Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute

Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (STROPI) is a research institute that was set up by the government of Sarawak in 2008 for the research of tropical peatland in Sarawak in order to develop tropical peatland for agriculture purposes in an environmentally friendly manner.
History.
Before setting up the tropical peat research institute, the Sarawak government was concerned with international non-governmental organisations (NGO) lobbying in Europe that calls for an import ban of palm oil coming from tropical peatlands because the claims that cultivation of oil palms contributes to global greenhouse gases emissions. Therefore, on 26 June 2008, Sarawak State Legislative Assembly passed a law to establish Tropical Peat Research Laboratory. In 2010, eddy covariance flux towers were set up in three locations in Sarawak namely: Sibu, Maludam National Park, and Lambir Hills National Park. The flux towers are co-managed together with researchers from Hokkaido University and National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan to estimate the net carbon balance from tropical peatlands. In 2012, the flux tower located at Lambir Hills National Park was moved to secondary peat swamp forest in Betong Division. In 2015, the laboratory was moved to a new research complex.
In September 2016, the first International Peat Congress (IPC) was held in Kuching, Sarawak. During the congress, it was claimed that drainage-based agriculture with soil compaction is able to reduce carbon emission into the atmosphere. However, 139 scientists had signed a letter that such a method does not reduce carbon emissions from peatlands. On 7 November 2016, the laboratory was upgraded to the “Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute” (STROPI). 
In 2018, the director for STROPI, Dr Lulie Meling was elected as a member of the executive board of the International Peat Society (IPS). 
In 2019, Sarawak won the bid to host AsiaFlux conference in 2020. Due to corona virus pandemic, the event was postponed to 2021.
Researches.
Between 2019 and 2020, STROPI was involved in two international collaborations on researches that deal with the long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth's tropical forests and the study of interactions between the beneficial and pathogenic funguses in paddy plants.