![Peatlands & climate change Alex Kaat, Wetlands International [email_address]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/peatclimate-cbd-101020051046-phpapp01/75/Peatlands-Climate-Change-Biodiversity-1-2048.jpg)
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Peatlands, Climate Change & Biodiversity
The document discusses the significance of peatlands in relation to climate change, highlighting their role as major carbon stores and the challenges they face from agriculture and climate change. It emphasizes the need for conservation and restoration of peatlands to mitigate ongoing CO2 emissions, which contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas totals. The presentation also touches on the lack of comprehensive policies addressing peat degradation and urges for increased awareness and action among countries.
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- 1. Peatlands & climatechange Alex Kaat, Wetlands International [email_address]
- 2. Content of thispresentation Peatlands: What & where A climate / biodiversity disaster This can be solved at low costs What to do: Role for CBD
- 3.
- 4. Mineral Soil River River Peat swamp forest Organic matter Peat: organic matter accumulated over thousands of years storing carbon in thick layers Peatlands are wetlands where waterlogging delays decay, and dead plant materials form an organic soil: peat soil What are peatlands? A peat bog is rain water fed
- 5. … fromthe tundra … Yakutia, RF
- 6. … tothe tropics and … Borneo
- 7. … from themountains … Kyrgystan
- 8. Archangelsk, RF … to the sea …
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- 10. Values Poor foragriculture Rich biodiversity Water storage (peat = 90% water!) Carbon content!
- 11. Occur in 175countries 4 million km 2 world wide (3 % of global land surface) Global peatland distribution
- 12. Logging, palm oilpulpwood SE Asia
- 13. Drainage -peatfires inRussia, 2010
- 14. Mining for fuel– horticulture
- 15. Drainage for agriculture,overgrazing
- 16.
- 17. Drainage leads tosubsidence - CO2 emissions CO 2 CO 2 CO 2 CO 2 CO 2 Drained peatlands are also extra fire prone Clay / sand Peat dome Stream channel Stream channel
- 18. Impact of drainageof tropical peatlands Drainage to 1 meter = emission of 90 ton CO 2 /ha/yr When drained, peatlands become increasingly vulnerable to fires Source: Wösten, Alterra
- 19. Threatened carbon storesPeatsoil 1400 Tonne / ha (rainforest 375 tonne C / ha) Globally 550 Giga ton (Gt) C 30% of terrestrial carbon 75% of all carbon in the atmosphere 15% (or 50 million ha) is threatened and degrading releasing 2 Gt CO 2 per annum 6% of global emissions
- 20. Magnitude of peatin climate issues
- 21. Hotspots of CO2 emissions from drained peat Annual global peatland emissions 2 Giga ton CO2 Russia160 Mt EU 174 Mt 115 Mt Central Asia USA 72 Mt 1 Gt SE Asia
- 22. Rewetting: the solutionSolutions: conservation and restoration
- 23. 2003 2006China Ruourgai
- 24.
- 25. Physical situation Peatlands:large carbon stock under threat Different from forests: ongoing emissions Easy / low cost to halt emissions Many co- benefits (biodiversity, water storage!)
- 26. Global Political situationUN Policies (FCCC) Emissions are not accounted in Annex 1 No incentives (KP, REDD, CDM) Positive change… Wetland management in drafts for LULUCF (new activity) IPCC: review methodology on peat
- 27. CBD: 5.6 Biodiversityand climate change Strong focus on forests only Reference to REDD / REDD plus Peat once mentioned in a long list of ecosystems.
- 28. Strategic plan Target15 “ By 2020, ecosystem resillience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks has been enhanced, through conservation and restoration, including restoration of at least 15% degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification.” Good target as ‘restoration of 15% is ambitious. No clear target on emissions or conservation of stocks.
- 29.
- 30. Yes, there ispeat in your country
- 31. Downloadable from www.wetlands.org Science base developed … Aim: No doubts among Parties on Urgency of the issue Option to address problem
Editor's Notes
- #5 This picture shows the location of a peat dome in the flood plain in between two lowland rivers. A substantial part of the peat dome is located above river water surface. These forms of peatlands are called bogs, they are oligotrophic (poor in nutrients) and rain water fed. The peat lies like a gigantic drop a water on the lowland plain, held together by the dead organic material and protected by a blanket of living forest that maintains a humid micro-climate and prevents direct solar impact.
- #20 Drainage - aeration of the peat soil – aerobic decomposition of peat (carbon content of 60kg/m3) – sustained release of CO2 and subsidence of peat dome – flooding downstream Loss of carbon sink capacity, at least 40Mt/yr due to present loss of peatswamp forests
- #22 First click: Some relatively minor emissions are derived from peatlands in arctic and sub-arctic zones Second click: More substantial emissions are derived from peatlands in the temperate zones and tropical zones of the Americas Third click: The most substantial emissions, covering over 70% of global peat-based emissions are from SE Asia.
- #23 Water management should be optimised to ensure the highest possible water levels are maintained. Whereas optimised water levels may have some impact on palm oil productivity, it will benefit long-term sustainability of the plantation, decreasing risks of enhanced flooding through peat soil subsidence. A optimal balance needs to be found between short-term productivity and long-term sustainability.