{"id":37729,"date":"2025-02-20T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T13:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=37729"},"modified":"2025-04-04T11:57:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T06:27:26","slug":"peatlands-carbon-reservoir-underprotected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-02-2025\/peatlands-carbon-reservoir-underprotected","title":{"rendered":"Peatlands: A Vital Yet Underprotected Carbon Reservoir"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A recent study has cautioned that peatlands are severely underprotected, and their ongoing destruction could jeopardise climate change goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Peatlands?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Peatlands are unique wetland ecosystems composed of <strong>partially decayed organic matter<\/strong> accumulated over thousands of years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In cool climates<\/strong>, peatland vegetation is mostly made up of <strong>Sphagnum mosses, sedges and shrubs<\/strong> and are the primary builder of peat, whereas in <strong>warmer climates graminoids and woody vegetation <\/strong>provide most of the organic matter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d5d0ca\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"437\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/What-are-Peatlands.png\" alt=\"peatlands\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-37730\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d5d0ca; width:552px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/What-are-Peatlands.png 850w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/What-are-Peatlands-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/What-are-Peatlands-768x395.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Distribution of Peatlands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Peatlands occur in every climatic zone and continent and cover 4.23 million km2, which corresponds to<strong> 2.84%<\/strong> of the Earth\u2019s terrestrial surface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Countries with the most peatlands include<\/strong> Canada, Russia, Indonesia, the United States, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, Peru, Finland and the Republic of the Congo.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first five contain <strong>70 percent <\/strong>of global peatlands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Peatlands on the Earth&#8217;s surface, hold <strong>600 billion<\/strong> tonnes of carbon \u2014 surpassing the carbon stored in all the world&#8217;s forest biomass combined.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, merely <strong>17 percent<\/strong> of peatlands are safeguarded worldwide.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Specifically, only <strong>11 percent<\/strong> of boreal peatlands are protected, compared to <strong>27 percent <\/strong>of temperate and tropical peatlands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Threats to Peatlands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Agriculture and Forestry: <\/strong>Large-scale commercial agriculture and logging operations drain peatlands, causing carbon release into the atmosphere.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mining: <\/strong>Peat extraction for fuel and horticulture, along with infrastructure projects, leads to the destruction of peat ecosystems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/climate-change\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/climate-change\/\">Climate Change<\/a>:<\/strong> Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns exacerbate peatland degradation, increasing the risk of wildfires and carbon release.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conservation Efforts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Role of Indigenous Communities:<\/strong> Around <strong>27%<\/strong> of global peatlands lie within indigenous territories, where traditional practices have contributed to their conservation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Brazzaville Declaration on Peatlands<\/strong> is an agreement adopted in <strong>2018<\/strong> in Brazzaville, Republic of the <strong>Congo<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It aimed at protecting and sustainably managing peatlands in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/congo-basin\/\">Congo Basin,<\/a> which contains the world\u2019s largest tropical peatland complex.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI),<\/strong> led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-03-2022\/un-environment-programme-unep\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-03-2022\/un-environment-programme-unep\"><strong>United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)<\/strong><\/a>, aims to protect and conserve peatlands.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ramsar sites<\/strong>, comprises roughly a fifth of protected peatlands globally and nearly two-fifths of protected peatlands in the tropics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strengthening Legal Protections: <\/strong>Countries should integrate peatland conservation into domestic environmental laws and ensure the enforcement of Ramsar site protections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)<\/strong> under the <strong>Paris Agreement<\/strong> and action plans under the <strong>Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework<\/strong> should incorporate peatland conservation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indigenous Stewardship Support: <\/strong>Recognizing and supporting indigenous-led conservation efforts can significantly enhance peatland protection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Peatlands are invaluable carbon reservoirs essential for climate stability. Despite their ecological significance, they remain critically underprotected.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strengthening conservation efforts through legal frameworks, global commitments, and sustainable management is imperative for preserving these vital ecosystems.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/climate-change\/hurricanes-in-north-atlantic-eastern-pacific-to-get-more-frequent-intense-over-next-decade-university-of-reading\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent study has cautioned that peatlands are severely underprotected, and their ongoing destruction could jeopardise climate change goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37729"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40360,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37729\/revisions\/40360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}