JONATHAN REN WEI FUNG

PhD Student

Research Title: Tropical Peatland Restoration
Research Group: Tropical Environmental Change (TEC)
Thesis Advisor: Assoc Prof Massimo Lupascu
Co-advisor: Prof David Taylor

Peatlands are a unique ecosystem that have accumulated over millennia, storing a disproportionately large amount of soil carbon despite only accounting for 3% of the global terrestrial surface. Tropical peatlands are especially crucial as they underlie vast expanses of rainforests which provide a host of ecosystem services. Unfortunately, these ecosystems have been historically and systematically degraded due to land use change, releasing vast amounts of carbon in the process.

Aside from conducting fieldwork, I am most interested in the natural solutions for climate change mitigation. Through my research, I aim to contribute to improving the practice of tropical peatland restoration in Indonesia, which has been identified to be a critical component of mitigating the impacts of climate change.

My PhD is supported by the INTPREP (Integrated Tropical Peatlands Research Programme) initiative, the first of its kind to approach the complex issue that are tropical peatlands with a multi-disciplinary approach. Before coming to NUS, I did a BSc in Geography at University College London.