UN-FCCC Bonn meeting June 2009 Peatlands, carbon and climate change

Countries with most peat World wide 400 million haWorld wide 400 million ha 3% of global land area3% of global land area 40% of all wetlands40% of all wetlands In all climate zonesIn 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

… along the rivers … Kyrgystan Ruaha River Tanzania

Archangelsk, RF … to the sea …

…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

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

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 Gt CO2 / yr ~ % of LULUCF Peatlands store large amounts of carbon Peatland degradation leads to GHG emissions which contribute to global warming

C-sink: ~ 250 Mt “CO 2 ” a -1 C-source: ~ 10 Mt CH 4 a -1 = ~ 250 Mt CO 2 -eq 100 y time horizon In longer-term peatlands are climate cooling

Kalimantan, Indonesia Drainage: emissions of up to 100 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 y -1 …that continue for many decades

Hotspots of CO 2 emissions from drained peat SE Asia: 5-8% of global emissions world’s main source area of peat emissions < 0.5% of land surface 9-15% of global emissions ~ half from Annex 1 countries

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 CO 2 emissions Indonesia Malaysia Russia N America SE Asia

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 CO 2 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 carbon store (t C ha -1 ) years after conversion loss: > 430 tC/ha loss: > 130 tC/ha

Peat drainage increases the risk of fires 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 Adapted from data provided by Siegert and Page

Rewetting CO 2 N 2 O CH 4

What if current ignorance continues No incentive mechanism to address 2-3 GT CO 2 -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…?