Transcript Peatlands

UN-FCCC Bonn meeting June 2009
Peatlands, carbon and climate change
[email protected]
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
What are peatlands?
Peat:
Organic matter accumulated over thousands of years, storing
concentrated carbon in thick layers
The peat bog is
rain water fed
Tropical peat swamp
forest
River
< 1m
Organic carbon
Mineral Soil
> 3m
Peat dome
River
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
Peatland e xtent by region
(global total: 381 Mha; source: PEAT CO2)
SE Asia
Russia
N America
S.E. Asia (6% )
C. America (1% )
N. America (35% )
Africa (1% )
S. Asia
C. Europe (1% )
W. Europe (1% )
S. America (2% )
E. Asia (2% )
N.W. Europe (5% )
C. Asia (1% )
Russia (43% )
Australia Pac.
S. Europe
Middle East
CO2 emissions from oxidation in drained peatlands
(fires excluded), by region
(global total: 887 Mt/y; source: PEAT-CO2)
Indonesia
Malaysia
Indonesia (58%)
Other SE Asia (13%)
C. America (8%)
N. America (5%)
Africa (4%)
S. Asia (4%)
C. Europe (4%)
W. Europe (3%)
S. America (3%)
E. Asia (3%)
N.W. Europe (2%)
C. Asia (1%)
Russia (1%)
Australia Pac.
S. Europe
Middle East
6%
of global
peat area
50-70% of global peat
emissions
< 0.1% of global
land area
5-8%
of global
CO2 emissions
Peatland issues
• Deforestation
• Degradation
– Drainage
– Fires
Tropical peat forest deforestation
100.00
99.00
98.00
97.00
96.00
95.00
Total forest decline
Peat forest decline
94.00
93.00
92.00
91.00
90.00
19
99
1
20 2
00
1
20 2
01
12
20
02
1
20 2
03
1
20 2
04
1
20 2
05
12
Area remaining since 1999 (%)
Relative total vs PSF area decline Insular SE Asia
Year
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
Preliminary results
presented at UNFCCC CoP
Nairobi, 07-11-2006
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
carbon store (t C ha-1)
2000
1500
1000
500
loss: > 130 tC/ha
0
0
10
20
30
40
years after conversion
50
Peat drainage increases the risk of fires
Tentative estimate of CO2 emissions from fires in Indonesia
C emission from peat fires
(CO2, Mt/y)
10000
8000
6000
Minimum estimate
(1.42 Gt/y average)
Maximum estimate
(4.32 Gt/y average)
4000
2000
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Adapted from data provided by Siegert and Page
2003
2004
2005
2006
• 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
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
Bio-rights
Rapid action needed
or 2020…?