Wading through the Luyon-luyon: social perspectives on the tropical peatlands of the Leyte Sab-a Basin, Philippines

Peatland restoration is considered as one of the most cost-effective interventions for climate mitigation and adaptation, sustaining local welfare and livelihoods, and building climate resilience of local communities. Yet, there is often a diversity of views and goals of restoring tropical peatlands. While technical approaches dominate peatland restoration literature, this study introduces a novel social-ecological framework that analyzed the value-driven priorities that shape restoration goals. Based on semi-structured interviews with 14 key informants and six focus groups with development agencies, local governments, non-governmental organizations, and local communities, participants highlight key issues in restoring peatlands, often influenced by the socioeconomic and historical context in which they are positioned. These results exemplify specific objectives for restoration in developing countries with relatively smaller yet equally important peatlands. The study’s novelty lies in applying sense-making and value-centric approaches to tropical peatland restoration, contributing to discourse by demonstrating how diverse social perspectives and values critically shape restoration outcomes, an underrepresented dimension in predominantly technical restoration literature.