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What is peatland? -

Peatlands are wetland landscapes that are characterized by waterlogged organic soils made of dead and decaying plants.

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How is peat formed? -

As this organic matter accumulates, it forms layers of peat. The partially decayed plant material gathers under water-logged conditions over long periods of time.

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Peatland's role in preserving the environment -

Peatlands, also called bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs, are critical for preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change.

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Biodiversity hot spots -

Peatlands also preserve biodiversity and minimize the risk of flooding, drought, and wildfires. They also store and filter important sources of freshwater.

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Natural terrestrial carbon store -

Crucially, wetland environments store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined. That's according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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An ally against climate change -

Peatlands are therefore an incredibly important natural ally in the fight against climate change, especially as long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns are beginning to alter the functioning of the natural world.

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A host of habitats -

Besides serving as natural CO₂ depositories, peatlands are important as pools of biodiversity. They sustain a rich and unique range of habitats and species across the world.

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Peatland flora -

In fact, an estimated 6,000 species of aquatic and terrestrial arthropods—spiders, insects, and other invertebrates with an outer skeleton—may be found in peatlands, depending on the geographic region.

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Peatland fauna -

Red deer are emblematic of Scotland's peatland environments. In North America, large mammals like moose, wood bison, and white-tailed deer can be found in peatlands.

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Tropical peatlands -

The three largest areas of tropical peatlands—Southeast Asia, the Central Congo Basin (the world's largest tropical peatland), and Amazonia—preserve an equally impressive variety of flora and fauna. The carnivorous sundew plant, for example, can be found in these hot and humid habitats.

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Temperate and boreal peatlands -

The majority of the world's peatlands, however, are in temperate and boreal zones. Russia has the largest area of peatlands, and contains the largest peatland in the world: the Great Vasyugan Mire.

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How does peat grow? -

Some peatlands are as deep as 32 feet (10 m) and have taken thousands of years to form. It can take a year or so for peat to build up by just one millimeter.

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Where are peatlands located? -

Peatlands occur in almost every country across the planet and are known to cover at least 3% of global land surface.

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A carbon cupboard -

And according to the IUCN, peat soils contain more than 600 gigatonnes of carbon, which represents up to 44% of all soil carbon and exceeds the carbon stored in all other vegetation types including the world's forests.

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Degradation and overexploitation of peatland landscapes -

Peatlands are significant nature hot spots and vast carbon cupboards. And while new areas are still being discovered, the degradation and overexploitation of peatland landscapes is causing alarm among environmentalists.

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The damage caused -

Worryingly, the planet's precious peatlands are being lost three times faster than its forests. And damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

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The threat of drainage -

The biggest threat to peatlands is drainage for other land uses. About 15% of the world's peatlands have already been drained for land development and agriculture, according to the US-based Pew Charitable Trusts.

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Increase in CO₂ emissions -

Around the globe, damaged peatland environments are responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. The term anthropogenic is defined as the influence of human beings on nature.

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Burning peatland forest -

In the tropics, Indonesia for example, peatland forest is regularly cleared by burning to make way for palm oil plantations.

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Peat and its historical context -

For thousands of years, humans have extracted resources from peatlands to survive and earn a living. Initially, peat extraction was primarily used for urbanization, to create settlement areas for a growing world population.

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Age-old industry -

Later, peat was used for heating and ultimately also for cultivating the areas left barren by its extraction. First harvested by hand (a physically demanding task), this valuable commodity was eventually mined on an industrial scale for use as fuel and in horticulture.

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Traditional uses -

In many parts of the world, peatlands supply food, fiber, and other local products that sustain economies. Toasting malts or grains using peat has long been a method of lending whisky its distinct flavor. And its water-retaining properties and consistency means peat has long been used as compost.

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Use in preserving the past -

Peatlands also preserve important ecological and archaeological information such as pollen records and human and animal artifacts.

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Overexploitation continues -

But the overexploitation of peat continues. In some regions of the world, up to 80% of peatlands have been damaged or destroyed as a result of drainage, conversion for agriculture, burning, and mining for fuel.

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Loss of biodiversity -

Biodiversity loss due to degradation of peatland is responsible for the decline by 60% of the Bornean orangutan population over the last 60 years, according the IUCN. The great ape is now critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List of Mammals.

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Sustainable extraction -

Carried out in a sustainable manner, peat extraction is permissible. In many countries, including Scotland and Ireland, peat is cut by hand and left to dry in the sun. It was, and still is, traditionally used in rural areas for use in cooking and domestic heating.

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Lost forever -

The fact is, though, that rampant peat sales and mismanagement over land use has left many peatland environments in a precarious condition. Drained of their water, some are in danger of disappearing altogether.

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The cost to the environment -

Emissions from drained peatlands are estimated at 1.9 gigatonnes of CO₂ annually. This is equivalent to a staggering 5% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

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A polluted habitat -

And once drained, a peatland bog becomes polluted with organic carbon and pollutants historically absorbed within peat, thus reducing the quality of drinking water.

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How to protect peatland environments -

The future of these rare and precious landscapes has been addressed by a number of official bodies, including of the Swiss-based Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the United Nations Environment Assembly, and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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What's being done? -

The Ramsar Convention, for instance, currently calls for the protection of all remaining peatlands from drainage, and restoration of at least 50% of degraded peatlands by 2030, to align with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C (34.7°F).  

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Bring a halt to damaging activities -

The only land-based option to indefinitely sequester carbon is to bring to a halt peatland degrading activities such as agricultural conversion and drainage, and restoring the waterlogged conditions required for peat formation.

Sources: (IUCN) (International Peatland Society) (The Pew Charitable Trusts) (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands) (UNEA) (CBD)

See also: Facts about the environment that might surprise you

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