Peatlands and REDD Wetlands International,

Susanna Tol,

COP16, Cancun, 2 Dec 2010

Mineral Soil

River 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?

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

Kalimantan, Indonesia

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

SE Asian peatland emissions disproportionately high

Emissions from peat in Indonesia:

~500 Mt from drainage~400 Mt from peat fires

6% of global peat area = 50-60% of global peat emissions

CO2 emissions from oxidation in drained peatlands(fires excluded), by region

(global total: 887 Mt/y; source: PEAT-CO2)

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. EuropeMiddle East

Peatland extent by region (global total: 381 Mha; source: PEAT CO2)

S.E. Asia (6% )C. America (1% )N. America (35% )Africa (1% )S. AsiaC. Europe (1% )W. Europe (1% )S. America (2% )E. Asia (2% )N.W. Europe (5% )C. Asia (1% )Russia (43% )Australia Pac.S. EuropeMiddle East

Indonesia

Russia N America

SE Asia

CO2 Emissions

Peat Area

• Deforestation• Degradation

– Drainage– Fires

Peatland problems

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

Relative total vs PSF area decline Insular SE Asia

90.0091.0092.0093.0094.0095.0096.0097.0098.0099.00

100.00

Year

Are

a re

mai

ning

sin

ce 1

999

Total forest decline

Peat forest decline

Preliminary results presented at UNFCCC CoP

Nairobi, 07-11-2006

(%)

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

THANK YOUDownloadable from

www.wetlands.org/peatclimate

and www.imcg.net

Further reading…

More information:

www.wetlands.or/peatclimate

www.wetlands.org/cancun