World's Largely Unprotected Peatlands Are Ticking 'Carbon Bomb,' Warns Study

The world's peatlands are "dangerously underprotected" despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned. From a report: Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world's forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.

The first global assessment found that only 17% of the peatlands were within protected areas. This contrasted starkly with other valuable ecosystems such as tropical forests, where 38% were protected, and mangroves (42%). Protection was even lower than the 17% average in the three nations with the most peatlands: Canada, Russia and Indonesia. The US and Brazil completed the top five nations, which contained almost three-quarters of all peatlands, and had higher proportions in protected areas. But the researchers cautioned that protected status on a map did not always translate to strong protection on the ground.

WTF are peatlands?

[BringsApples]

Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing. Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat. In cool climates, peatland vegetation is mostly made up of Sphagnum mosses, sedges and shrubs and are the primary builder of peat, whereas in warmer climates graminoids and woody vegetation provide most of the organic matter.

Re:

[RitchCraft]

Oh for Peat's sake, we already knew that.

Re:

[nightflameauto]

The real question I wanna ask is, why is there any peatland left that isn't being lined up for Scotch distilleries? Laphroaig is my preference, but there's also Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, not to mention several others. Come on, are we men, or are we whining, simpering do nothings! Give us scotch, or give us reasonable facsimiles of scotch. And no, that Texas whiskey that tastes like a god damned mesquite fire is *NOT* a suitable substitute. Fuck sake, have some dignity, Texas.

offsets by new habitats and other systems?

[eleuthero]

I am curious how this ties into (1) forest growth in developed countries offsetting the losses and (2) how the bagged peat (as soil in garden centers) industry ties in with this. I am not discounting that this might be concerning, but the majority of the countries noted other than the Congo have had massive efforts in the last 100 years to increase forest size (offsetting at least some of the carbon release issues noted in the article). I mention the sale of peat noting that it is likely a very minor part o

Re:

[eleuthero]

...and yes, I recognize the article notes forest growth isn't enough, but it doesn't do a good job of working through all the details

Re:

[TwistedGreen]

Since 1600, over 90% of the old-growth forests that once covered the Continental US have been burned, logged, and cleared away. That is a mindbogglingly huge amount of carbon capture destroyed. Planting a few pine trees isn't going to help us. We are screwed.

Re:

[eleuthero]

I would agree that much has been lost since 1600. At the same time, to avoid a “The sky is falling” attitude, it seems like the information from the USDA is helpful in balancing negative and positive views. https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/... [usda.gov]

Make them valuable

[alvinrod]

If you want humans to take care of and protect something you need to make it valuable to them personally and they will do it out of their own self-interest. Falling short of that just leads to another tragedy of the commons.

I personally am a fan of peated Scotch whiskies, so if we were to invest heavily in opening new distilleries manufacturing more of those delectable libations, it would go a long way to ensuring the long term health of the world's peatlands. My liver is willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

Re:

[sinij]

They are already very valuable. Peat is how you make scotch.

Re:

[TwistedGreen]

Clever, but peat bogs are being burned to distill those Scotch whiskies, so I don't think that's going to help the conservation effort.

Re:

[ljw1004]

I personally am a fan of peated Scotch whiskies, so if we were to invest heavily in opening new distilleries manufacturing more of those delectable libations, it would go a long way to ensuring the long term health of the world's peatlands. My liver is willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

What? Peated whisky is made by digging up the 1000-year-old peat. There's no capitalism/ownership solution in existence that protects investments with that long a timeline.

Laughable Attempt to Deflect from Human Damage

[BrendaEM]

It's not the millions of cars and thousands of planes, it's not that we've deforested and built roads, parking lots and houses over much of the Earth's surface--it's all the peatbog's fault! Follow the study funding.

Re:

[Berkyjay]

Why are people here so fucking stupid? The peatlands are in danger BECAUSE of human actions. Read the fucking article.