Peatlands and REDD
Wetlands International,
Susanna Tol,
COP16, Cancun, 2 Dec 2010
What are peatlands?
Peat:
Organic matter accumulated over thousands of years, storing
concentrated carbon in thick layers
The peat bog is
rain water fed
Tropical peat swamp
forest
River
< 1m
Organic carbon
Mineral >Soil
3m
Peat dome
River
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 Gt CO2 / yr,
~6% of global CO2 emissions.
Peatlands store large amounts of carbon
Peatland degradation leads to GHG emissions
which contribute to global warming
Drainage tropics: emissions of up to 100 t CO2-eq ha1 y-1…that continue for many decades
Kalimantan, Indonesia
SE Asian peatland emissions disproportionately high
P e a tla n d e x te n t b y r e g io n
Peat
Area
(g lo b a l to
ta l: 3 8 1 M h a ; s o u r c e : P E A T C O 2 )
SE Asia
Russia
N America
Emissions from peat in
Indonesia:
S .E . A s ia (6 % )
C . A m e ric a (1 % )
N . A m e ric a (3 5 % )
A fric a (1 % )
S . A s ia
C . E u ro p e (1 % )
W . E u ro p e (1 % )
S . A m e ric a (2 % )
E . A s ia (2 % )
N .W . E u ro p e (5 % )
C . A s ia (1 % )
R u s s ia (4 3 % )
A u s tra lia P a c .
S . E u ro p e
M id d le E a s t
CO2 emissions from oxidation in drained peatlands
(fires excluded), by region
(global total: 887 Mt/y; source: PEAT-CO2)
CO2 Emissions
~500 Mt from drainage
~400 Mt from peat fires
6% of global peat area
= 50-60% of global
peat emissions
Indonesia
Indonesia (58%)
Other SE Asia (13%)
C. America (8%)
N. America (5%)
Africa (4%)
S. Asia (4%)
C. Europe (4%)
W. Europe (3%)
S. America (3%)
E. Asia (3%)
N.W. Europe (2%)
C. Asia (1%)
Russia (1%)
Australia Pac.
S. Europe
Middle East
Peatland problems
• Deforestation
• Degradation
– Drainage
– Fires
Tropical peat forest deforestation
Area remaining since 1999 (%)
Relative total vs PSF area decline Insular SE Asia
100.00
99.00
98.00
97.00
96.00
95.00
Total forest decline
Peat forest decline
94.00
93.00
92.00
91.00
90.00
19
99
1
20 2
00
1
20 2
01
12
20
02
1
20 2
03
1
20 2
04
1
20 2
05
12
Peatland deforestation:
• since 2000:
Year twice
1.5%/yr:
Preliminary results
presented at UNFCCC CoP
Nairobi, 07-11-2006
the rate for non-peatlands
• currently 45% deforested
• 96% degraded
Peat forest conservation
• < 5% of total peatland area
Logging and drainage 1
• Channels used to
transport equipment
and logs
Logging and drainage 2
A total of about 13 million ha of SE Asian
peat swamps have been drained for
agriculture and plantations
Even when the rate of peatland conversion
decreases, annual peatland emissions will
continue to increase
This makes it a totally different ball game
from forests
Stopping the rate of conversion is not
enough. To decrease peatland emissions
eco-hydrological restoration (rewetting &
replanting) is necessary
Peat drainage increases the risk of fires
Between 1997 and 2006: 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 these emissions
Peat in REDD
• Include all 5 carbon pools (IPCC 2006)
• Include protection of remaining undrained areas and restoration of
degraded peat swamp forests (rewetting/revegetation)
• Also include peat forests that have no crown cover anymore
(deforested) from past deforestation
• Exclude drained plantations from support
• Similar mechanism needed for non-forest peatlands
Added value
Climate change mitigation
Biodiversity conservation
Poverty reduction
Reduced land degradation
A WIN4all
Further reading…
THANK YOU
Downloadable from
www.wetlands.org/peatclimate
and www.imcg.net
More information:
www.wetlands.or/peatclimate
www.wetlands.org/cancun