290 likes | 309 Vues
UN-FCCC Bonn meeting June 2009. Peatlands, carbon and climate change. Marcel.Silvius@wetlands.org. Countries with most peat. World wide 400 million ha 3% of global land area 40% of all wetlands In all climate zones. Peatlands occur everywhere … from the tundra ….
E N D
UN-FCCC Bonn meeting June 2009 Peatlands, carbon and climate change Marcel.Silvius@wetlands.org
Countries with most peat • World wide 400 million ha • 3% of global land area • 40% of all wetlands • In 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
… to the sea … Archangelsk, RF
…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
The peat bog is rain water fed Tropical peat swamp forest River River Organic carbon < 1m > 3m What are peatlands? Peat: Organic matter accumulated over thousands of years, storing concentrated carbon in thick layers Mineral Soil Peat dome
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 2 - 3 Gt CO2 / yr ~ 30 - 40% of LULUCF Peatlands store large amounts of carbon Peatland degradation leads to GHG emissions which contribute to global warming
C-sink: ~ 250 Mt “CO2” a-1 C-source: ~ 10 Mt CH4 a-1 = ~ 250 Mt CO2-eq 100 y time horizon In longer-term peatlands are climate cooling
Drainage: emissions of up to 100 t CO2-eq ha-1 y-1 …that continue for many decades Kalimantan, Indonesia
Hotspots of CO2 emissions from drained peat • < 0.5% of land surface 9-15% of global emissions • ~ half from Annex 1 countries • SE Asia: • 5-8% of global emissions • world’s main source area of peat emissions
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 CO2 emissions SE Asia Russia N America Indonesia Malaysia
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 CO2 • 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 2500 loss: > 430 tC/ha 2000 1500 carbon store (t C ha-1) 1000 500 loss: > 130 tC/ha 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 years after conversion
Adapted from data provided by Siegert and Page 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
Rewetting CO2 N2O CH4
What if current ignorance continues No incentive mechanism to address 2-3 GT CO2-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
Bio-rights 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
Rapid action needed or 2020…?