Nine years, five jobs, four cities and three paper rejections….and I’ve finally got the ultimate chapter of my PhD published. It’s been a journey! There’s so much I could write here about haphazard directions, happenstance, failure, resilience, the importance of ice-cream, etc., but I won’t. I hope there’ll be time for any helpful reflections in non-Zoom person soon. For now, here is the article: The future of Southeast Asia’s tropical peatlands: Local and global perspectives, free to download for the next 50 days (thanks for the token, Elsevier). And thanks to all of those people, both acknowledged in it and not, who have been ‘there’ over the last nine+ years.

And paper’s “highlights”:

• People have occupied Sarawak’s coastal peatlands for c. 200 years.

• In the last century deforestation & peatland conversion have been widespread.

• Local stakeholders perceive few challenges & many opportunities in using peatlands.

• This conflicts with the international community promoting peatland conservation.

• Differences in knowledge between local & global communities need to be addressed.

If any one of you out there reading do actually read this overly wordy piece and have feedback to share, I would love to hear it.