Tropical peatlands represent an acute site of contested development on the front line of global climate change and action. Media analysis reveals how and why these ecosystems are understood in the context of local and national discourse, and the implications of these representations for peatland policy-making. In this study, we provide an instructive account of media representations of tropical peatlands in Malaysia – a country home to 6% of the world’s tropical peat by area and 12% by magnitude of the peat carbon pool. Set against an examination of the policy context for peatland media representations, we analyse how this critical ecosystem is framed in Malaysian media, and explore how these representations cast light on current sustainability-related policy and management debates. Drawing on media framing methodology, we analysed three English language newspapers (News Straits Times, The Star and Borneo Post) and one popular news website (Malaysiakini) from 1995 to 2018. From a sample of 1359 news articles, we found four dominant frames: development, conservation/protection, sustainable development and fire/haze. Within these frames, a number of key themes emerged including ecological benefits, community livelihoods, threats to peatland, integrated management approaches, and the value of peatland research. Our findings also reveal a polarising representation present across the study period – peatlands portrayed as a ‘time-bomb’ of ecological destruction and as a ‘gold mine’ in terms of their opportunities for development. We argue that contrasting interpretations of the sustainable development of peatlands may serve to obfuscate rather than facilitate current peatland policy discourses. Finally, we conclude that the fate of Malaysian peatlands hinges on recognising the localised challenges faced by peatland communities. We urge policy makers to consider food systems transformation approaches to move beyond a vision that relies entirely on drainage-based development.

热带泥炭地代表了全球气候变化和行动前线的有争议的开发地点。媒体分析揭示了在地方和国家话语的背景下如何以及为何理解这些生态系统，以及这些表述对泥炭地决策的影响。在这项研究中，我们提供了对马来西亚热带泥炭地媒体报道的指导性说明——马来西亚拥有世界上 6% 的热带泥炭面积和 12% 的泥炭碳库。针对泥炭地媒体陈述的政策背景审查，我们分析了马来西亚媒体如何构建这个关键生态系统，并探讨这些陈述如何阐明当前与可持续性相关的政策和管理辩论。借鉴媒体框架方法，新闻海峡时报、星报和婆罗洲邮报）和一个受欢迎的新闻网站（当今大马）) 从 1995 年到 2018 年。从 1359 篇新闻文章的样本中，我们发现了四个主要框架：发展、保护/保护、可持续发展和火灾/雾霾。在这些框架内，出现了一些关键主题，包括生态效益、社区生计、对泥炭地的威胁、综合管理方法以及泥炭地研究的价值。我们的研究结果还揭示了整个研究期间存在的两极分化现象——泥炭地被描述为生态破坏的“定时炸弹”和发展机会方面的“金矿”。我们认为，对泥炭地可持续发展的对比解释可能会混淆而不是促进当前的泥炭地政策话语。最后，我们得出结论，马来西亚泥炭地的命运取决于对泥炭地社区面临的局部挑战的认识。我们敦促政策制定者考虑采用粮食系统转型方法，以超越完全依赖排水开发的愿景。