Preserving global peatlands

John Crump

By GRID-Arendal

April 25^th, 2017

As global temperatures continue to rise one of the answers to slowing climate change may lie under our feet.

Earlier this year scientists discovered one of the world's largest tropical peatlands in the remote swamps of the Congo Basin. Researchers estimate that these peatlands hold "the equivalent of three year's worth of the world's storehouses of the world's total fossil fuel emissions."

The Cuvette Centrale peatlands cover over 145,000 square kilometres -- an area larger than England. The swamps in this area could hold as much as 30 billion tonnes of carbon. It's important to keep that carbon where it is as part of the effort to slow the rate of global climate change.

Peat is partially decayed plant material. It accumulates over long periods in natural areas called peatlands, also known as bogs or mires. Peatlands are highly efficient carbon sinks. Although they only cover less than three per cent of global land surface, estimates suggest that they contain twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests and four times as much carbon as the atmosphere.

Draining peatlands can lead to large and persistent fires such as those seen in parts of Indonesia in recent years. In many temperate and boreal countries, peatland degradation remains a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The current greenhouse gas emissions from drained or burned peatlands are estimated to amount up to five percent of the global carbon budget — in the range of two billion tonnes CO2 per year.

Unlocking the carbon currently stored in global peatlands through degradation and fires may put at risk our ability to keep a global temperature rise this century well below two degrees Celsius. That’s the limit outlined in the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. Besides hampering climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, further degradation and loss of peatland ecosystems could jeopardize progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Keeping peatlands where they are – under the ground – could help slow the pace of climate change

Forests burning in Sumatra. Credit: Muhammadiyah

Photo: Ryan Woo/ Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

The Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI) is an effort by leading experts and institutions to save peatlands as the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to prevent it from being emitted into the atmosphere.

GRID-Arendal is supporting the GPI by coordinating a peer-reviewed Rapid Response Assessment for peat based on existing data and information, including data to be made available by initiative partners.