Hans Joosten joosten@uni-greifswald.de

1. Accounting for peatlands:
Kyoto and beyond…
Hans Joosten
joosten@uni-greifswald.de

2. Peatlands are fascinating, diverse, beautiful ànd
important for the climate!

3. Compared to other formations peatlands contain
extraordinary much carbon, largely in their soil

4. In the boreal zone they hold 7 times, in the tropics even 10
times more Carbon per ha than other ecosystems

5. Drained peatlands on 0.4 % of the land emit 5% of the global
anthropogenic CO2, this year even 10%

6. Peatlands emit in PNG 13x, Burundi 10x, Iceland 5x, Mongolia
4x, Zambia 3x and Finland 2x more than fossil fuels & cement

7. In 25 countries peatlands emit > 50%, in 50 countries >10 %
compared to their emissions from fossil fuels & cement

8. Peatlands produce 30 % of all emissions from agriculture

9. In Germany peatland agriculture emits twice as much CO2 as
the 7th dirtiest power plant in the world

10. In Germany peatland agriculture causes € 3.6 billion climate
damage per year … with € 300 Million EU- subsidies (CC)
Sabine Wichmann

11. ‘Biogas’ from peatland maize causes per Joule energy 8x more
climate damage than burning lignite (with EEG subsidy…)

12. The world upside down:
We pay to create damage
… and frustrate in this way
sensible solutions

13. Peatland rewetting provides per ha and year twice as much
emission reduction as a tropical rainforest can sequester
Initial drained land
use
Emission reduction after rewetting
(incl. CO2, CH4, N2O + DOC; in t CO2-e ha-1 yr-1)
Temperate zone Boreal zone
Forest Land 6 2
Cropland 28 34
Grassland 20 25
Peat extraction sites 9 11

14. Why do peatlands not get attention?
• Peatlands are unknown, diverse, not recognized
• ‘Peatland is a swamp’ – negative connotation
• ‘Small cannot be important’
• ‘Too many gases – too complex’
• ‘Peatland is peat-land and land sector is corrupted’
• ‘Peatlands are wild lands’

15. … this is a peatland in the tundra …
Yakutia, RF

16. Brunei
… this is a peatland in the tropics …

17. …this is a peatland 1000 km from Antarctica…
Tierra del Fuego
Argentina

18. Colombia
…this is a peatland in the high mountains …

19. Archangelsk, RF
… this is a peatland in the sea …

20. Not recognized - not appreciated: the Cinderella Syndrom
Ruoergai, China

21. Ramsar Convention ‘overlooked’ peatlands during 25 years
Zapata, Cuba

22. …although the city of Ramsar is surrounded by peatlands…
Ramsar, Iran

23. UNFCCC 2006 (Nairobi): In Kenya there is no peat…
10 km from the Convention venue

24. UNFCCC 2011 (Panama): We didn‘t know we hàd peat swamps
Peat swamp deforestation

25. Finland
Fen-land
Suo-mi
With its peatlands
largely drained

26. How much peatlands does Finland have?
Every Fin knows, but every Fin knows something else…

27. Forests are beautiful…

28. … Peatlands are ugly…

29. Problem: Our land culture had a semi desert as a cradle…

30. …and has since the idea that productive land must be dry…

31. …and soils continuously be moved…

32. …illusions that we worldwide apply to wet, organic soils…
Greta Gaudig

33. with desert plants on drained peat in Indonesia: Aloe vera
Bostang Radjagukguk

34. … or semi-arid Maize on drained peat in Germany…

35. Palm oil can grow and produce well on peat
… or with oil palm on drained peat in Malaysia…
Marcel Silvius

36. … and also forests on drained peatland in Scotland…

37. Although forests can grow wet…

38. And wet peatlands may be extremely productive

39. The peatland problem has to be addressed in Kyoto under
Forest-, Cropland- and Grazing Land management

40. Activities
Countries
Forest
Management
Cropland
Management
Grazing land
Management
Revegetation
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Iceland
Latvia
Lithuania
Norway
Russian
Fed.
Sweden
But there it did not happen as parties did not choose the
activities (cf. NorBalWet countries in 1st Commitment Period)

41. Accounting for Cropland Management and Grazing Land
Management was thought to be too difficult …

42. And forestry anyhow does not see the soil for the trees…

43. IPCC 2013-
Supplement
IPCC 2013
GPG LULUCF
2012 Durban
UNFCCC - KP
”Wetland drainage and
rewetting”” is a system of
practices for draining and
rewetting on land with organic
soil that covers a minimum
area of 1 hectare. The activity
applies to all lands that have
been drained since 1990 and to
all lands that have been
rewetted since 1990 and that
are not accounted for under
any other activity as defined in
this annex, where drainage is
the direct human-induced
lowering of the soil water table
and rewetting is the direct
human-induced partial or total
reversal of drainage.
‘Wetland Drainage and Rewetting’ was created as a dedicated
peatland hotspot KP activity and IPCC provided guidance

44. 44
Peatland rewetting must be done in nature conservation sites …

45. … and evidently in peat extraction sites

46. But the bulk (80%) and the real challenge is in peatland
agriculture that we have to change from dry to wet
Germany

47. With paludiculture: agriculture and forestry on wet and
rewetted peatlands!
Polen

48. Peatlands must be wet!