvest. In every case, peatland is excluded. It is obviously a very deliberate policy repeatedly inserted, written into the law 20 years ago.

The question worth asking is: Why? If controlled burning works elsewhere, what makes peatland different?

What the soil tells us

Sampling sites at Lembah Bidong, Terengganu, and Batu Pahat, Johor. Dark, carbon-rich peat was recorded at all depths measured. Unlike mineral soils, there was no transition to non-flammable substrate even at 75cm. — Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department/research team

A team of researchers (including the writers) from Universiti Tenaga Nasional and Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department recently collected soil samples from peatland sites in Johor and Terengganu. They compared these samples against mineral soil from two reference sites in Florida, United States, where controlled burning has been practised safely for decades.

Reference sites at Tall Timbers Research Station and Living Stone, Tallahassee, Florida. Soil cores show a thin organic layer over mineral substrate, the natural boundary that limits fire depth. That boundary does not exist in Malaysian peatland. — Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department/research team

The carbon content of Malaysian peat came in between 49% and 56% by dry weight. In the Florida soils it measured between 0.14% and 3.17%. That is roughly 70 times more carbon in Malaysian soil than in American soil, where fire management works as intended.

More importantly, the Malaysian carbon content did not decrease with depth. Whether the researchers sampled at 25cm or 75cm deep, the reading stayed almost the same. In Florida, carbon content dropped by more than 50% over the same depth range. Florida peat soil has a natural floor where fire stops. Malaysian peat soil does not.

When fire enters peatland, it does not behave like a surface fire. It becomes a slow, flameless burn that travels downward through the soil, fed by oxygen moving through tiny pores in the organic material.

Water poured on the surface cannot reach it. Rain does not stop it. The fire continues underground, sometimes for weeks, invisible until smoke emerges somewhere else entirely. By then, the damage is extremely serious.

The licence system exists for a reason

Research team members observing prescribed fire operations at Tall Timbers Research Station. Thetechnique works there because mineral soil limits how far fire can go. That physical condition does not apply to Malaysian peatland. — Tall Timbers Research Station

For burning activities not covered by the exemptions in that paragraph above, an application for a licence under Section 22(1) of the Environmental Quality Act is required.

The form, known as AS 1A-2/ 99, asks applicants to describe the type and quantity of material to be burned, explain why burning is necessary, detail steps taken to reduce the amount to be burned, outline how pollution will be minimised during the burning period, and provide a map showing the site and surrounding areas within a 3km radius. The processing fee is RM300.

The requirement to submit all this information is not a bureaucratic inconvenience. It exists to force applicants to think through the consequences before a match is struck.

Whether the system works as intended depends on enforcement, community awareness, and whether the people most likely to burn near peatland know the rules at all.

Keep it wet, keep it legal

The legal prohibition on peatland burning does not appear by accident in our laws. It reflects what the science confirms. Carbon-rich peat that has dried out because of drainage is combustible in a way that cannot be managed once ignition happens. The only reliable protection is keeping peatland wet.

Re-wetting drained peatland by blocking canals and restoring water levels removes the precondition for fire. Studies have shown this reduces carbon emissions from drained peatland by 40% to 90%.

It also protects communities, prevents haze, and safeguards a carbon store that took thousands of years to accumulate.

The law already says no burning on peatland. The science explains exactly why. What remains is making sure everyone who farms, manages, or lives near these landscapes (or is considering draining it for development) knows and understands both aspects thoroughly.

Dr Azfarizal Mukhtar is a chartered engineer and a senior lecturer at Universiti Tenaga Nasional; he is also a principal investigator at the university’s Institute of Sustainable Energy. PgKB II (penguasa kanan bomba II, or senior fire superintendent II) Wan Mohd NurulHisam Wan Nawang is with the Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department. The fieldwork in Florida was conducted at the invitation of the Tall Timbers Research Station, an internationally recognised centre known as the ‘birthplace of prescribed fire science’.