REDD and Peatland
Conservation and Restoration
By
Marcel Silvius
6 December, Forest Day
Peat in REDD?
• Opportunity to address
emissions from peatlands
under REDD
• Peatlands are the lowest
hanging fruit on the REDD
tree
• Inclusion depends on
definitions of forest and
forest degradation
• Effectiveness depends on
community-based
approaches
Why peatlands under REDD?
• Large amounts of soil carbon, ~ 3000
tC/ha. (Forests 250 tC/ha)
• Emission from peat degradation: a
continuous process occurring on the same
spot for decades or centuries
• Peatland emission baselines resulting
from drainage can be assessed on site
• Trend baselines of fire emissions through
long term trend analysis
• Emission reduction through hydrological
restoration can be monitored in situ and by
satellite (radar)
• World-wide emissions from degraded
peatlands are equivalent to those from
deforestation but originate from a much
smaller area (hotspots)
Peat emissions are a concentrated problem
Peatlands globally:
Peatlands in SE Asia:
3% of global land area
< 0,1 % of global land area
3000 million tonnes
2000 million tonnes
emitted annually
emitted annually
Equivalent to 11.5 % of
global fossil fuel
emissions
Equivalent to 8 % of
global fossil fuel
emissions
What can be done?
Hydrological restoration
Community-based techniques
based on traditional knowledge
Fire prevention & control
Community-based fire brigades
Socio-economic development
Re-greening of degraded peatlands
Community participation
Conservation of remaining peat swamp forests
Policy reform
• Support to Green Government Policy development
• Support sound spatial panning
• Creating awareness on peat emissions (UNFCCC, CBD)
• Promotion of precautionary & ecosystem approach
• Promote moratorium on peat swamp forest conversion in
context of RSPO (sustainable palm oil)
• The issue needs
acknowledgment of
UNFCCC
• Inclusion under
REDD
Forest definition
• Minimum land area of 0.05 to 1.0 ha
• Tree crown cover of more than 10-30 %
• - with trees having potential to reach
minimum height of 2 - 5 m at maturity
• either closed forests
• or open forest formations where trees
cover a high proportion of the ground.
• Young natural stands and plantations
which have yet to reach a crown density
of 10 - 30 % or tree height of 2 - 5 m
• Also areas normally forming part of the
forest area which are temporarily
unstocked but which are expected to
revert to forest.
Forest degradation
• The reduction of the carbon stock in a natural
forest, compared with its natural carbon carrying
capacity, due to the impact of human land-use
activities
Mackey et al (2008)
• Direct human-induced activity that leads to a
long-term reduction in forest carbon stocks
• The overuse or poor management of forests that
leads to long-term reduced biomass density
(carbon stocks)
(IPCC, 2003: 14 en 15)
What constitutes a forest carbon stock?
• The REDD resolution specifically refers to “forests and
forest carbon stocks”
• This includes the below-ground carbon, such as peat
• The REDD resolution refers in clause 6 to:
–"Parties not included in Annex I are encouraged to
apply the most recent IPCC approved guidelines for
national GHG inventories of agriculture, forestry and
other land use: Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/cop9/06a01.pdf
–This Guidance includes under the implied emission
factors for forest land:
• “net carbon stock change in soils per area”
(Annex 1 table 5a)
Is this forest carbon stock suddenly not a forest
carbon stock when the forest cover is removed?
Back to the definition of forest
• “areas normally forming
part of the forest area that
are temporarily un-stocked
as a result of human
intervention such as
harvesting or natural causes
but which are expected to
revert to forest".
• “Young natural stands and
all plantations that have yet
to reach a crown density of
10-30 % or tree height of 25 m are included under
forest"
Natural regeneration
• In many of the degraded idle peatland areas, we do see that
substantial parts are still covered with > 10-30% crown
cover.
• Even in fully deforested or burned areas we often see a
natural recovery of the forest with "Young natural stands […]
that have yet to reach a crown density of 10-30% or tree
height of 2-5 m".
• Some areas do not show such natural regrowth,
– regularly cleared areas
– repeatedly burned areas; severely decreased soil levels
resulting in lengthy periods of inundation
• Such areas can fall under:
"areas normally forming part of the forest area that are
temporarily un-stocked as a result of human intervention
such as harvesting or natural causes which are expected to
revert to forest"
Replanting / reforestation
• Wetlands International and partners have successfully
replanted > 1500 ha of degraded peatland using various
indigenous peat swamp forest tree species
• In areas with long inundation periods seedlings are
planted in artificially raised soil
• Policy becomes crucial, as policy may eventually
define whether or not a degraded area “can be
expected to revert to forest”.
Conclusions from definitions
1. Forested peatlands are included in REDD based on
current definitions
2. Deforested peatlands should be included
3. But many deforested and non-forest peatlands remain
excluded
4. 40% of peatlands in South-east Asia are currently not
forest anymore
5. These peatlands are responsible for annual emissions of
2000 Million tonnes CO2
Policy recommendations (1)
• REDD should incorporate all 5
carbon pools named by IPCC to
calculate Land Use and
Forestry emissions, including
soil carbon. This will enable
incentives for maintaining
forests with high soil carbon
stocks such as peatlands while
not disadvantaging those with
other forest types
• Do not limit REDD strictly to
‘forests’ only, also include areas
deforested since 1990, but with
still substantial carbon stocks,
like peatlands
Policy recommendations (2)
• If it is decided to strictly limit
REDD to forests only, a separate
mechanism for ‘peatland
restoration and conservation
(PREC)’ is needed to utilise the
low cost options for reducing
huge peatlands emissions.
• Peatland conservation and
restoration provides a major
opportunity for developing
countries to contribute to
mitigation
• Support needed from
industrialized countries and
private sector
• Bali Action Plan allows for this
Peatland degradation: a socio-economic issue
• Peatland restoration is
more than hydrological
restoration. It is
primarily a social and
economic issue.
• Mechanisms such as
REDD should
incorporate a pro-poor
approach, be rightsbased and put
community-based
approaches central
Involvement of local communities
Incentive mechanisms
needed to compensate
for opportunity costs of
local stakeholders
–Access to micro-credits in
exchange for community
services (Bio-rights
approach) including:
• Peatland restoration:
Regreening, building and
maintaining dams
• Fire prevention and control
• Guarding conservation
zones
• Sustainable development of
adaptive management
zones
Options for private sector involvement
• VERs from peat degradation
– Global Peatland Fund
– Involvement of banking, insurance and
biofuel sectors
• Cooperation:
– Corperate social responsibility
– Joint management of buffer zones for
high conservation value peat forests
– Use of plantations in buffer-zone areas
• Consider possibilities of:
– Joint hydrological management
– Joint fire control
– Joint patrol against poaching and illegal
logging
Cost effectiveness
Cost benefit of investment for reducing carbon emissions
Germany:
€ 5000 million for 50 Mt/y (100 €/tCO2)
World Bank in China: € 1500 million for 19 Mt/y ( 79 €/tCO2)
UK:
€ 3000 million for 88 Mt/y ( 34 €/tCO2)
Indonesian peat projects:€ 10 million for
5 Mt/y ( 2 €/tCO2)
Willingness to pay
1. Europe: permit price:
2. Kyoto Protocol energy:
3. Kyoto Protocol forestry
(BioCarbon Fund):
4. Voluntary markets:
$15/t (EUA 2008)
$12/t (CER)
$ 5/t (tCER; 10 years’ permanence)
$ 5/t
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