UN-FCCC Bonn meeting June 2009 Peatlands, carbon and climate change Marcel.Silvius@wetlands.org

Countries with most peat World wide 400 million ha 3% of global land area 40% of all wetlands In all climate zones

Peatlands occur everywhere … from the tundra … Yakutia, Russian Federation

...to the tropics… Berbak National Park, Indonesia

… from the mountains … Kyrgystan

Over permafrost NWT, Canada

Under grasslands … Sichuan, China im Folgenden will ich am konkreten Beispiel die Herangehensweise zeigen Sichuan, China

… along the rivers … Kyrgystan Ruaha River Tanzania

… to the sea … Archangelsk, RF

…to the end of the Earth… Tierra del Fuego Argentina

But peatlands are overlooked… Unfamiliarity Large diversity Peatland habitat diversity climate conditions Spatial heterogeneity thickness, landuse Various greenhouse gases Variability of parameters over time Weather Water level Vegetation Land-use im Folgenden will ich am konkreten Beispiel die Herangehensweise zeigen

Tropical peat swamp forest What are peatlands? Peat: Organic matter accumulated over thousands of years, storing concentrated carbon in thick layers The peat bog is rain water fed River < 1m > 3m Tropical peat swamp forest Organic carbon Mineral Soil 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. Peat dome

Peatlands are water Flow Country, Scotland

Peat, carbon and climate change Globally peatlands store 550 Giga ton (Gt) Carbon Equivalent to 30% of terrestrial carbon twice the carbon stored in forest biomass 75% of all carbon in the atmosphere Global emissions 2 - 3 Gt CO2 / yr ~ 30 - 40% of LULUCF Peatlands store large amounts of carbon Peatland degradation leads to GHG emissions which contribute to global warming

In longer-term peatlands are climate cooling C-sink: ~ 250 Mt “CO2” a-1 C-source: ~ 10 Mt CH4 a-1 = ~ 250 Mt CO2-eq 100 y time horizon In longer-term peatlands are climate cooling

Drainage: emissions of up to 100 t CO2-eq ha-1 y-1 …that continue for many decades Kalimantan, Indonesia

Hotspots of CO2 emissions from drained peat < 0.5% of land surface 9-15% of global emissions ~ half from Annex 1 countries 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. SE Asia: 5-8% of global emissions world’s main source area of peat emissions

SE Asian peatland emissions disproportionately high 6% of global peat area 50-70% of global peat emissions < 0.1% of global land area 5-8% of global CO2 emissions SE Asia Russia N America Most concentrated land-use related CO2 emissions in the world Greater Indonesia Malaysia

Peatland issues Deforestation Degradation Drainage Fires

Tropical peat forest deforestation Peatland deforestation: since 2000: 1.5%/yr: twice the rate for non-peatlands currently 45% deforested 96% degraded Peat forest conservation < 5% of total peatland area

Logging and drainage Channels used to transport equipment and logs Result: drainage and oxidation of peat soil High emissions of CO2 Increased fire risks

Conversion SE Asian peat forest areas A total of about 13 million ha of SE Asian peat swamps have been drained for agriculture and plantations

On the issue of continued emissions Conversion of peatswamp rainforest to oil palm plantation 2500 loss: > 430 tC/ha 2000 1500 carbon store (t C ha-1) 1000 500 loss: > 130 tC/ha 10 20 30 40 50 years after conversion

Peat drainage increases the risk of fires Adapted from data provided by Siegert and Page Between 1997 and 2006 there were over 60,000 fires in peat swamp areas on Borneo in 3 out of 10 years (1997, 1998, 2002) Most affected were deforested and drained peatlands

Rewetting CO2 N2O CH4

What if current ignorance continues No incentive mechanism to address 2-3 GT CO2-eq emissions No incentive to deal with almost half of LULUCF

Peat in REDD Include all 5 carbon pools (IPCC 2006) Most promising mechanism for addressing emissions from degraded peat swamp forests Include emissions from deforested peatlands (i.e. emissions resulting from past deforestation) Similar mechanism needed for non-forest peatlands Exclude drained plantations

REDD for peat forests recommendations Support developing countries to get REDDI Inventories and assessments MRV capacity Community-based, pro-poor approach New mechanisms for equitable sharing Local ownership and capacity Bio-rights

Rapid action needed or 2020…?