What exactly is a peatland?

A peatland is a common type of natural-occurring environmental area. More specifically, it is a wetland composed of peat, which is partially decomposed plant material caused by the water-logged conditions of the area. When we refer to something as a “peatland,” we usually refer to the general area where peat is formed along with the wetland habitat that has developed in that area.

Peatlands are fairly common globally as they exist on every continent and “cover 4.23 million km^2, which corresponds to 2.84% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface” (3). An important fact to note about peatlands is that they store large amounts of carbon; in fact, they “store and sequester more carbon than any other type of terrestrial ecosystem” (3).

How exactly are peatlands related to environmental issues?

Peatlands, most of the time, are friendly towards the environment in several ways. When left untouched, peatlands provide several benefits such as a “net cooling effect on climate, [the reduction of] flood risk, and [the support of] biodiversity” (1). The reason why they provide a cooling effect is that the plants undergo photosynthesis and absorb harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but do not release carbon back into the atmosphere as they are prevented from being fully decomposed, effectively keeping the carbon stored inside the partially decayed plants. 

However, peatlands have also been a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, due to them being drained as a result of human exploitation. Annually, “Emissions from drained peatlands are estimated at 1.9 gigatonnes of CO2” and are “equivalent to 5% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions” (2). Additionally, the exploitation of peatlands results in water pollution and biodiversity loss; an example is the Bornean orang-utan population that has been marked as critically endangered after their peatland habitat had been deprived. 

What can countries do?

The International Union for Conservation of Nature suggests several ideas to preserve peatlands and prevent them from continuing to act as an environmental threat. First, they urge countries and governments to set clear goals for the protection of peatlands and include the protection of peatlands in their environment-protecting plans. Second, they recommend clear and conservation-friendly definitions of peatlands to be agreed upon across countries. Third, they state that “Public and private finance must be [mobilized] to secure peatlands and provide green jobs” (2). Finally, they call for peatland exploitation to come to a complete halt until the proper laws could be set in order to “ensure [that] peatlands are managed sustainably” (2).

Sources:

1. https://www.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Peatland%20factsheet.pdf

2. https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change

3. https://peatlands.org/peatlands/what-are-peatlands/