Peatlands

Half of the world’s wetlands are peatlands. Their surface is a layer of peat, which is made up of plant material that has accumulated over thousands of years without fully decomposing, due to the water-saturated environment.

Peatlands are the most space-effective stocks of carbon on land: although they cover only 3% of the land surface, they contain more carbon than the entire forest biomass of the world.

When peatlands are drained, the peat decomposes and carbon is released as greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. Worldwide 15% of peatlands have been drained. These 65 million hectares  of degraded peatlands cover less than 0.4% of the land area, but they are responsible for 5% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

In contrast, undrained peatlands (covering over 300 million hectares worldwide) sequester up to 100 megatonnes of carbon every year. These living peatlands, or “mires” play an important role in global climate regulation by accumulating carbon in their peat soil.

Through rewetting and restoring drained peatlands, a substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved, and they can start to provide other important ecosystem services again, such as water retention and biodiversity-related services.

As a worldwide instrument for the conservation of wetlands the Ramsar Convention plays an important role in highlighting the climate regulation function of peatlands and in stimulating their conservation and restoration.

 At the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP12), the Parties adopted Resolution XII.11 on Peatlands, climate change and wise use: Implications for the Ramsar Convention.  The Resolution urges the Contracting Parties to take action:
•    to reduce degradation of peatlands;
•    to promote their restoration;
•    to improve the management practices of peatlands and other wetland types that are significant greenhouse gas sinks; and
•    to use peatlands as demonstration sites to raise awareness about peatland restoration, wise use and management in relation to climate change, habitat protection for specially adapted species and the provision of water supplies.

International workshop, Vilm, 2016

An international workshop was held in September 2016 on the Isle of Vilm (Germany) to review progress and contribute to the implementation of Resolution XII.11. The workshop report and the resulting briefing note entitled 30 good reasons to safeguard peatlands! are featured below under "Key Documents"; all the presentations from the meeting are included here.