tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/peat-28144/articles
Peat – The Conversation
2024-02-07T12:03:07Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222562
2024-02-07T12:03:07Z
2024-02-07T12:03:07Z
UK peatlands are being destroyed to grow mushrooms, lettuce and houseplants – here’s how to stop it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573477/original/file-20240205-17-9w5rwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Peat is a natural carbon sink but is often found in house plants and other retail products, particularly within the food and farming industry. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-transplanting-houseplant-into-new-pot-2321168311">New Africa/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the long, solitary days of lockdown, I found solace in raising houseplants. Suddenly stuck at home, I had more time to perfect the watering routine of a fussy Swiss cheese plant, and lovingly train our devil’s ivy to delicately frame the bookcases. </p>
<p>But I started noticing that these plants, sourced online, often arrived in the post with a passport. Most had travelled from all over Europe, with one common tagline: contains peat.</p>
<p>As a peatland scientist, these labels instantly filled me with horror. <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/ban-sale-peat">Hidden Peat</a>, a new campaign launched by The Wildlife Trusts, is now highlighting the presence of peat in all sorts of consumer products, including house plants. </p>
<p>Peatlands, such as bogs and fens, store more carbon than all of the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/peatlands-and-climate-change">world’s forests combined</a>. They trap this carbon in the ground for centuries, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases that would further warm the climate. </p>
<p>Peatlands have <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/uknaturalcapitalforpeatlands/naturalcapitalaccounts">multiple environmental benefits</a>. They are havens for wildlife, providing habitat for wetland birds, insects and reptiles. They supply more than 70% of our drinking water and help protect our homes from flooding. </p>
<p>So why on earth is peat being ripped from these vital ecosystems and stuffed inside plant pots?</p>
<h2>From sink to source</h2>
<p>Despite their importance, peatlands have been systematically drained, farmed, dug up and sold over the last century. In the UK, only <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/649d6fe1bb13dc0012b2e349/lowland-agricultural-peat-task-force-chairs-report.pdf">1% of lowland peat</a> remains in its natural state. </p>
<p>Instead of acting as a carbon sink, it has become one of the <a href="https://oro.open.ac.uk/50635/">largest sources</a> of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK’s land use sector. When waterlogged peat soils are drained, microbes decompose the plant material within it and that results in the <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Peatland%20factsheet.pdf">release of greenhouse gases</a> such as methane into the air. </p>
<p>Most of the peat excavated, bagged up and sold in the UK is used as a growing medium for plants. Gardeners have become increasingly aware of this problem. Peat-free alternatives have been gaining popularity and major retailers have been phasing out peat-based bagged compost in recent years. </p>
<p>Indeed, the UK government announced they would ban sales of all peat-based compost <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sale-of-horticultural-peat-to-be-banned-in-move-to-protect-englands-precious-peatlands">by 2024</a>. But this legislation has not yet been written and it seems unlikely it will be enacted before the end of the current parliament. </p>
<p>Even if brought in to law, this ban would only stop the sales of peat-based bagged compost of the type you might pick up in the garden centre. Legislation for commercial growers is not expected until 2030 at the earliest. So the continued decimation of the UK’s peatlands could remain hidden in supply chains long after we stop spreading peat on our gardens. </p>
<h2>Hide and seek peat</h2>
<p>For consumers, it’s almost impossible to <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/devastating-using-peat-uk-horticulture#:%7E:text=In%202020%20alone%2C%20nearly%20900%2C000%20cubic%20metres%20of%20peat%20were%20extracted%20from%20UK%20soils%2C%20with%20a%20further%201.4%20million%20cubic%20metres%20of%20peat%20imported%20from%20Ireland%20and%20the%20rest%20of%20Europe">identify products</a> that contain peat or use peat in their production. All large-scale commercial mushroom farming involves peat and it is used for growing most leafy salads. It gives that characteristic peaty aroma to whisky, and, as I found out, is a popular growing medium for potted plants. </p>
<p>But you’d struggle to find a peat-free lettuce in the supermarket. The Hidden Peat campaign asks consumers to call for clear labelling that would enable shoppers to more easily identify peat-containing products. Shoppers are also encouraged to demand transparency from retailers on their commitment to removing peat from their supply chains. </p>
<p>You can ask your local supermarket about how they plan to phase out peat from their produce. Some supermarkets are actively investing in new technologies for <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2326773-uk-mushroom-growing-uses-100000-m%25c2%25b3-of-peat-a-year-can-we-do-better/">peat-free mushroom farming</a>. </p>
<p>Make informed purchases by checking the labels on garden centre potted plants or source plants from peat-free nurseries. The Royal Horticultural Society lists more than 70 UK nurseries dedicated to <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/peat/peat-free-nurseries">peat-free growing</a>. </p>
<p>You can write to your MP to support a ban on peat extraction and, crucially, the sale of peat and peat-containing products in the UK. That ensures that peat wouldn’t just get imported from other European countries. </p>
<h2>Pilots and progress</h2>
<p>The UK government recently announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lowland-agricultural-peat-water-for-peat-pilots/lowland-agricultural-peat-water-for-peat-pilots">£3.1m funding</a> for pilot projects to rewet and preserve lowland peat, with peat restoration seen as a cornerstone of net zero ambitions. This campaign calls for further acceleration of peatland restoration across the UK. </p>
<p>As a research of the science behind <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fin-ring-hrubesh-peatland-restoration">peatland restoration</a>, I see firsthand the enormous effort involved in this: the installation of dams to block old agricultural drainage ditches, the delicate management of water levels and painstaking monitoring of the peat wetness.</p>
<p>I spend a lot of time taking samples, monitoring the progress, feeding results back to the land managers. Like many other conservationists, I work hard to find ways to preserve these critical habitats. </p>
<p>But sometimes, there may be a digger in the adjacent field doing more damage in a day than we could undo in a lifetime. That’s the reality, and the insanity, of the UK’s current peatland policies. </p>
<p>We heavily invest in restoring peatlands, yet fail to ban its extraction – the one action that would have the most dramatic impact. By demanding that peat is not only eradicated from garden compost, but weeded out of our supply chains, we can keep peat in the ground, not in pots.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey Bryce works with the Somerset Wildlife Trust to monitor peat restoration, funded by the University of Bristol department for alumni relations. </span></em></p>
Hidden Peat, a new campaign from The Wildlife Trusts, encourages people to look out for peat-free alternatives and support their wider use.
Casey Bryce, Senior Lecturer, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219841
2024-02-05T20:18:02Z
2024-02-05T20:18:02Z
Ecosystem restoration in the Scottish Highlands isn’t going to plan – here’s why
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565447/original/file-20231213-21-1pksp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4031%2C3024&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lydia Cole</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peatlands store twice as much carbon as <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/peatlands-store-twice-much-carbon-all-worlds-forests">all the world’s forests</a>. Scotland is endowed with vast areas of these wetland ecosystems. An estimated 20% of the Scottish landscape is covered in peat soils, but <a href="https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/land-and-sea-management/carbon-management/restoring-scotlands-peatlands">80% of these are degraded</a> and instead release stored carbon into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>The Scottish government estimates that the carbon stored in its peatlands is equivalent to 120 years’ worth of <a href="https://soils.environment.gov.scot/resources/peatland-restoration/">the country’s emissions</a>. Keeping it locked away is essential for moderating the climate crisis.</p>
<p>The Scottish government has <a href="https://www.gov.scot/news/funding-to-restore-scotlands-iconic-peatlands/">pledged to spend £250 million</a> between 2020 and 2030 to restore 25,000 hectares of peatland a year. This funding pays for Peatland Action, Scottish Water and other bodies to block drains, install small dams and other interventions that <a href="https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-technical-compendium">prevent</a> these wetlands from drying out.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up image of sphagnum moss on a peatland in the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570606/original/file-20240122-25-v4jgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sphagnum moss (‘the bog-builder’) stores and slows moving water, forming large blankets in peatland on the west coast of Scotland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lydia Cole</span></span>
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<p>But <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/gbp250-million-funding-package-spend-for-peatland-restoration-eir-release/">fewer than 6,000 hectares</a> of peatland were restored each year in 2021 and 2022 – far below the annual target. One manager at NatureScot, the government agency responsible for the environment, described the shortfall as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/19/reforesting-scotland-private-funding-land-reform">“national emergency”</a> caused primarily by a “funding gap”. This is despite the government’s pledged budget <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/gbp250-million-funding-package-spend-for-peatland-restoration-eir-release/">not yet</a> having been used up. </p>
<p>He argued that for Scotland to meet its net-zero commitments, there must be large injections of private finance into peatland restoration. Research we conducted with people who have managed peatlands for centuries tells a different story.</p>
<h2>Crofters and carbon markets</h2>
<p>The selling of carbon credits is supposed to direct private investment into peatland restoration. These are awarded based on the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions “avoided” as a result of restoring a peatland to health. With these credits, the buyer, whether a company or individual, can claim to have <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/voluntary-carbon-markets-and-offsetting/">offset</a> their own carbon footprint.</p>
<p>To verify that the process has actually avoided emissions, restoration projects can be accredited through the <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/peatland-code-0">Peatland Code</a>, a UK-backed scheme managed by the IUCN (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature).</p>
<p>Accreditation allows landowners to sell carbon credits on the <a href="https://mer.markit.com/br-reg/public/index.jsp?entity=project&sort=&dir=ASC&start=0&acronym=WCC&limit=15&additionalCertificationId=&categoryId=100000000000001&name=&standardId=100000000000042">UK land carbon registry</a>. While <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/05/headway/scotland-peatlands-climate-change.html">some Scottish landowners</a> have benefited from this peatland carbon market (recent reports show it has caused a <a href="https://www.landcommission.gov.scot/downloads/645cda7a2ba61_Rural%20Land%20Markets%20Insights%202023.pdf">spike in the price</a> of estates containing degraded peatlands), the people who have traditionally depended most on peatland have so far seen no benefit: crofters.</p>
<p>Nearly one-third of Scotland’s peatlands are <a href="https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/65168029/PS_Common_Grazings_February_2023_1_.pdf">held in crofting tenure</a>. Crofts, unique to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, are tenancies that include a right to graze and extract peat (as fuel) on areas of common land which amount to <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-development-plan-crofting/pages/5/">550,000 hectares</a> nationwide. These rights are protected by laws dating from <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/49-50/29/contents">1886</a>, are administered by the <a href="http://www.scottish-land-court.org.uk">Scottish Land Court</a> and managed <a href="https://crofting.scotland.gov.uk">by elected committees</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cut and drying peat on a peatland in the Isle of Lewis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570608/original/file-20240122-15-81cqdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Crofters still cut bricks of peat by hand. Committees oversee the condition of peat banks in crofting townships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lydia Cole</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our <a href="https://peatland-restoration-guide.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/about/">research team</a> travelled to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides (an island chain off the Scottish west coast) in early 2023 to interview crofters and landowners. We found that confusion over the rights, responsibilities and benefits of selling carbon credits is slowing down restoration, not a lack of funding.</p>
<h2>‘Pots of gold’</h2>
<p>The Outer Hebrides has the <a href="https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/output/1358036/reshaping-health-services-and-fuel-poverty-in-the-outer-hebrides">lowest average income</a> in the UK and the highest rate of fuel poverty in Scotland. For crofters here, the prospect of monetary compensation for restoring peatlands (where 70% of the land is <a href="https://www.nature.scot/doc/landscape-character-assessment-outer-hebrides-landscape-evolution-and-influences">classified as peatland soil</a>) is appealing. The cost-of-living crisis has led many back to cutting peat for fuel.</p>
<p>Some of the people we interviewed reported carbon brokers unaffiliated with the Peatland Code visiting crofting communities and promising “pots of gold” for crofters that agreed to restore peatlands and generate carbon credits. While these brokers made out the process was simple (“restore peatlands, sell the credits to us”) the reality is more complicated.</p>
<p>The financial benefits of restoration are largely overstated. There is a reason rural estates with the most degraded peatland attracted the <a href="https://www.landcommission.gov.scot/downloads/645cda7a2ba61_Rural%20Land%20Markets%20Insights%202023.pdf">highest prices in 2022 and 2023</a>: the more degraded the peatland is, the more carbon credits that can be generated from its restoration. </p>
<p>While this incentive structure targets the most degraded (and highest-emitting) areas of peatland first, it neglects many crofters who have maintained large areas of peatland in a relatively healthy condition for a long time. Where some crofters were told their peatlands were worth hundreds of thousands of pounds by carbon brokers, the reality for some areas was closer to £9,000 – and that paid over a 70-year contract period.</p>
<h2>Muddy legal waters</h2>
<p>These (smaller) “pots of gold” are difficult for crofters to access due to legal complications. Some of our interviewees worried that selling carbon credits was equivalent to “selling their rights” to access lands and resources held in common.</p>
<p>Part of the Peatland Code’s assurance when carbon credits reach the market is that the emission reduction is “permanent”. In other words, they guarantee to buyers that the peatland will remain in a restored state over the contracted timescale, which can last up to 100 years. </p>
<p>For crofters, this may entail limiting their rights to graze and cut peat over multiple generations. Areas of common land may need to be <a href="https://www.crofting.scotland.gov.uk/resumption">taken out of crofting tenure</a> to be eligible for Peatland Code accreditation. This would involve a long legal process, if it is even <a href="https://www.gillespiemacandrew.co.uk/news-insights/2022/natural-capital-and-existing-leases/%22%22">feasible</a>.</p>
<p>Our research with Lewisian crofters has shown that unresolved questions regarding profitability and legal complications have created a stalemate. Crofters are hesitant to commit to restoring peatlands through public funding, fearing they might miss out on financial returns if they do not engage with the carbon market. Yet doing so entails unique risks for crofting communities.</p>
<p>We’ve tried to fill the gap by publishing a <a href="https://peatland-restoration-guide.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk">peatland restoration guide</a> (available in Gàidhlig and English) for crofting communities. Further advice and legal guidance for crofters – from the Peatland Code, Scottish government and the Scottish Land Court – is urgently needed to break the deadlock.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ewan Gordon Jenkins received funding from STAIRS, the St Andrews Interdisciplinary Research Support fund.
This article was drafted in collaboration with Dr. Cornelia Helmcke (<a href="https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/persons/cornelia-helmcke">https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/persons/cornelia-helmcke</a>) and Dr. Lydia Cole (<a href="https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/geography-sustainable-development/people/lesc1">https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/geography-sustainable-development/people/lesc1</a>) who were both co-leads on the research team.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cornelia Helmcke and Lydia Cole do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Crofters who have managed the land for centuries are being offered dubious rewards to risk their rights.
Ewan Gordon Jenkins, PhD in Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews
Cornelia Helmcke, Research Fellow, Political Ecology, University of St Andrews
Lydia Cole, Lecturer, Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221243
2024-01-22T18:12:43Z
2024-01-22T18:12:43Z
Despite the climate crisis, Scotland is burning as much carbon-rich peatland as it did in the 1980s
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570602/original/file-20240122-16-9614j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4493%2C2485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gamekeeper-burns-heather-on-british-moors-1273656262">Joe H Taylor/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hillsides splashed with purple heather are a symbol of Scotland and its natural beauty. But these picturesque moorlands are actually maintained by people – a practice that is coming under intense scrutiny as the climate crisis escalates. </p>
<p>Scotland’s moorlands are deliberately burned from October to mid-April in a practice known as <a href="https://www.nature.scot/muirburn-code">“muirburn”</a>, which encourages new grass and heather that feeds grouse and livestock. This arrangement suits landowners who shoot these game birds and farmers who graze sheep, but it poses a problem when it happens on peatland.</p>
<p>A healthy peatland is a soggy and spongy terrain made up of partially decomposed plant matter known as peat. Peat soils lock away vast amounts of carbon. In fact, peatlands globally store <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands">twice as much carbon</a> as the world’s forests. Peat soils damaged by fire <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2325">release this carbon</a>, warming the climate. Fire damage can also mean the peat retains less water, and so rain washes more quickly into rivers which <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014WR016782">increases flooding</a> downstream.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A small waterfall surrounded by moorland vegetation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570601/original/file-20240122-25-7obsg9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damaged peatlands are less able to retain water, exacerbating flooding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-waterfall-froth-maich-water-mistylaw-2407474299">Ian Woolner/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Scotland contains <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/resources/commission-inquiry">7% of Europe’s peatlands</a> and their sustainable management is of global importance. In order to address climate change in Scotland, we need to know how much muirburn is happening, and how much of it is happening on peatland,</p>
<p>We made the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2688-8319.12296">first assessment</a> of burning on Scottish moorlands over the past 38 years using images from Nasa’s Landsat satellites. These satellites have been snapping pictures of our entire planet every few days since the 1980s. Fires leave behind a burn scar that is visible in these images. Through careful analysis, we can map the areas burned and track changes in burning over time. </p>
<p>We found that the area of moorland being burned increased between 1985 and 2022 – but not by much. Our analysis suggests that there is about as much burning happening now as there was nearly four decades ago.</p>
<h2>Up in smoke</h2>
<p>We used <a href="https://soils.environment.gov.scot/maps/thematic-maps/carbon-and-peatland-2016-map/">a dataset</a> that maps out peatlands with the deepest peat soils – at least 50cm deep. These are the peatlands that store the greatest amount of carbon. We overlaid this peatland map on our new muirburn map. </p>
<p>We discovered that the burning of Scottish peatlands is widespread. Almost one-third of all moorland burning in Scotland occurs on peatlands. On average, 1,900 hectares of peatland are burned each year. </p>
<p>Scottish peatlands store a gigantic <a href="https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-case-study-whats-connection-between-peat-and-carbon-storage">1.7 billion tonnes of carbon</a>, equivalent to 140 years of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting this carbon store is critical – its widespread and intentional burning is alarming. </p>
<p>Moorland burning in Scotland is subject to <a href="https://www.nature.scot/doc/guidance-muirburn-code">a set of rules</a> known as <a href="https://www.nature.scot/muirburn-code">the Muirburn Code</a>, which offers guidance and sets out the relevant statutory restrictions. In 2017, this code was <a href="https://scotlandsnature.blog/2018/03/07/muirburn-code/#:%7E:text=The%20Code%20was%20revised%20by,reducing%20the%20risk%20of%20wildfire.">revised</a> to suggest burning on peatlands should be avoided. </p>
<p>The amount of burning that has happened on peatlands hasn’t changed since then. Many landowners and land managers continue to burn in defiance of these voluntary guidelines.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hunter in a stone-laid gun butt shoots a gun surrounded by moorland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570603/original/file-20240122-21-gye6lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Moorlands maintained for grouse shooting are frequently burned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gun-butts-on-grouse-moor-1346281361">Nigel Housden/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The case for new laws</h2>
<p>In November 2023, the Scottish parliament <a href="https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/votes-and-motions/S6M-11496">agreed</a> to the general principles of the <a href="https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/wildlife-management-and-muirburn-scotland-bill">Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) bill</a>, which would require licenses for people to burn moorland and restrict burning on peatland. MSPs are proposing <a href="https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/wildlife-management-and-muirburn-scotland-bill/stage-2">amendments</a> to the bill which could strengthen or weaken its ability to regulate future burning, so this is a crucial stage of the process. </p>
<p>One argument often made in favour of muirburn on peatland is that burning vegetation in a controlled manner reduces the risk of wildfires. But a major reason that peatlands are susceptible to wildfire in the first place is that they have been drained and in some cases overgrazed by livestock, creating dry and flammable peat.</p>
<p>An alternative way to reduce the risk of wildfires is to restore peatlands by blocking ditches and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0477-5">rewetting the peat</a>. Wet peat is less likely to burn and heather does not grow well on it, so there is less fuel.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/peat-bogs-restoring-them-could-slow-climate-change-and-revive-a-forgotten-world-139182">Peat bogs: restoring them could slow climate change – and revive a forgotten world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/securing-green-recovery-path-net-zero-update-climate-change-plan-20182032/pages/12/">Scottish government’s climate change plan</a> aims to restore at least 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030. This would make sound financial sense. It has been estimated that restoring one-fifth of Scotland’s peatlands would aid carbon storage, water quality and wildlife habitat to the tune of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21606544.2018.1434562">£80 to £288 million</a>.</p>
<p>Satellite images have shown that landowners continue to burn Scottish peatlands even as the climate consequences become ever more stark. In the future, satellites will monitor whether any restrictions imposed by the new bill have been successful.</p>
<p>For now, our evidence should inform the debate on peatland burning within the Scottish parliament. It highlights the scale of the issue and demonstrates that voluntary guidelines to control burning are not working. We urge Scottish lawmakers to develop robust legislation to prevent further damage.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominick Spracklen receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (DECAF project, grant agreement no. 771492).</span></em></p>
Nearly a third of all moorland burning in Scotland occurs on peat soil – a vital carbon sink.
Dominick Spracklen, Professor of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217582
2024-01-21T08:55:58Z
2024-01-21T08:55:58Z
Congo’s blackwater Ruki River is a major transporter of forest carbon - new study
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559590/original/file-20231115-29-kv00ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C3888%2C2892&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">River Ruki. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Matti Barthel</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Congo Basin of central Africa is well known for its network of rivers that drain a variety of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Congo-Basin">landscapes</a>, from dense tropical forests to more arid and wooded savannas. Among the Congo River’s large tributaries, the Ruki is unique in its extremely <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/why-the-ruki-may-be-the-worlds-darkest-river-71206">dark colour</a>, which renders the water opaque below a few centimetres’ depth. </p>
<p>This large blackwater river caught the attention of our carbon biogeochemistry research team when we visited its confluence with the Congo River at the city of Mbandaka. Mbandaka is a small city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, located about 600km upstream from Kinshasa on the Congo River. The area around Mbandaka is known as the Cuvette Centrale and is characterised by its vast low-lying topography, much of which floods during the rainy season and results in extensive swamp forests.</p>
<p>As we watched the placid dark water of the Ruki flow by, we wondered just how much carbon this river was transporting and where it came from. To answer these questions, we decided to measure the carbon in the Ruki for one year to account for seasonal changes. </p>
<p>The results of this <a href="https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lno.12436">study</a> show that the Ruki is a major contributor of dissolved carbon to the Congo River, and that the majority of this carbon is sourced from the leaching of forest vegetation and soils. These results also suggest that the way in which calculations are made about how much carbon tropical forests accumulate might be off the mark – perhaps slightly overestimated.</p>
<p>These findings are important because rivers are major conduits of carbon from land to ocean and atmosphere, supplying organic matter to downstream ecosystems and carbon dioxide to the air. It is important to quantify how much carbon they are moving, where it is coming from, and where it ends up. Such accounting helps scientists understand how different ecosystems function, what role they play in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle">carbon cycle</a>, and how they might respond to future or ongoing human perturbations such as climate or land-use change.</p>
<h2>The heart of the forest</h2>
<p>The Ruki River lies at the centre of the Congo Basin. It drains a uniquely homogeneous 188,800km² of pristine lowland and swamp forests. Since climate, vegetation, soils, geology and the concentration of human impacts vary widely across Earth’s surface, it’s uncommon for a watershed of this size to have such uniform land cover. There are likely no other such uniform watersheds of this size on earth.</p>
<p>This means we had an opportunity to pinpoint how a specific land cover influences the quantity and composition of organic material leached from decomposing plants and soils and carried by rainwater to river channels. Knowing this, we can “unmix” the signals measured in the Congo River and better ascertain the differences in carbon export between the many tributaries and land covers of the basin.</p>
<p>We <a href="https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lno.12436">found</a> that Ruki supplies 20% of the dissolved carbon in the Congo River though it makes up only 5% of the Congo’s watershed by area. This contribution is so high because the Ruki’s water is extremely concentrated in dissolved organic matter. In fact, it is significantly richer in dissolved carbon than even the Amazon’s Rio Negro (“Black River”), which is famous for its black colour also stemming from <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hyp.1291">high concentration of organics</a>. </p>
<p>Water with very high concentrations of organic matter signals neither a good nor bad thing. It just means lots of carbon is contained in the water.</p>
<p>Because the Ruki watershed is so flat, rainwater drains slowly and has plenty of time to leach organic material from its dense vegetation. It’s like leaving multiple bags of tea to steep in water over a long period of time. </p>
<p>One of the reasons we wanted to know where these organic compounds were originating from is that large areas of the Ruki are underlain by enormous tracts of peat-like soils. These organic-rich soils have accumulated over hundreds to thousands of years from the buildup of partially decomposed plant matter. </p>
<p>If this peat was being leached or eroded into the river, through some form of disturbance, it could be <a href="https://peatlands.org/peatlands/peatlands-and-climate/">released</a> as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and compound the greenhouse effect, much like the unearthing and combustion of fossil fuels. </p>
<p>Our radiocarbon isotopic measurements of the dissolved carbon indicate that there is very little peat carbon entering the river (none of it is very old), and that the dissolved carbon is sourced instead from forest vegetation and recently formed soil.</p>
<p>This is good news for now, but it’s something to keep an eye on if periods of drought or human activity disturb these carbon-rich peat soils. </p>
<h2>Balancing the forest sink</h2>
<p>Why does it matter if the Ruki transports a large amount of carbon?</p>
<p>One answer is that the carbon lost from terrestrial ecosystems to rivers can determine whether forests are taking up more carbon from the atmosphere (sinks) than releasing it (source) to the atmosphere. Most assessments of the balance (carbon coming in versus carbon going out of a forest) fail to account for the carbon that moves laterally to rivers. </p>
<p>In the case of the Ruki, the high amount of carbon that is contained in the river per unit area of the watershed suggests that this lateral movement of carbon from the Congo’s lowland forests comprises a significant proportion of the carbon balance, that is, the difference between what is coming in from photosynthesis and what is returned via respiration. </p>
<p>Thus, tropical forests like those around the Ruki might not accumulate quite as much carbon as we once thought. Further research is required to pin down whether this is the case. But our work on the Ruki already indicates that areas drained by such blackwater rivers may be particularly prone to carbon accounting errors like this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Travis Drake received funding from the Swiss National Science Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johan Six received funding from Swiss National Science Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matti Barthel receives funding from Swiss National Science Fund.</span></em></p>
The Ruki River supplies dissolved carbon from forest vegetation and soils to the Congo River.
Travis Drake, Postdoctoral Researcher, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Johan Six, Professor of Sustainable Agrosystems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Matti Barthel, Research Technician, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209666
2023-07-18T12:29:03Z
2023-07-18T12:29:03Z
‘Zombie fires’ in the Arctic: Canada’s extreme wildfire season offers a glimpse of new risks in a warmer, drier future
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537392/original/file-20230713-27-vbtite.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C13%2C4230%2C2479&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thick smoke rises from a peat bog fire in June 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/june-2023-mecklenburg-western-pomerania-g%C3%B6ldenitz-heavy-news-photo/1258500964">Bernd Wüstneck/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The blanket of wildfire smoke that spread across large parts of the U.S. and Canada in 2023 was a wake-up call, showing what climate change could feel like in the near future for millions of people. Apocalyptic orange skies and air pollution levels that <a href="https://theconversation.com/wildfire-smoke-can-harm-human-health-even-when-the-fire-is-burning-hundreds-of-miles-away-a-toxicologist-explains-why-206057">force people indoors</a> only tell part of the story, though. </p>
<p>As global temperatures rise, fires are also spreading farther north and into the Arctic. These fires aren’t just burning in trees and grasses. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768">New research</a> on the exceptional Arctic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/climate/siberia-fires-climate-change.html">fire seasons</a> of 2019 and 2020 points to fires moving into the ground as well.</p>
<p>These underground fires are known as “zombie fires,” and there are a number of reasons to worry about the trend.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A volunteer with no mask or protective gear holds a fire hose as he fights an underground fire in a peat bog. The open bog is behind him, rimmed by forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537393/original/file-20230713-19-xbzaqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer fights ‘zombie’ peat fires in Siberia in 2020, a year when an estimated 100,000 square miles of forest, grassland and peatland burned, according to an International Association of Wildland Fire analysis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/local-activist-extinguishes-a-peat-fire-in-a-suzunsky-news-photo/1228677175">Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, as the organic-rich Arctic soils dry up because of changing climate conditions, they can burn slowly and release vast amounts of smoke into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Second, soil fires that spread underground are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfires-peat-challenge-alberta-firefighters-1.6850347">harder for firefighters to tame and extinguish</a>, thus demanding more resources for longer periods of time. Firefighters in Alberta, Canada, where carbon-rich peatlands are common, have been dealing with fires smoldering to depths dozens of feet underground in 2023. Because peat fires <a href="https://srd.web.alberta.ca/edson-area-update">can make the ground unstable</a>, using heavy equipment to excavate the fire areas also becomes risky.</p>
<p>Finally, these soil fires <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/zombie-fires-in-the-arctic-are-linked-to-climate-change">don’t die easily</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03437-y">Recent research</a> finds that Arctic soil fires can smolder through the winter and reignite during early spring when temperatures rise, hence the nickname “zombie fires.”</p>
<h2>The Arctic is increasingly flammable</h2>
<p>Wildfires have been a natural part of northern forest and tundra ecosystems for thousand of years. However, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768">severity, frequency and types</a> of wildfires in northern and Arctic regions have changed in recent decades.</p>
<p>One major culprit is the rising temperature: The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, a phenomenon known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00498-3">Arctic amplification</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Na58YnwLz2s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A visualization of temperature changes compared with the 1951-1980 average shows the Arctic warming significantly faster than much of the world.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While governing bodies that are working to curtail the pace of climate change worry about exceeding a 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7-degree Fahrenheit) threshold globally, the Arctic has already exceeded a 2 C (3.6 F) increase compared with pre-industrial times. That rise in temperature brings with it a number of changes to the environment that make the forest and tundra more susceptible to burning, for longer, and in more extensive ways than just a few decades ago.</p>
<p>Among the changing conditions that favor wildfires are changes in atmospheric circulation that create periods of extreme heat, dry out vegetation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768">reduce moisture in soils</a>, and, importantly, lead to more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6311">frequent lightning strikes</a> that can spark blazes.</p>
<p>Although lightning remains infrequent at very high latitudes, it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6311">expected to increase</a> and expand over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768">larger territories into the far north</a> as the climate warms and generates more storms that can produce lightning. In 2022, <a href="https://theconversation.com/alaska-on-fire-thousands-of-lightning-strikes-and-a-warming-climate-put-alaska-on-pace-for-another-historic-fire-season-186453">thousands of lightning strikes</a> help sparked one of Alaska’s worst fire seasons on record.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map shows Siberia is largely peatland, as are large parts of Canada." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537155/original/file-20230712-26-87x7vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map shows peatlands and peat-heavy soils around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/37571;jsessionid=CA7F7C05707AD8CDDD0D10E957C4A38B">United Nations Environment Programme</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the Arctic warms and fires move farther northward, peat soils rich in dead plant material <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-studies-how-arctic-wildfires-change-the-world">burn at an accelerated rate</a>. </p>
<p>The burning peat also removes the layer insulating permafrost, the region’s frozen carbon-rich soil. Northern ecosystems store <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CLIMATE-CHANGE/WILDFIRE-EMISSIONS/zjvqkrwmnvx/index.html">twice as much carbon</a> in their peat and permafrost as the atmosphere, and both are increasingly vulnerable to fire.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn9768">70% of recorded area of Arctic peat</a> affected by burning over the past 40 years occurred in the last eight years, and 30% of it was in 2020 alone, showing the acceleration. </p>
<h2>What is a zombie fire?</h2>
<p>Most people picture wildfires as catastrophic flames consuming trees and grasses. Ground fires, on the other hand, do not flame but burn more slowly and have the tendency to spread deep into the ground and spread laterally. </p>
<p>The result is that ground-smoldering fires are not only less visible, but they are also less accessible and require <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildfires-peat-challenge-alberta-firefighters-1.6850347">digging up and dousing</a> with lots of water. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people point aim a hose at smoldering peat in an area surrounded by trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537394/original/file-20230713-16392-weoeqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fighting peat fires is difficult and dangerous. Peat fires can destabilize the ground, making it hard to bring in machinery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/greenpeace-and-local-activists-extinguish-a-peat-fire-in-a-news-photo/1228677050">Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These smoldering fires also produce more smoke because of their lower temperature of combustion. Ultra-fine particles in smoke are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21708-0">particularly harmful</a> to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and can be carried far and wide by winds.</p>
<p>Because of the slow combustion process and the abundance of fuel in the form of carbon and oxygen, smoldering ground fires can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100296">burn for months and sometimes years</a>. They have been shown to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03437-y">overwinter</a>,” persisting through the cold season to reemerge in the warm, dry season. During the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02568-y">2019-2020 fire season in Siberia</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/climate/climate-change-zombie-forest-fires.html">zombie fires</a> were blamed for rekindling fires the following year.</p>
<p>Some of these ground fires can become so massive that they release smoke plumes that cover vast geographical regions. In 1997, peat fires in Indonesia sent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-022-00872-w">dangerous levels of smoke</a> across Southeast Asia and parts of Australia and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01131">increased carbon emissions</a>. They were ignited by slash-and-burn activities to plant palm plantations and amplified by drought conditions during a severe El Niño event.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large area of pollution shows in colors covering much of the Indian Ocean, including touch India, covering Indonesia and reaching Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537154/original/file-20230712-23-12el1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A satellite captured the extent of smoke (white) over Indonesia and the Indian Ocean on Oct. 22, 1997. Green, yellow and red reflect increasing amounts of ozone, or smog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/1260/nasa-satellite-tracks-hazardous-smoke-and-smog-partnership">NASA GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Some hope and caution from past lessons</h2>
<p>I have been studying the effects of <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.6b02132">wildfires on air</a> and <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014gl062762">water</a>, including in the Arctic, for many years. My work and that of many colleagues, however, focus on the combustion of above-ground biomass. More work is needed to understand the full extent of zombie fires in the Arctic and their potential for carbon and smoke emissions on a large scale. One recent study conducted at a handful of Canadian sites offered some hope, suggesting underground fires there <a href="https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-17450.html">were burning more in tree roots</a> than in soil, suggesting potentially lower carbon emissions in some areas.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the continuing waves of wildfire haze in Canada and the U.S. are a reminder of the impact of these fires. </p>
<p>More regions will need help from trained firefighters, meaning sharing firefighting resources. Canada has seen an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/07/canada-wildfires-summer-weather-temps">unprecedented level of international fire support</a> in 2023. Best practices for safely fighting zombie fires are also needed, along with better public education about the health risks of wildfire smoke.</p>
<p>As a society, we are learning to live with some of the effects of climate change, but the risks are rising around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Louchouarn receives funding from NASA-USDA (Carbon Cycle Science Program); Welch Foundation (student support); NSF-REU</span></em></p>
Large stretches of the Arctic are carbon-rich peat bogs. As the region warms and dries, lightning strikes can spark underground fires that can burn for years.
Patrick Louchouarn, Professor of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208345
2023-07-16T11:56:56Z
2023-07-16T11:56:56Z
Pollution timebombs: Contaminated wetlands are ticking towards ignition
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534433/original/file-20230627-29982-kxs94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=820%2C20%2C3780%2C1669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A flaming peatland fire in Alberta, Canada.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wetlands across the globe have long served as natural repositories for humanity’s toxic legacy, absorbing and retaining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.03.004">hundreds to thousands of years’ worth of pollution</a>. </p>
<p>These swampy vaults have quietly been trapping air and water pollution for thousands of years, protecting the world from some of the worst effects of lead, mercury, copper, nickel and other poisonous materials. </p>
<p>Now, however, a combination of human disruptions and ever increasing wildfires threaten to open these vaults, unleashing their long dormant toxic contents upon the world. </p>
<h2>Threats to releasing toxic legacies</h2>
<p>The soil in many wetlands is composed of dead and decaying vegetation known as peat. Peat accumulates because perpetually sopping wetland conditions prevent the complete decomposition of dead vegetation. As these deposits accumulate, they form peatlands. </p>
<p>For centuries, peat has been drained, dried and extracted for heating fuel where wood is scarce. Though humans have long burned bricks of peat in their homes, climate change and wetland draining are drying entire wetlands, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01657-w">transforming them into perfect fuel for huge smoky wildfires</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Stacks of dried peat logs to be used for warmth and cooking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peat logs have long been used for warmth and cooking in communities across the globe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Colin McCarter)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Centuries of fallout from industrial processes such as smelting has deposited toxic metals in wetlands hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from their point of origin. Human and industrial wastewater has, in places, added to this burden. </p>
<p>Wetlands have absorbed and stored these contaminants, holding them back from vulnerable aquatic ecosystems and saving humans from ingesting them. </p>
<p>Peat has a tremendous ability to capture and retain toxic metals by binding the metals to the peat itself through a process called adsorption. Once bound, the toxic metals are immobilized and pose little threat to the surrounding environment unless the peatland is disturbed, like from a wildfire.</p>
<h2>Wetlands and fire</h2>
<p>Human activities such as road building and resource extraction have seriously disrupted wetland ecosystems, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa136">leaving drained wetlands vulnerable to fire</a>, as Canadians saw in the catastrophic Fort McMurray, Alta., wildfire of 2016.</p>
<p>As climate change and human actions further degrade wetlands, the resulting wildfires threaten to return humanity’s toxic legacy. This cycle carries frightening implications for the health of people and the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Copious amounts of smoke produced from a smouldering peat fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire burns away the peat as the resulting smoke is carried on the breeze.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, Indonesia recorded about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/world/asia/indonesia-haze-smog-health.html">35,000 excess deaths after a major peatland fire</a>. Meanwhile, Canada and the United States are far from immune from exposure to peat fire smoke. In early June 2023, cities as far away as Washington, D.C., and New York were blanketed in thick smoke from peat fires in northern Canada, which is home to many of the world’s peatlands.</p>
<p>At the same time, climate change is accelerating the drying of peatlands everywhere, turning their huge stores of carbon into a carbon burden. Furthermore, as concentrated pollutants build up in wetlands, the accumulation of toxic metals is killing plants that act as their natural lid, allowing moisture to escape and speeding the conversion of more wetlands to tinderboxes. </p>
<p>Once ignited, peatland fires are difficult to contain as they can smoulder for weeks, months or even years. They produce copious amounts of smoke and ash, filling the air with microscopic particles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A smoke filled peatland forest from smouldering fires lurking just below the surface." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peatland fires can smoulder underground for months re-emerging under the right conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even without metal pollution, these airborne particles can cause severe illness and death. Making a bad situation worse, toxic metals once safely stored in wetlands bind to these airborne particles and spread everywhere.</p>
<h2>Restoring wetlands</h2>
<p>As with many global environmental issues, it is easy to feel helpless to control such a huge and complex problem. Fortunately, nature-based solutions can have a substantial positive impact on keeping this toxic legacy from being released. </p>
<p>We can restore drying or dried-out wetlands back to their original state as functional ecosystems through, at the most basic level, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126793">preventing them from draining down canals and other human infrastructure</a>. Indeed, even without further intervention, re-wetting wetlands can reduce their risk of wildfire ignition. However, restoration must be managed carefully, to avoid flushing toxic metals from wetlands into neighbouring streams, rivers and lakes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/up-in-smoke-human-activities-are-fuelling-wildfires-that-burn-essential-carbon-sequestering-peatlands-202816">Up in smoke: Human activities are fuelling wildfires that burn essential carbon-sequestering peatlands</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To preserve wetland plants and return ecosystem functionality without releasing the stored toxic legacy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126793">we need to bring back fire-resistant mosses such as <em>Sphagnum</em></a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106874">Recent research shows that old-fashioned peat “transplants” may be effective</a>, though new restoration techniques in contaminated wetlands need to be further developed and tested. </p>
<p>Although ecosystem restoration can be costly in terms of time and money, actively restoring wetlands appears to be our best chance to defuse the ticking time-bomb that our pollution vaults have become. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acddfc">Preventing a pollution explosion demands urgent global research, investment and action</a>. The cost of doing nothing will certainly be much greater.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin McCarter receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Nipissing University, and the Canada Research Chair program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Waddington receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Blazing Star Environmental, McMaster University, Ganawenim Meshkiki, and Henvey Inlet Wind LP.</span></em></p>
Peatlands safely store hundreds to thousands of years’ worth of humanity’s toxic legacy but climate change and physical disturbances are putting these pollution vaults, and us, at risk.
Colin McCarter, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts and Science, Nipissing University
Mike Waddington, Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202816
2023-04-20T16:39:40Z
2023-04-20T16:39:40Z
Up in smoke: Human activities are fuelling wildfires that burn essential carbon-sequestering peatlands
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518523/original/file-20230330-130-461u7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=175%2C117%2C4661%2C3136&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Smouldering fire in a drained peatland near Fort McMurray, Alta. produces smoke from underground. These ecosystems are affected by rising temperatures, drought, wildfire and various human actions including drainage.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leyland Cecco)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For centuries, society has scorned bogs, fens and swamps — collectively known as peatlands — <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/peatlands-and-climate-change#:%7E:text=">treating them as wastelands</a> available to be drained and developed without realizing they’re important buffers against climate-changing carbon emissions.</p>
<p>It’s only recently that humans have realized how vital these wetlands are to regulating our climate, despite negative connotations in derisive expressions like “swamped,” “bogged down” and “drain the swamp.” </p>
<p>Draining the swamp, wherever it might be, could be a catastrophic mistake for humankind as climate change throws punches that these ecosystems can handle much better than others.</p>
<p>But as the changing climate exacerbates the extent of droughts and wildfires, especially in the vast peatlands of the north, these ecosystems are now fighting a losing battle. </p>
<h2>Threats to carbon-sequestering peatlands</h2>
<p><a href="https://peatlands.org/peatlands/what-are-peatlands/">A majority of all the world’s peatlands</a> are found in northern regions. Layered by waterlogged peat topped by living mosses, these peatlands absorb and expel carbon, typically storing a little more than they give off, making them <a href="https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/stories/what-is-a-carbon-sink/#:%7E:text=A%20carbon%20sink%20is%20anything,fossil%20fuels%20or%20volcanic%20eruptions.">carbon sinks</a> over time. Over thousands of years, they have stockpiled massive amounts of carbon. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wetland photographed from above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521996/original/file-20230420-2772-4p6gj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Over thousands of years, peatlands have accumulated massive amounts of carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectively, peatlands hold more carbon than all the world’s forests. <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/global-assessment-reveals-huge-potential-peatlands-climate-solution">Peatlands account for just three per cent of the world’s land mass</a> but hold about a third of the planet’s stored soil carbon, making them Earth’s most carbon-dense ecosystems.</p>
<p>However, peatlands are under pressure everywhere. They are affected by rising temperatures, drought, wildfire and various human actions, including drainage. In this <a href="https://peatmoss.com/peat-moss-harvesting/">process of draining</a>, the water from the peatlands is allowed to run off through dug-out ditches, thus making the wetland drier. </p>
<p>Individual bogs are drained for agriculture, mining, urban development, wind turbine placement or peat harvesting. So far, between <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03406-6">seven and 10 per cent</a> of all northern peatlands have been drained.</p>
<h2>Fire and bogs</h2>
<p>Wildfires are becoming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16006">more frequent and more severe</a>, meaning peatlands will have to be at their best to continue absorbing carbon. </p>
<p>Healthy peatlands are remarkably <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fece3.9912">resilient to the impacts of fire</a>. A significant amount of carbon is lost both to burning itself and through burn damage that impairs the growth of carbon-sequestering mosses. But these ecosystems are typically able to recover and restore their climate-regulating function within 10 to 30 years. </p>
<p>However, when bogs have been damaged, especially by drainage, they become vulnerable to wildfire.</p>
<p>Even without fire, drained bogs are net contributors of carbon. When they burn, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa136">burn much more deeply</a> because their peat reserves are dry and dense. These self-propagating smouldering fires can spew millions of tonnes of carbon and harmful, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097%2FEDE.0000000000000090">toxic smoke</a> into our atmosphere. </p>
<h2>The time to save our peatlands is now</h2>
<p>As climate change accelerates over the coming decades, the interplay between degraded peatlands and hotter fires significantly changes the carbon equation in the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Burned trees and grasses stand out from the stunted greenery in a peatland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281798/original/file-20190628-94720-1ascytm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A burned peatland in the Fort McMurray wildfire. It is critical to keep our peatlands from burning up,</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mike Waddington)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01657-w">recently published paper</a>, we found that the direct threat from drainage, coupled with climate-change enhanced wildfires, is accelerating the release of carbon from these peatlands. Simply put, our actions are turning climate-friendly peatlands into liabilities, with potentially devastating consequences.</p>
<p>Our study of natural, degraded and restored forms of peatlands in boreal and temperate regions revealed that the once stable carbon-storing power of our northern peatlands is gradually losing to the effects of fire, and drained peatlands are the biggest culprits for this. </p>
<p>Compromising the healthy peatlands that remain — even if it’s for otherwise beneficial uses such as growing food or helping us move away from fossil fuels — could backfire badly, especially as climatic conditions worsen.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A woman stands next to a pile of moss that remains unaffected by fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280559/original/file-20190620-149810-e6ac54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sophie Wilkinson demonstrates the resistance of moss to an experimental fire in a bog during a project conducted in partnership with FP Innovations, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry and the Canadian Forest Service.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that without deliberate restoration efforts for already drained peatlands, and protection for those that remain, our carbon-collecting northern bogs could flip to carbon contributors by the end of this century. This will further accelerate the overall pace of global warming and climate change.</p>
<p>Fire is natural, of course, and some peat will always burn, but the degree and frequency of wildfire is making it harder for peatlands to recover their ability to store carbon after a fire. </p>
<p>Our research shows that it is not only critical to keep our peatlands from burning up, but that there is also an important and viable opportunity to mitigate this impending disaster. But the window for action is shrinking quickly. </p>
<p><a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/opinion-peatland-canada-natural-disasters/">Canada is home to one-third of the world’s northern peatlands </a> and a proven force in restoring drained bogs. </p>
<p>The looming peat fire crisis demands that Canada prioritize protecting its intact peatlands and accelerate their restoration. Reviving the carbon-storing capacity of peatlands would delay their broader conversion from climate benefactors to liabilities, providing precious time to act on climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Wilkinson receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Waddington receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Blazing Star Environmental, McMaster University, Ganawenim Meshkiki, and Henvey Inlet Wind LP.</span></em></p>
New research shows that northern peatlands may not help regulate our climate by the end of the century.
Sophie Wilkinson, Assistant professor, Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University
Mike Waddington, Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199362
2023-02-09T16:18:08Z
2023-02-09T16:18:08Z
Earth has lost one-fifth of its wetlands since 1700 – but most could still be saved
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509148/original/file-20230209-28-572jb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4454%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A capybara in the Iberá Wetlands (Esteros del Iberá) of northeast Argentina.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/capybara-sticks-head-plantcovered-waters-ibera-1189374100">Kylie Nicholson/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like so many of the planet’s natural habitats, wetlands have been systematically destroyed over the past 300 years. Bogs, fens, marshes and swamps have disappeared from maps and memory, having been drained, dug up and built on. </p>
<p>Being close to a reliable source of water and generally flat, wetlands were always prime targets for building towns and farms. Draining their waterlogged soils has produced some of the most fertile farmland available. </p>
<p>But wetlands also offer some of the best natural solutions to modern crises. They can clean water by removing and filtering pollutants, displace floodwater, shelter wildlife, improve our mental and physical wellbeing and capture climate-changing amounts of carbon. </p>
<p>Peatlands, a particular type of wetland, store <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/peatlands-store-twice-much-carbon-all-worlds-forests">at least twice</a> the carbon of all the world’s forests.</p>
<p>How much of the Earth’s precious wetlands have been lost since 1700 was recently addressed by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05572-6">a major new study</a> published in Nature. Previously, it was feared that <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.energy.30.050504.144248">as much as 50%</a> of our wetlands might have been wiped out. However, the latest research suggests that the figure is actually closer to 21% - an area the size of India. </p>
<p>Some countries have seen much higher losses, with Ireland losing more than 90% of its wetlands. The main reason for these global losses has been the drainage of wetlands for growing crops.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A waterlogged wilderness with tufts of vegetation growing amid the water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509159/original/file-20230209-18-ehsihr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wetland is, like this peat bog, a terrestrial habitat where water is held on the land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/peat-bog-national-park-sumava-europe-357530972">Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wetlands are not wastelands</h2>
<p>This is the most thorough investigation of its kind. The researchers used historical records and the latest maps to monitor land use on a global scale.</p>
<p>Despite this, the new paper highlights some of the scientific and cultural barriers to studying and managing wetlands. For instance, even identifying what is and isn’t a wetland is harder than for other habitats. </p>
<p>The defining characteristic of a wetland – being wet – is not always easily identified in each region and season. How much is the right amount of wetness? Some classification systems list <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/info2007-01-e.pdf">coral reefs</a> as wetlands, while others argue this is too wet. </p>
<p>And for centuries, wetlands were seen as unproductive wastelands ripe for converting to cropland. This makes records of where these ecosystems used to be sketchy at best.</p>
<p>The report shows clearly that the removal of wetlands is not spread evenly around the globe. Some regions have lost more than average. Around half of the wetlands in Europe have gone, with the UK losing 75% of its original area. </p>
<p>The US, central Asia, India, China, Japan and south-east Asia are also reported to have lost 50% of their original wetlands. It is these regional differences which promoted the idea that half of all the world’s wetlands had disappeared.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Farmers bend over to extract rice from a paddy field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509153/original/file-20230209-28-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farming has driven the destruction of wetlands globally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-working-plant-rice-farm-thailand-460809358">Tridsanu Thopet/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This disparity is somewhat hopeful, as it suggests there are still plenty of wetlands which haven’t been destroyed – particularly the vast northern peatlands of Siberia and Canada.</p>
<h2>An ecological tonic</h2>
<p>Losing a wetland a few acres in size may not sound much on a global or even national scale, but it’s very serious for the nearby town that now floods when it rains and is catastrophic for the specialised animals and plants, like curlews and swallowtail butterflies, living there.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herd of flamingoes in a lagoon with a city skyline in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509162/original/file-20230209-27-y5g44x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wetlands offer food and habitat for a diverse range of species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/thousands-greater-flamingos-phoenicopterus-roseus-ras-1922566502">Aleksandra Tokarz/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fortunately, countries and international organisations are beginning to understand how important wetlands are locally and globally, with some adopting “no-net-loss” policies that oblige developers to restore any habitats they destroy. The UK has promised to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sale-of-horticultural-peat-to-be-banned-in-move-to-protect-englands-precious-peatlands#:%7E:text=All%20sales%20of%20peat%20to,in%20a%20near%2Dnatural%20state.">ban the sale</a> of peat-based composts for amateur growers by 2024. </p>
<p>Wetland habitats are being conserved around the world, often at huge expense. Over US$10 billion (£8.2 billion) has been spent on a 35-year plan to restore the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11336">Florida Everglades</a>, a unique network of subtropical wetlands, making it the largest and most expensive ecological restoration project in the world. </p>
<p>The creation of new wetlands is also underway in many places. The reintroduction of beavers to enclosures across Britain is expected to increase the nation’s wetland coverage, bringing with it all the advantages of these habitats. </p>
<p>Beaver dams and the wetlands they create reduce the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hyp.14017">effects of flooding</a> by up to 60% and can boost the area’s wildlife. One study showed the number of local <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419302732">mammal species</a> shot up by 86% thanks to these furry engineers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a coastal wetland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509150/original/file-20230209-24-wy0hh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wetlands hold and slowly release water, helping to ease flooding and stall drought.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-lush-coastal-wetlands-uk-1489113977">Steved_np3/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beavers-and-oysters-are-helping-restore-lost-ecosystems-with-their-engineering-skills-podcast-198573">Beavers and oysters are helping restore lost ecosystems with their engineering skills – podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even the sustainable drainage system ponds developers create on the fringes of new housing estates could see pocket wetlands appearing in towns and cities across the UK. By mimicking natural drainage regimes instead of removing surface water with pipes and sewers, sustainable drainage systems can create areas of plants and water that have been shown to increase biodiversity, especially <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611000648">invertebrates</a>.</p>
<p>Whether the total global loss of wetlands is 20% or 50% doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that people stop looking at wetlands as wastelands, there for us to drain and turn into “useful” land. </p>
<p>As the UN recently pointed out, an <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/wetlands-disappearing-three-times-faster-than-forests">estimated 40%</a> of Earth’s species live and breed in wetlands and a billion people depend on them for their livelihoods. Conserving and restoring these vital habitats is key to achieving a sustainable future.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Dunn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The swamp has not yet been drained everywhere.
Christian Dunn, Senior Lecturer in Natural Sciences, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198399
2023-02-02T02:49:33Z
2023-02-02T02:49:33Z
Major palm oil companies broke their promise on No Deforestation – recovery is needed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506022/original/file-20230124-11-okwfd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C52%2C2048%2C1189&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nanang Sudjana/CIFOR</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite <a href="https://www.proforest.net/fileadmin/uploads/proforest/Documents/Publications/infonote_04_introndpe.pdf">a 2013 pledge</a> by major palm oil firms to maintain environmentally friendly operations, <a href="https://earthqualizer.org/news-and-publications/outstanding-debt">a recent report</a> by environmental group <a href="https://earthqualizer.org/about-earthqualizer">Earthqualizer</a> revealed that more than 440,000 hectares of forest and peat land (roughly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110427084411/http://www.dgcl.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/lu_pour_vous/les_grandes_metropol/downloadFile/attachedFile/metropolislondres.pdf?nocache=1254397828.63">three times the size of London</a>) have been cleared for oil plantation in Indonesia between 2016 and 2021; and 210,000 hectares in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. </p>
<p>The pledge – known as <a href="https://www.proforest.net/fileadmin/uploads/proforest/Documents/Publications/infonote_04_introndpe.pdf">“No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policy</a> – banned the companies from cutting down trees in forests and damaging wetland areas. The failure to comply supposed to result in sanctions from buyers. </p>
<p>Despite that pledge, the Earthqualizer report found 116 big companies (mostly Indonesian companies) still destroyed more than 1,000 hectares of forest and peatland, 25 of the corporate groups even did it between 7,000-35,000 hectares. This shows that pledge is being ignored and the sanctions are not effectively enforced. </p>
<p>This has became a challenge to transform palm oil industry to be more sustainable. To overcome it, we need to find a mechanism that also benefits millions of small farmers who rely on palm oil for their livelihood.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506025/original/file-20230124-21-b1gbk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soil fertilisation at palm oil plantations in West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Icaro Cooke Vieira/CIFOR</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fixing a broken promise</h2>
<p>In 2019, Indonesia put in place strict rules for palm oil companies by issuing a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/indonesia-forest-clearing-ban-is-made-permanent-but-labeled-propaganda/">permanent ban on turning natural forests</a> into land for palm oil production. The government also put <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/what-next-after-indonesia-ends-freeze-palm-permits-2021-10-29/">a three year freeze</a> on building new palm oil plantations.</p>
<p>Because of these rules, deforestation and peatland clearing for palm oil plantation slowed down from 2019 to 2021, according to the <a href="https://earthqualizer.org/news-and-publications/outstanding-debt">October 2022 Earthqualizer report</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesias-palm-oil-policy-at-a-crossroads-why-government-interventions-are-ineffective-186549">Indonesia’s palm oil policy at a crossroads: why government interventions are ineffective</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But government policies aren’t the golden ticket to make sure palm oil suppliers follow the rules. Companies in the supply chain also need to ensure that the regulations are being followed. </p>
<p>When purchasing palm oil, any buyer must ensure that the product is sourced from sustainable practices. To do this, buyers must set up an accountable and transparent <a href="https://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/news_updates/forest-positive-coalition-launches-palm-oil-deforestation-monitoring-and-response-framework/">monitoring system</a>. This system will provide an immediate response, such as freezing trade with non-compliant suppliers, if the companies are proven to have damaged forests and peatlands in their supply chain.</p>
<p>However, non-compliant palm oil suppliers can appeal as long as they show commitment to sustainable practices. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506030/original/file-20230124-25-aj4s8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Lubuk Beringin villager, Zulita, taps a rubber tree on her farm at Lubuk Beringin village, Bungo district, Jambi province, Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tri Saputro/CIFOR</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under the system, buyers can ask palm oil suppliers to restore any land that they’ve damaged. The suppliers are then required to prove that they’re trying to fix things by making a clear plan for how and when they’ll conduct recovery and restore the land.</p>
<p>Restoring land is not only about planting trees, but also protecting and managing the recovered forests. Recovery is not only about land restoration, but also recovering local economies.</p>
<p>One way to do it is by involving local communities. The palm oil companies can create recovery plans, in which they will restore the forest and <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-shows-village-forests-in-indonesia-can-protect-the-environment-and-reduce-poverty-128393">help improve the livelihoods of nearby communities</a> by selling byproducts like rubber or candlenut for the community. This also aligns with <a href="https://setkab.go.id/en/govt-allocates-12-7-million-hectares-for-social-forestry/">the Indonesian government’s plan</a> to give 12.7 million hectares of forest land to communities through social forestry projects.</p>
<h2>Involvement from all</h2>
<p>To reassure the public that the palm oil industry is making improvements, all parties in the palm oil supply chain must commit to restoring forests and peatlands.</p>
<p>Money is not really an issue here.</p>
<p>A non-profit conservation group called The Forest Conversation Fund estimates it would cost <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjQ6aWNlMyE&t=3114s">US$35 million per year to recover the 877,314 hectares of forest</a>. The number is quite miniscule compared to the value of palm oil industry, which is estimated to be worth <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/palm-oil-market">US$63.7 billion.</a>. A one-time payment for a full 25-year recovery plan will cost only 1.3% of the net worth of the industry.</p>
<p>Consumers can also play a role in it by only buying products from companies who are putting consistent efforts to comply with the No Deforestation policy.</p>
<p>All we need is a solid commitment from the palm oil industry to continuously support the global sustainability agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ibnu Budiman was a former sustainability specialist at Earthqualizer Foundation. He helped to disseminate the Earthqualizer's report to palm oil companies and wider public. Earthqualizer has partnerships with some palm oil traders and buyers' companies. </span></em></p>
As a researcher of sustainability transition, I still believe we can create a more sustainable palm oil industry in Indonesia, where millions of small farmers rely on palm oil for their livelihood.
Ibnu Budiman, Researcher and consultant on sustainability transition, Wageningen University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195825
2023-01-17T14:14:49Z
2023-01-17T14:14:49Z
Angola’s peatlands trap carbon and clean the region’s water – how we mapped this newly found landscape
<p>Ask most people what they picture when thinking about natural “carbon sinks” – ecosystems that absorb and store greenhouse gases – and they’ll probably describe a forest. <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-of-planting-trees-to-help-mitigate-climate-change/">Reforestation</a> is a common feature of climate change plans.</p>
<p>But there’s another equally important, often overlooked type of natural carbon sink: <a href="https://peatlands.org/peat/">peatlands</a>. These are a particular type of wetland ecosystem in which dark, loamy peat soil is produced. Peatlands store <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/peatlands-and-climate-change">more carbon</a> than all the world’s forests combined. </p>
<p>And they do more than store carbon. They conserve biodiversity, purify water and reduce flooding and soil erosion. They also play an important role in agriculture – they’re good for planting <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/peat-soil">certain crops</a>, such as potatoes and carrots.</p>
<p>Despite this, even global scientific bodies have not paid much attention to peatlands until <a href="https://www.unep.org/events/symposium/peatland-pavilion-unfccc-cop26">very recently</a>. Global maps and inventories of peatlands are inconsistent, though there is more data for the northern hemisphere compared to the southern hemisphere and the tropics. High quality peatland extent data are only available for a small selection of countries and regions, including Canada, Sweden and West Siberia. </p>
<p>This gap needs to be filled urgently: discovering, quantifying and protecting new peatland deposits is necessary in an uncertain climate future that depends on intact, natural carbon sinks.</p>
<p>That’s why, for my PhD, I set out <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721073915">to quantify</a> and map recently discovered peatland deposits in the drastically understudied Angolan Highlands. This region is hydrologically and ecologically important. One of the reasons is that it’s the primary source of water flowing into the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1432/">Okavango Delta</a>, a UNESCO world heritage site, in <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/lifeline-desert-delta">north-west Botswana</a>. The Okavango is a flat, extensive and seasonally flooded alluvial fan that is one of very few large inland delta systems that do not drain into the ocean. Instead, it drains into the desert sands of the Kalahari Basin. </p>
<p>I worked alongside my PhD supervisors, Professor Jennifer Fitchett and Professor Stephan Woodborne, using remote sensing to estimate that there are about 1,634 km² – that’s approximately 230,000 full-sized soccer fields – of peatland in the Angolan Highlands. </p>
<p>It’s a conservative figure, since the mapped area spans just 16% of the Angolan Highlands and 4% of Angola. For comparison, the largest tropical (and African) peatland deposit, which was also <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21048">recently mapped</a> in the Democratic Republic of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/congo-peat-swamps-store-three-years-of-global-carbon-emissions-imminent-oil-drilling-could-release-it-187101">Congo</a> in the Congo Basin, spans 145,000 km².</p>
<iframe title="" aria-label="Locator maps" id="datawrapper-chart-GPAQw" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GPAQw/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="650" data-external="1" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>This is the first estimate of peatland coverage in Angola. And the study reveals potentially more tropical peatland deposits to discover in the highlands region and surrounding river basins.</p>
<h2>Remote mapping</h2>
<p>In 2015 the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/okavango/">National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project</a> was launched to create a network of newly protected areas to conserve the length of the Okavango Catchment. It has been surveying and collecting scientific data on the river system and working with local communities; NGOs; and the governments of Angola, Namibia, and Botswana to secure permanent, sustainable protection for the greater Okavango Watershed.</p>
<p>The Okavango Delta is dependent on precipitation occurring in the highlands of central Angola, where water flows south into the Okavango River from two tributaries: the Cuito River and Cubango River. The greater Okavango Catchment encompassing these three rivers covers approximately 112,000 km² and spans three countries – Angola, Namibia, and Botswana. </p>
<p>The source waters originate from areas which experienced historical conflicts and wars, and remain unprotected by legislation. The National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project was created because of concerns about threats to the Angolan region of the Okavango catchment, and the potential downstream consequences to the Okavango Delta.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/botswanas-okavango-delta-is-created-by-a-delicate-balance-but-for-how-much-longer-125323">Botswana's Okavango Delta is created by a delicate balance, but for how much longer?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>During groundbreaking scientific explorations, the project team identified extensive peatland deposits in the Angolan Highlands. These were the first known scientific explorations of these rivers and source lakes; new plant and animal species <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/okavango/why/">were discovered</a>. The peatland identification was also a first. In June 2022, I was invited to be a member of the research team on the Lungu Bungu River expedition in Angola.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500011/original/file-20221209-26397-q4zzfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author at work (after Covid lockdowns) extracting peat soil on the Lungu Bungu river transect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jenguyton.com/bio">Jen Guyton</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For my PhD, which I started in January 2020, I planned to conduct extensive fieldwork in the Angolan Highlands to quantify the newly discovered peatlands. But by April 2020, the world was largely locked down by the COVID pandemic. It looked like I had no chance of getting to my study site. </p>
<p>Then I was introduced to <a href="https://earthengine.google.com/">Google Earth Engine</a>, a powerful cloud computing platform for Earth observation, science and analysis, and discovered that I could collect an incredible amount of geospatial data about my study site from home.</p>
<p>Peatlands have unique characteristics that distinguish them from terra firma. Geospatial scientists use multisensory approaches. Optical, radar and LiDAR satellite imagery are all employed to identify and distinguish peatland from other wetland features.</p>
<p>Peatlands have also been mapped according to their geophysical properties, including vegetation cover, topography, and the presence of standing water. I drew these categories of data for the Angola Highlands from Google Earth Engine. Then I worked through them iteratively over a number of Zoom calls with my supervisors. </p>
<p>All this data was overlaid and Google Earth Engine’s machine learning algorithms were used to produce the first <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721073915">classification</a> map of peatlands in the Angolan Highlands. </p>
<h2>Valuable information</h2>
<p>Angola, like many other African countries, is highly vulnerable to climate change. Preserving these important peatland deposits will help facilitate carbon capture. This will allow nature to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere for free.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-the-worlds-largest-tropical-peatland-deep-in-the-jungles-of-congo-71138">How we discovered the world's largest tropical peatland, deep in the jungles of Congo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The identification and mapping of these peatland deposits will also help to facilitate preservation of the Angolan Highlands region. The health and ecological functioning of these peatlands has direct implications for local communities who rely on the peatlands for water purification, fishing, cultivation and fuel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mauro Lourenco received funding from the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project to conduct fieldwork in the Angolan Highlands.
Mauro Lourenco is affiliated with the Wild Bird Trust, National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project. </span></em></p>
The Angolan Highlands are hydrologically and ecologically important - and the region’s newly mapped peatlands are valuable “carbon sinks”.
Mauro Lourenco, PhD student, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187101
2022-07-21T15:14:56Z
2022-07-21T15:14:56Z
Congo peat swamps store three years of global carbon emissions – imminent oil drilling could release it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475372/original/file-20220721-9907-salr5i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Professor Corneille Ewango of the University of Kisangani in a peat swamp
along the Ikelemba River, Democratic Republic of Congo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bart Crezee/University of Leeds</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Democratic Republic of the Congo’s government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/congo-offer-30-oil-gas-blocks-licensing-2022-07-18/">is preparing</a> to auction off a series of licenses to drill for oil in the Congo basin. This threatens to damage around 11 million hectares of the world’s second largest rainforest.</p>
<p>But it is not just trees that might be lost in the search for oil. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00966-7">Our new study</a>, published in Nature Geoscience, shows at least three of 16 proposed oil licences planned for sale on July 28 2022 overlap with sensitive peat swamp forests, which store even more carbon below ground in their soils than is held by the trees above.</p>
<p>Regularly flooded peat swamp forests contain so much carbon because waterlogging slows the decay of dead plants. This partially decomposed material builds up over thousands of years to form peat. We have provided the first detailed map of the depth of this peat, and where exactly in the Congo basin all the carbon it contains can be found.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A line map of Africa with the location of the peatland complex indicated in green." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=627&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475470/original/file-20220721-14415-yxl3fz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The central Congo peatlands highlighted in green.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Crezee et al. (2022)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results confirm the central Congo peatlands to be the world’s largest tropical peatland complex. We estimate that the peatlands cover 16.7 million hectares, an area equivalent to the size of England and Wales combined, which is about 15% bigger than the 14.6 million hectares estimated when this ecosystem was first mapped in 2017.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-the-worlds-largest-tropical-peatland-deep-in-the-jungles-of-congo-71138">How we discovered the world's largest tropical peatland, deep in the jungles of Congo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When we overlayed our new map of the peatland on a map of oil concessions, we discovered that the upcoming sale of rights to explore for fossil fuels includes close to 1 million hectares of peat swamp forest. If destroyed by the construction of roads, pipelines and other infrastructure needed to extract the oil, we estimate that up to 6 billion tonnes of CO₂ could be released, equivalent to 14 years’ worth of current UK greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-2021">emissions</a>.</p>
<p>Scientists are just starting to understand these ecosystems, including their role as immense carbon reservoirs that provide a bulwark against rising global temperatures. But if oil companies get the go-ahead on July 28, our maps and other records may be all that’s left to prove intact peat swamp forests once existed in the Congo basin.</p>
<h2>Trekking into the swamps</h2>
<p>Until now, evidence of these peatlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had not been published in a scientific journal. Although their existence was long suspected, it wasn’t until 2017 that scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21048">mapped</a> the country’s peatlands for the first time by using field data from the neighbouring Republic of the Congo (RoC). They predicted that two-thirds of the world’s largest tropical peatland resided in the DRC, which had not been verified with field observations. Over three years, we trekked through these swamps as part of an international team of Congolese and UK scientists, often staying for months at a time.</p>
<p>We set off by dugout canoe to explore what we expected to be peatlands in forested floodplains along the Congo and its eastern tributaries. As we travelled upriver, we passed many small villages and fishing camps. Most are constructed on stilts because the river regularly floods its banks during the wet season which keeps the peat from breaking down and releasing its carbon back to the atmosphere.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A long wooden canoe next to a woody river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475386/original/file-20220721-9733-4ajxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research team traversing the Ruki river by canoe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bart Crezee/University of Leeds</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These peatlands might be new to scientific literature, but they are familiar to the communities who have lived on their periphery for generations, relying on them for fishing, hunting and to collect building material. People here helped us explore the peatlands and allowed us to camp on their lands, where they shared their knowledge of the swamps and the many plant and animal species that live there. Together, we would set off on foot from the riverbank, trudging through a thick layer of mud into which we would sometimes sink up to our waists.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Stilted houses on the far bank of a flooded river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475376/original/file-20220721-18-ho8eky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fishing camp along the Ikelemba river at the end of the wet season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bart Crezee/University of Leeds</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Every 250 metres we would stick metal poles in the ground to measure the thickness of the peat layer. To our astonishment, we often found peat of up to six metres deep just a few kilometres away from the river. This was totally unexpected, as the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21048">2017 study</a> conducted in the RoC only found peat of similar depth after trekking 20km into the swamp forest, far from any rivers. Knowing these regional differences is crucial – combined with satellite data, it allows us to map how thick the peat is likely to be in areas where we haven’t travelled. As the thickness of the peat layer largely determines how much carbon is stored in it, this is a major step forward in understanding the size of this natural carbon reservoir.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A core of peat next to a tape measure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475375/original/file-20220721-18-5qzshv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The top 50cm of a peat core.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bart Crezee/University of Leeds</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reversing massive natural defences</h2>
<p>We also brought back peat samples to the laboratory to calculate the amount of carbon more precisely. Combining these different measurements, we conclude that the Congolese peat swamp forests are one of the most carbon-dense ecosystems on earth, storing an average of 1,712 tonnes of carbon per hectare. Together, the peatlands contain between 26 and 32 billion tonnes of carbon below ground – roughly equivalent to three years’ worth of global emissions from burning fossil fuels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two maps of the Congo basin colour-coded to display peat depth and carbon density." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475411/original/file-20220721-10058-sh02bn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thick and carbon-rich peat was found near the Congo river’s major tributaries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Crezee et al. (2022)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research is part of an ongoing, long-term effort to understand the world’s largest tropical peatland complex. The <a href="https://congopeat.net/">CongoPeat project</a> aims to understand how and when the peatlands formed, and whether there are any new species to be found there. We also want to learn more about how stable this peat carbon is in a warming climate, and what effects logging, drainage for farming or oil exploration would have.</p>
<p>The DRC oil auction on July 28 could be the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-017-9774-8">beginning of the end</a> for these peatlands. Opening them to oil exploration before the Congolese people and the rest of the world can even know what the true cost would be is irresponsible. The country risks a mistake of epic proportions. What we do know is that by locking up carbon, the peatlands have helped cool the climate for thousands of years. To reverse this valuable natural defence against climate change in the space of a few years, simply to find more of a fuel which the world already has more of than it can safely burn, is not something life on Earth can afford.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bart Crezee receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Lewis has received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, the Royal Society, the European Union, the Leverhulme Trust, the Centre for International Forestry, National Parks Agency of Gabon, Microsoft Research, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Greenpeace Fund, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Children's Investment Fund.</span></em></p>
Peat is partially decomposed plant matter that has accumulated over thousands of years.
Bart Crezee, PhD Candidate in Tropical Peatland Ecology, University of Leeds
Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science at University of Leeds and, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184291
2022-06-07T13:39:30Z
2022-06-07T13:39:30Z
Britain’s first wetland ‘super reserve’ offers boost to nature-based solutions to climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467171/original/file-20220606-16-9z8rjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5559%2C3700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Avalon Marshes wetland, in Somerset, England.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IanRedding / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wetlands are the superheroes of the natural world. They are crammed with wildlife, protect our coastlines, keep our rivers clean, and store climate-changing amounts of carbon.</p>
<p>Yet through much of history they have been at best ignored and at worst vilified and destroyed. In recent years public campaigns and money have been thrown at tree planting and reforestation, yet hardly a mention was given to restoring the UK’s bogs, swamps and marshes. But a quick scan through famous literature, paintings and even films and TV series will show you how often wetlands feature as the unpleasant, sinister backdrop of dark storylines.</p>
<p>Fortunately, things are now changing. This was highlighted with the recent announcement of a 15,000-acre <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/somerset-wetlands-national-nature-reserve">Somerset Wetlands national nature reserve</a>. This is the UK’s second so-called “super reserve” after Purbeck Heaths in Dorset. These reserves take in a mosaic of different habitats, and by linking them all together as part of an entire landscape management plan, it is hoped the region as a whole will benefit.</p>
<p>In this case, the new super reserve will encompass existing reserves on Somerset’s levels and moors, a region of coastal plains, fens, reedbeds and saltmarshes, which make up the heart of the county. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Somerset Levels and Moors" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467471/original/file-20220607-20-wxacvx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Somerset Levels (coastal plain) and Moors (inland floodplain).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Somerset_Levels.png">Nilfanion / wiki</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These areas are estimated to contain around 11 million tonnes of carbon, in the form of peat: semi-decomposed dead plant material. When peatlands dry out – perhaps because they are drained to make farmland or when peat is extracted for compost – the vegetation decomposes a lot faster, releasing carbon into the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Much of Somerset’s peat deposits have been damaged over the centuries, and continue to be so, releasing <a href="https://www.somersetwildlife.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/peat%20extraction%20position%20doc.pdf">hundreds of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gasses</a> every year. Their protection as carbon sequestering powerhouses is essential if the UK is to hit its net zero goals in the coming decades.</p>
<p>The saltmarshes on the edge of the new reserve are also carbon-dense habitats and can protect the coastline during storms and sea level rises. Then there is the wildlife that teems in this area, from otters and kingfishers to eels and marsh fritillaries (one of Britain’s <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/marsh-fritillary">rarest butterflies</a>).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Orange and blue kingfisher bird sits on branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467457/original/file-20220607-15494-qmlz6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Somerset birdlife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Edge / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Well-preserved history</h2>
<p>It’s not just the environmental and natural benefits provided by the wetlands of the new super reserve that make the project so special.</p>
<p>Britain’s history and heritage is tied up in this area and the acidic, waterlogged peatland conditions means it is uniquely preserved for us to discover. For instance the UK’s oldest wooden walkway, the Sweet Track, was built 6,000 years ago to help Neolithic people cross the marshes. Since it was uncovered <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3042805&recordType=Journal">in the 1970s</a> it has helped archaeologists understand how these people lived.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hill in background, swampy river in foreground with bird" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467482/original/file-20220607-32118-b3kfnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Glastonbury Tor towers over Somerset’s wetlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Gibson / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may also only be a touch melodramatic to state that England as we know it would not exist if it hadn’t been for the Somerset levels and moors “fen-fastness” (as described in the <a href="https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/anglo-saxon/page/8/">Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</a>), offering King Alfred the refuge and battleground his small force needed when fighting the Vikings in the 800s. (Though whether he burnt some cakes in the process is up for <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2018/11/what-you-wont-see-in-anglo-saxon-kingdoms.html">historical debate</a>).</p>
<h2>Large-scale protection</h2>
<p>It’s not just the Somerset region that will see the benefits of the proposed landscape-scale management plans – the entire country will be richer. Of course, some of the area is already under the supervision of conservation organisations and they are doing a great job. But this project goes beyond those individual sites and brings them all together on a larger scale.</p>
<p>Properly managed individual nature reserves, no matter what the size, can be fantastic. But it’s when we join-up these pockets and expand them that we can really start to control waterflows, maximise biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions and enhance our own wellbeing. Indeed, research is showing it’s at this scale that we can have a <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0627/POST-PN-0627.pdf">real impact</a> and harness the potential of “nature-based solutions” which allow natural ecosystems to help address the climate and biodiversity crisis. </p>
<p>When these areas are large enough and dominated by coastal and freshwater wetlands then the benefits are magnified, as it’s not just a landscape-scale being looked at, or even the seascape, but the “wholescape”.</p>
<p>This “wholescape” approach must be the way forward if we are serious about the use of nature-based solutions this century. And nature’s superheroes — our wetlands – need super nature reserves like the one in Somerset to show us just what they can do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Dunn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Somerset Wetlands national nature reserve merges and extends six existing protected sites.
Christian Dunn, Senior Lecturer in Natural Sciences, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/182450
2022-05-19T10:09:42Z
2022-05-19T10:09:42Z
Growing plant trade may spread invasive species – but help ecosystems adapt to climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464241/original/file-20220519-6052-5oapo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3638%2C2529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gloved-hand-holding-loam-over-flower-245813800">Sanddebeautheil/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plant seeds must travel far to maintain healthy ecosystems. Carried on the wind or in the fur and dung of animals, travelling seeds help cleared forest patches regrow and infuse clutches of rare species with diverse genes, making them more resistant to extinction. </p>
<p>Understanding how plants disperse is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1433831907000376?via%3Dihub">increasingly important</a> in the face of the steadily growing human influence on natural habitats. As commerce and tourism have become globe-spanning enterprises, humans are purposely or unintentionally moving many plants or their seeds and cuttings at an unprecedented rate.</p>
<p>On the one hand, this process can help species adjust the range in which they live to fit their climate requirements. Many of their former habitats are becoming too hot or dry, so moving can <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.12690">ensure plants persist</a> in rapidly changing landscapes. The loss of large wild herbivores, herded livestock and fruit-eating wildlife has already severed options for <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1502545112">long-distance dispersal</a>. In their absence, humanity can act as the main dispersal agent, transporting many species over very long distances.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large adult bison in a forest clearing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464243/original/file-20220519-16-qlx4ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Herds of bison would have once helped disperse plant seeds across Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison#/media/File:Bison_bonasus_(Linnaeus_1758).jpg">Michael Gäbler/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the other hand, dispersal via human activity can accelerate the spread of alien and potentially invasive species. Such plants can alter whole ecosystems and crowd native species out.</p>
<p>The growing global trade in cultivated plants and potting soil has been linked with the dispersal of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2405264?origin=crossref&seq=1">contaminant species</a>. But the unintentional dispersal of seeds has been largely overlooked, as hardly any studies have considered just how many seeds stow away in these soils. Given that growing mediums are made in huge quantities (more than <a href="https://www.actahort.org/books/819/819_3.htm">30 million cubic metres</a> is produced every year within the EU) and ready-to-use potting soils are <a href="https://www.actahort.org/books/819/819_3.htm">regularly imported</a> from distant countries, the importance of this dispersal pathway is probably underestimated.</p>
<h2>Accidental human dispersal</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722011858">new research</a>, we studied the extent of this process. We bought three bags of 11 different commercial potting soils in Debrecen, Hungary, from several different producer companies. We took samples from each bag and germinated them in a greenhouse from March 2019 until November 2019. We counted and identified the species of each seedling that grew and calculated the greatest distance each species may have travelled.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Plastic trays of potting soil with germinating seedlings in a greenhouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462718/original/file-20220512-2142-5kq71o.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plants growing in the samples of potting soil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judit Sonkoly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that one litre of potting soil contains an average of 13 seeds of six species. An average 20-litre bag of soil bought from a garden centre could contain around 265 viable seeds. The seed content of each potting soil varied widely, as soils with manure contained a substantially higher number of species and seeds than soils without it. This suggests that long-distance dispersal happens as a result of grazing livestock eating and passing seeds, and people adding the seed-rich manure to potting soils, which they transport and use over great distances. The diet preferences of the grazing animals producing manure for potting soils influences the ability of a plant species to be dispersed this way.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Europe with diamonds depicting the places of production and purchase for potting soils." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462719/original/file-20220512-5542-2aujck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peat originating in Lithuania travelled thousands of kilometres to reach its place of purchase.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Judit Sonkoly</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The distances the seeds travelled in the potting soils, from where they were produced to where they were purchased in Debrecen, ranged from 171km (originating in Lučenec, Slovakia) to 1,117km (originating in Münster, Germany). Some potting soils are presumably transported and sold even further. Although each seed has a slim chance of successfully establishing itself in a new location, the vast number of seeds dispersed this way offsets the relatively low probabilities involved.</p>
<p>Five of the species that germinated from the soil samples were not native to Hungary, although four of them are already widespread in the country (redroot amaranth, Canadian horseweed, daisy fleabane and tall goldenrod). Only the fringed willowherb is still sporadic. Meanwhile, several native but sparse species were found in the samples: small-flowered bittercress, St. Peter’s wort and blunt-flowered rush.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A clutch of daisy-like flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462717/original/file-20220512-13-15s4r3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daisy fleabane, a widespread non-native species in Hungary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erigeron_annuus#/media/File:Erigeron_annuus_flowers_by_the_Mogami_River_in_Yonezawa,_Yamagata_%E6%9C%80%E4%B8%8A%E5%B7%9D%E8%BE%BA%E3%81%AE%E3%83%92%E3%83%A1%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%82%AA%E3%83%B3_(5795366075).jpg">Contri/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This suggests the global plant trade is not only capable of dispersing and introducing alien species, but rather, represents a general dispersal pathway for numerous species. It may help genes flow between otherwise isolated populations, shift ranges to track the changing climate and landscape, and other large-scale ecological processes of great conservation concern. So this pathway of long-distance dispersal can have both adverse and favourable effects on plant populations and communities.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Potting soils are helping plant seeds travel. Is it benign or harmful?
Judit Sonkoly, Research Fellow in Ecology, University of Debrecen
Bálint Bajomi, Research Associate in Conservation Biology, University of Debrecen
Péter Török, Professor of Plant Ecology and Restoration Ecology, University of Debrecen
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175758
2022-02-01T15:03:50Z
2022-02-01T15:03:50Z
How climate change is washing away precious evidence of our distant past
<p>As well as threatening <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-could-cause-abrupt-biodiversity-losses-this-century-135968">biodiversity</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-and-extreme-weather-may-lead-to-food-shortages-and-escalating-prices-172646">food systems</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-resulting-in-profound-immediate-and-worsening-health-impacts-over-120-researchers-say-151027">human health</a>, climate change has another victim: ancient artefacts. At some UK sites of archaeological interest, unusually heavy rainfall is eroding layers of protective peat to damage the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60091485">preserved relics</a> that lie beneath.</p>
<p>Some of the UK’s finest archaeological remains have been found buried in <a href="https://peatlands.org/peat/peat/">peat</a>, a type of soil that’s naturally high in acidity and low in oxygen. That means it <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/preserving-archaeological-remains/heag100a-preserving-archaeological-remains/">preserves</a> wood, leather and textiles extremely well, as the microorganisms that would usually cause these materials to break down can’t thrive. </p>
<p>Peat has helped to keep Britain’s ancient environments alive for modern analysis: from <a href="http://avalonmarshes.org/the-avalon-marshes/heritage/sweet-track/">neolithic trackways</a> marking where our ancestors travelled between settlements in Somerset, to preserved bodies like the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-28589151">Lindow Man</a> found in a bog in Cheshire. The peat environment in which Lindow Man was buried dramatically reduced <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14732971.2020.1779439?journalCode=yjwa20">decay</a>, meaning that his hair and beard have remained visible even after almost 2,000 years. </p>
<p>But climate change is bringing increasingly hotter summers and wetter winters to the UK, including unprecedentedly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00275-3">heavy</a> local rainfall. This changes the landscape by washing away layers of soil and peat to reveal archaeological buildings, items and human remains.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An ancient stone fort with low walls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443476/original/file-20220131-13-1wa719c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vindolanda, a Roman fort, holds a huge range of archaeological evidence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vindolanda.jpg">Francis/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To better understand how fast these changes are taking place – and what their consequences might be for future archaeologists – our colleagues are studying what’s happening at <a href="https://www.vindolanda.com/blog/fact-file-magna">Magna</a>, the site of an ancient Roman fort in Northumberland. </p>
<h2>Magna</h2>
<p>Magna is one of the most fascinating, well-preserved sites in the UK. As a strategic army base, it would have held a commanding position at the <a href="https://www.vindolanda.com/appeal/revealing-magna">junction</a> between three key Roman roads: the Stanegate, Military Way and Maiden Way. Surveys suggest that it was occupied from AD80-85 to the end of Roman Britain, in around AD410. </p>
<p>To study it, archaeologists dug boreholes and inserted devices called <a href="https://www.encardio.com/blog/piezometers-types-functions-how-it-works">piezometers</a> to collect data on groundwater levels and temperature. They’re also sending peat samples to a laboratory for chemical and microbiological analysis. This information will help us to understand how the local environment is changing and what effect this might have on archaeological degradation.</p>
<p>Another Roman fort just a few miles east of Magna, Vindolanda, has provided some of the most significant finds from Roman Britain. Here, archaeologists have discovered the first evidence of handwriting by a woman (Claudia Severa writing to invite her friend Sulpicia Lepidina to her upcoming birthday party), the world’s oldest boxing gloves from around AD120, and the largest Roman leather shoe collection ever found – consisting of an astonishing 7,000 items. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mannequin feet wearing black leather shoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443478/original/file-20220131-126279-5o09dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Items like these Roman black leather shoes are often found preserved in peat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dandiffendale/26456729122">Dan Diffendale/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These remarkable finds are due to the fort’s unique, peat-rich environment, which means that they’re also threatened by climate-driven deterioration. We fear that finds which haven’t yet been discovered may soon be irreversibly damaged due to the effects of climate change.</p>
<h2>The point of peat</h2>
<p>Peatlands cover about 3% of the world’s land area but are one of its best natural <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/28/ultimate-bogs-how-saving-peatlands-could-help-save-the-planet">carbon stores</a>, holding twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.</p>
<p>In England and Northern Ireland, <a href="https://www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2021/05/06/peatlands-what-are-they-where-are-they-and-why-do-they-matter/">peatland</a> makes up 10%-12% of all land, while Scotland has 20% peatland cover. Historically, these landscapes have been drained for use in farming, with peat dried to burn for fuel: releasing massive amounts of <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-let-markets-decide-the-future-of-removing-carbon-from-the-atmosphere-171379">carbon</a> into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Across Europe, an estimated 100,000km² of peatland has been <a href="https://www.cbd.int/financial/fiscalenviron/eu-studyehscountries.pdf">lost</a> over the last 50 years. Much of what remains is poor quality. In the UK, only a fifth of UK peatlands can be described as “<a href="https://repository.uel.ac.uk/download/3a9417a736ff3310b863d8e03f47e2335903c29f10ce1f25a48c84b5bdf49004/2113214/Wawrzyczek_etal_blindedmanuscript_11march2018_accepted-changes%20-%20final%20submitted%20version.pdf">near pristine</a>”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A forest viewed from above" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443479/original/file-20220131-27-e1tqq7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peatland stores huge amounts of carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cifor/36811390855">Cifor/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The drainage, cutting and agriculture that have damaged these ecosystems have caused equal damage to the archaeological finds buried within them. Peat growth is slowed or stopped when peatlands are drained, leading to oxidised soil that encourages destructive microorganisms to proliferate. </p>
<p>Archaeologists and policymakers are now working side by side to keep peatlands protected environments, to help capture and preserve both carbon and the evidence of the UK’s history.</p>
<p>And this <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/technical-advice/peatlands/">commitment</a> to protecting peatlands and the heritage they shelter has gone global. Last year, a <a href="https://www.cultureatcop.com/events/peatlands-climate-change-and-cultural-heritage-global-perspectives-problems-solutions-2021">session</a> at the UN climate conference <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-agreed-rules-on-trading-carbon-emissions-but-theyre-fatally-flawed-173922">COP26</a> was dedicated to highlighting the importance of protecting peatland. But this is only the beginning of a long journey to ensure that peatlands, and the treasures they hold, will remain safe for generations to come.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Everett works for Northumbria University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Increasing rainfall and degrading peatland are threatening archaeological artefacts buried in UK land.
Gillian Taylor, Associate Professor in Archaeology, Teesside University
Rosie Everett, Lecturer in Forensic Science, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/171269
2021-11-09T13:32:01Z
2021-11-09T13:32:01Z
COP26: how unlocking nature’s power can help the UK step up its fight against climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431051/original/file-20211109-23-eft3r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C1020%2C764&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reintroducing the natural world into populated spaces could help the UK stave off the worst climate change effects.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alison Smith</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>World leaders have been gathering at <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26</a>, the UN climate summit in Glasgow, against a backdrop of flooded homes, closed roads and cancelled trains across the UK caused by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-weather-news-flood-warnings-cumbria-b1947630.html">extreme weather</a>. These conditions are a stark reminder that as well as dramatically reducing our <a href="https://theconversation.com/net-zero-despite-the-greenwash-its-vital-for-tackling-climate-change-160329">carbon emissions</a>, we must also begin adapting to a climate that is already irreversibly changing.</p>
<p>Yet the UK’s third climate change <a href="https://www.ukclimaterisk.org/'">risk assessment</a> report warns of a growing “adaptation gap” between the risks the country faces and the action it’s taking, while the Environment Agency states bluntly that the UK must “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/adapt-or-die-says-environment-agency">adapt or die</a>”. </p>
<p>A problem with climate adaptation is that conventional engineering solutions are rapidly becoming unaffordable and unsustainable. We can’t keep on building higher sea walls, extracting more groundwater from our land’s depleted resources to irrigate crops, or installing energy-guzzling air conditioning to fight heat.</p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://www.iucn.org/commissions/commission-ecosystem-management/our-work/nature-based-solutions#:%7E:text=Nature%2Dbased%20Solutions%20(NbS),%2Dbeing%20and%20biodiversity%20benefits%E2%80%9D.">nature-based solutions</a> that reintegrate aspects of the natural world into our environment can help sustainably, affordably tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, while supporting local economies and improving people’s wellbeing. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/unlocking-billion-pound-investment-restoration-saltmarshes">restoring saltmarshes</a> can help protect communities at risk from coastal flooding and erosion, while providing vital habitats for <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/coastal/saltmarsh-and-mudflats">wading birds</a>. </p>
<p>Further inland, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/flooding/">planting woodlands</a> can help manage floods by intercepting rainfall, while restoring natural curves in artificially straightened rivers and recreating floodplain wetlands can slow floods. At <a href="https://tweedforum.org/our-work/projects/the-eddleston-water-project/">Eddleston Water</a>, a river valley in Scotland, these initiatives reduced flood peaks by 30%, protecting 500 properties downstream from damage. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A river flanked by green banks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431030/original/file-20211109-25-1a7wcji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eddleston Water, where restoring floodplains helped protect houses downstream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/more.php?id=2739198">Jim Barton</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/peatlands-are-under-threat-heres-why-we-must-act-now-to-save-them/">Peatland degradation</a> is another threat to landscapes. Healthy peatlands not only store vast amounts of carbon but also supply good-quality drinking water that requires little treatment. But when the peat dries out, it erodes into streams, turning the water brown. </p>
<p>On the <a href="https://www.niwater.com/garron-plateau-bog-restoration-project/">Garron Plateau</a> in Northern Ireland, peat degradation contaminated water supplies for 12,000 people. But reducing the number of grazing sheep on peatland and blocking drainage channels to keep peat wet allowed peatland mosses to regrow, cutting water treatment costs and lowering carbon emissions. </p>
<p>On farmland, techniques like adding more organic matter to soil can improve soil health and build resilience to pests, heatwaves, droughts and floods. And in urban areas, adding “<a href="https://theconversation.com/circular-cities-of-the-world-what-can-green-infrastructure-do-119273">green infrastructure</a>” like parks and green roofs (roofs covered in vegetation) can help to cool cities and absorb water, preventing flooding in heavy rain. </p>
<h2>Problems</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/nature-based-solutions-in-uk-policy_dec2020.pdf">Our research</a> showed how governments could be missing opportunities to develop nature-based solutions. So in <a href="https://www.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org/news/wwf-rspb-report-nature-based-solutions-uk-climate-adaptation-policy/">a recent review</a>, commissioned by <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/">WWF</a> and <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/">RSPB</a>, we asked people working with nature-based solutions about the challenges they faced – to understand how we might better build these solutions into landscapes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person in peatland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431028/original/file-20211109-13-8ku476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Restoring peatland can protect water supplies and help store huge amounts of carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Hall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that, despite growing recognition of the role nature-based solutions can play in climate adaptation, policy support is lacking. For example, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/agroforestry-benefits/">agroforestry</a> (growing trees among crops or on grazing land) can protect livestock and crops in extreme weather. Yet it’s not covered by woodland planting grants and farmers aren’t trained in it, meaning that it’s rarely practised in the UK. And adding green walls and roofs to buildings, especially outside of <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2019_london_living_roofs_walls_report.pdf">London</a>, also lacks widespread policy support – so these are rarely installed by developers.</p>
<p>We were surprised to find that some projects were struggling with regulations designed to control damaging activities, such as mineral extraction. Small <a href="https://www.projectseagrass.org/">charity-led projects</a> trying to restore seagrass beds in coastal waters – to protect against floods and support fish – can face licensing fees of thousands of pounds from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/marine-management-organisation">Marine Management Organisation</a>, even though they are only supporting the local ecosystem. </p>
<p>We also found that better standards are needed to make sure nature-based solutions provide their full benefits. <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/severe-weather/flooding/sustainable-drainage-systems">Sustainable drainage systems</a> are a key example. Good drainage systems consist of a connected network of ponds and wetlands, which capture and clean rainwater from urban areas before releasing it into the environment to avoid <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/government-failing-to-stop-sewage-discharge-into-english-rivers-says-charity">overloading sewers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A grassy space with a path through it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431021/original/file-20211109-27-1x2bb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sustainable drainage systems, like in Woodberry Down, collect and treat stormwater while providing beautiful spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.susdrain.org/">Susdrain</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, standards for sustainable drainage systems in England focus on the amount of rainwater collected, so many new drainage systems simply use underground tanks and pipes rather than creating pleasant outdoor spaces that help wildlife to thrive. <a href="https://www.suds-authority.org.uk/2021/06/recommendations-to-update-non-statutory-technical-standards-for-sustainable-drainage-systems-suds/">New standards</a> drafted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would bring England up to the high standards in place in Wales.</p>
<p>Similarly, when building developers are asked to boost sustainability by adding green roofs, the default option is often to unroll a cheap, thin, pre-grown vegetation mat that doesn’t offer much insulation and may not survive a dry summer. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Biodiverse green roof at the David Attenborough building in Cambridge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431024/original/file-20211109-15-btwvg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cultivating roof habitats can encourage wildlife to populate urban spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://greeninfrastructureconsultancy.com/">Dusty Gedge, Green Infrastructure Consultancy</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the <a href="https://www.greenrooforganisation.org/2021/03/05/the-gro-code-of-best-practice-2021/">Green Roof Organisation</a>, a not-for-profit trade association, encourages planting a mix of wildflowers and including wildlife-friendly features such as logs or piles of stones. These thick, high-quality green roofs can cool buildings by as much as 20°C and absorb up to half of the annual rainfall, while providing habitat for insects and birds.</p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>It’s important to be careful when using techniques that could alter the balance of local ecosystems. For example, planting certain tree species in the “wrong place” can do more harm than good. Non-native tree species usually don’t help wildlife flourish. And trees can dry out carbon-rich soils, deplete local water supplies, or crowd out native grasslands and the species that depend on them.</p>
<p>Also, converting cropland to woodland in the UK will displace food production elsewhere, and could drive overseas deforestation to make space for new farmland: unless we <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/31/convert-farmland-to-nature-climate-crisis">free up space</a> by eating less meat and cutting food waste. </p>
<p>To unlock the self-regulating power of our planet’s environment, nature-based solutions need to go mainstream. For that to happen, governments need to provide more funding and design more supportive policies along the lines we suggest in <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/policy-briefings/nature-based-solutions-adaption-report.pdf">our review</a>: helping people create resilient, healthy landscapes that dampen the effects of climate change.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="COP26: the world's biggest climate talks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world.</strong>
<br><em>Amid a rising tide of climate news and stories, The Conversation is here to clear the air and make sure you get information you can trust. <a href="https://page.theconversation.com/cop26-glasgow-2021-climate-change-summit/"><strong>More.</strong></a></em> </p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Smith receives or has received funding from WWF-UK, RSPB, UKRI and the Oxford Martin School.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandre Chausson receives funding from UKRI.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathalie Seddon receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council.</span></em></p>
Nature-based solutions can help us sustainably tackle climate disasters - but to do that, they urgently need policy support.
Alison Smith, Researcher in Nature-based Solutions, University of Oxford
Alexandre Chausson, Researcher in Nature-based Solutions, University of Oxford
Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/162438
2021-06-15T20:08:33Z
2021-06-15T20:08:33Z
Peatlands worldwide are drying out, threatening to release 860 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406328/original/file-20210615-23-qjpune.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C15%2C5298%2C2920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peatlands, such as fens, bogs, marshes and swamps, <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change">cover just 3%</a> of the Earth’s total land surface, yet store over one-third of the planet’s soil carbon. That’s more than the carbon stored in all other vegetation combined, <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/peatlands-store-twice-much-carbon-all-worlds-forests">including the world’s forests</a>. </p>
<p>But peatlands worldwide are running short of water, and the amount of greenhouse gases this could set loose would be devastating for our efforts to curb climate change. </p>
<p>Specifically, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01059-w">our new research</a> in Nature Climate Change found drying peatlands could release an additional 860 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, by around 2100. To put this into perspective, Australia emitted <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/6686d48f-3f9c-448d-a1b7-7e410fe4f376/files/nggi-quarterly-update-mar-2019.pdf">539 million tonnes in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>To stop this from happening, we need to urgently preserve and restore healthy, water-logged conditions in peatlands. These thirsty peatlands need water.</p>
<h2>Peatlands are like natural archives</h2>
<p>Peatlands are found across the world: the arctic tundra, coastal marshes, tropical swamp forests, mountainous fens and blanket bogs on subantarctic islands. </p>
<p>They’re characterised by having water-logged soil filled with very slowly decaying plant material (the “peat”) that accumulated over tens of thousands of years, preserved by the low-oxygen environment. This partially decomposed plant debris is locked up in the soils as organic carbon.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/peat-bogs-restoring-them-could-slow-climate-change-and-revive-a-forgotten-world-139182">Peat bogs: restoring them could slow climate change – and revive a forgotten world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Peatlands can act like natural archives, letting scientists and archaeologists reconstruct past climate, vegetation, and even human lives. In fact, an estimated <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-benefits/culture-history">20,500 archaeological sites</a> are preserved under or within peat in the UK. </p>
<p>As unique habitats, peatlands are home for many native and endangered species of plants and animals that occur nowhere else, such as the white-bellied cinclodes (<em>Cinclodes palliatus</em>) in Peru and Australia’s giant dragonfly (<em>Petalura gigantea</em>), the world’s largest. They can also act as migration corridors for birds and other animals, and can purify water, regulate floods, retain sediments and so on. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Giant dragonfly on a branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406334/original/file-20210615-970-1hx0ccc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The giant dragonfly (<em>Petalura gigantea</em>) is listed as endangered under NSW environment law.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/9ac4e679-b481-4944-8cf6-7b98ed9419fc">Christopher Brandis/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But over the past several decades, humans have been draining global peatlands for a range of uses. This includes planting trees and crops, harvesting peat to burn for heat, and for other land developments. </p>
<p>For example, some peatlands rely on groundwater, such as portions of <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/southflorida/regions/everglades/threats/">the Greater Everglades</a>, the largest freshwater marsh in the United States. Over-pumping groundwater for drinking or irrigation has cut off the peatlands’ source of water.</p>
<p>Together with the regional drier climate due to global warming, our peatlands are drying out worldwide.</p>
<h2>What happens when peatlands dry out?</h2>
<p>When peat isn’t covered by water, it could be exposed to enough oxygen to fuel aerobic microbes living within. The oxygen allows the microbes to grow extremely fast, enjoy the feast of carbon-rich food, and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405539/original/file-20210610-15-17khabb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A marsh in Les Sables d Olonne, France. Some peatlands are also a natural sources of methane, which is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthur Gallois</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some peatlands are also a natural source of methane, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/emissions-of-methane-a-greenhouse-gas-far-more-potent-than-carbon-dioxide-are-rising-dangerously-142522">potent greenhouse gas</a> with the warming potential up to 100 times stronger than carbon dioxide.</p>
<p>But generating methane actually requires the opposite conditions to generating carbon dioxide. Methane is more frequently released in water-saturated conditions, while carbon dioxide emissions are mostly in unsaturated conditions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/emissions-of-methane-a-greenhouse-gas-far-more-potent-than-carbon-dioxide-are-rising-dangerously-142522">Emissions of methane – a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide – are rising dangerously</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This means if our peatlands are getting drier, we would have an increase in emissions of carbon dioxide, but a reduction in methane emissions. </p>
<h2>So what’s the net impact on our climate?</h2>
<p>We were part of an international team of scientists across Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, the US and China. Together, we collected and analysed a large dataset from carefully designed and controlled experiments across 130 peatlands all over the world. </p>
<p>In these experiments, we reduced water under different climate, soil and environmental conditions and, using machine learning algorithms, disentangled the different responses of greenhouse gases.</p>
<p>Our results were striking. Across the peatlands we studied, we found reduced water greatly enhanced the loss of peat as carbon dioxide, with only a mild reduction of methane emissions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405544/original/file-20210610-25-lg37c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A swamp forest in Peru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rupesh Bhomia</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The net effect — carbon dioxide vs methane — would make our climate warmer. This will seriously hamper global efforts to keep temperature rise under 1.5°C. </p>
<p>This suggests if sustainable developments to restore these ecosystems aren’t implemented in future, drying peatlands would add the equivalent of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01059-w">860 million tonnes of carbon dioxide</a> to the atmosphere every year by 2100. This projection is for a “high emissions scenario”, which assumes global greenhouse gas emissions aren’t cut any further.</p>
<h2>Protecting our peatlands</h2>
<p>It’s not too late to stop this from happening. In fact, many countries are already establishing peatland restoration projects. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.ser-rrc.org/project/indonesia-central-kalimantan-peatlands-restoration-project/">Central Kalimantan Peatlands Project</a> in Indonesia aims to rehabilitate these ecosystems by, for instance, damming drainage canals, revegetating areas with native trees, and improving local socio-economic conditions and introducing more sustainable agricultural techniques. </p>
<p>Likewise, the <a href="https://life-peat-restore.eu/en/">Life Peat Restore</a> project aims to restore 5,300 hectares of peatlands back to their natural function as carbon sinks across Poland, Germany and the Baltic states, over five years.</p>
<p>But protecting peatlands is a global issue. To effectively take care of our peatlands and our climate, we must work together urgently and efficiently. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-palm-oil-pulp-and-planet-four-perspectives-on-indonesias-fire-stricken-peatlands-80004">People, palm oil, pulp and planet: four perspectives on Indonesia's fire-stricken peatlands</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Peatlands worldwide are running short of water, and the amount of greenhouse gases this could set loose would be devastating for our efforts to curb climate change.
Yuanyuan Huang, Research Scientist , CSIRO
Yingping Wang, Chief research scientist, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/160315
2021-05-19T15:36:43Z
2021-05-19T15:36:43Z
Peat compost to be banned – luckily, green alternatives are just as good for your garden
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401699/original/file-20210519-17-lw8olp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4388%2C3095&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gardeners-hand-planting-flowers-pot-dirt-564967930">IgorAleks/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peat has been a staple ingredient of composts sold in British garden centres since the 1960s, even though it’s not actually that nutritious for plants. The reason why this spongy turf is coveted by gardeners is that it can hold onto both water and air and it’s generally free of pests and diseases. This makes peat the perfect environment for seeds to germinate and establish strong roots.</p>
<p>But few realise that the peat compost people buy each spring for their gardens took thousands of years to form. Extracted from bogs, fens and marshes, peat is the partially decomposed remains of ancient plants and animals. Peatlands in Europe contain <a href="http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5419124441481216">five times more carbon</a> than forests and disturbing peat for agriculture or harvesting it for compost releases CO₂ to the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. </p>
<p>The UK government plans to ban peat use among amateur gardeners <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987060/england-peat-action-plan.pdf">by 2024</a>. It had originally hoped garden centres in England would voluntarily stop selling peat-based products by 2020. But peat is a cheap resource and swapping it for compost made from alternatives makes little financial sense for these companies without binding regulation. As a result, peat still accounts for around <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987060/england-peat-action-plan.pdf">35% of all compost sales</a> – an increase of 9% in 2020 alone.</p>
<p>With the proposed ban and a pledge to restore 35,000 hectares of peatland across the country by the year after, retailers can no longer delay the transition to peat-free compost. Happily for green-fingered consumers, evidence suggests more ecologically benign compost can still keep gardens blooming beautifully.</p>
<h2>Peat-free compost blends</h2>
<p>Research to find peat replacements began in the 1970s, as the environmental consequences of destroying peatlands started to attract concern in the UK. The first generation of compost alternatives were often made from waste materials that had been composted, such as grass and tree clippings from parks and gardens (known as green waste), food processing byproducts such as spent brewers grain and animal manures. </p>
<p>These composts were inconsistent for a number of reasons. The blends were often changed from one year to the next, making it difficult for gardeners to adapt. Many contained higher levels of nutrients than some plants needed and the physical structure of some alternatives were rather different to peat, making it necessary to change the watering regime of plants, which was confusing for hobby gardeners. At the time, these composts were primarily sold in the retail sector to the general public, disappointing many who were accustomed to working with peat. This fostered a long-lasting resistance to peat alternatives.</p>
<p><a href="https://hta.org.uk/uploads/assets/219d3ce6-e9a2-4659-b0a52d7a1bd6dd1e/FINALCOVNTRYUNIREPORT-HTAGMAFinalCoversauthors29Sept20-1.pdf">More recent research</a> led by manufacturers, professional growers and consultants has revealed a new generation of composts. Different materials – especially bark, wood and coconut fibre – can be blended to form composts which <a href="https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/growing-media-review">perform as well as peat</a>. This new phase of research looked closely at how different materials interacted within blends, and led manufacturers to reduce the amount of green waste they use, which tends to vary in quality.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A white bag filled with leaves and branches." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401634/original/file-20210519-15-1czahck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Green waste was a replacement for peat in most of the early alternative composts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/big-white-bag-organic-green-garden-1737102632">Ellyy/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://tiny.cc/CP138">One project</a> tested these different blends of bark, coconut and wood fibre and found these mixtures could effectively replace peat in everything from sowing seeds, to growing young plants and larger ornamental nursery stock and soft fruit. Detailed analysis of each material’s ability to hold water and air in the required proportions – as well as their capacity to drain – revealed a formula which can predict how different materials will perform in any given blend, helping manufacturers develop composts of reliable quality.</p>
<p>Although most of the recent research has involved testing the performance of peat-free mixtures under <a href="https://projectblue.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/Research%20Papers/Horticulture/CP%20138_Report_Final_2019.pdf">commercial plant nursery conditions</a>, there’s no reason hobby gardeners shouldn’t have the same level of success.</p>
<p>New blends of peat-free composts are already available in garden centres. New Horizon, a blend of loam and plant fibre, has <a href="https://hta.org.uk/uploads/assets/219d3ce6-e9a2-4659-b0a52d7a1bd6dd1e/FINALCOVNTRYUNIREPORT-HTAGMAFinalCoversauthors29Sept20-1.pdf">outsold many peat-based brands</a>. Sadly, only <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/survey-top-retailers-only-one-20-says-they-will-eliminate-peat-year">one in 20 retailers</a> has announced plans to eliminate peat in their stores within the year. </p>
<p>Renewed pressure from the government and increasing consumer awareness could drive wider action. A new <a href="https://hta.org.uk/news-current-issues/news-current/news/growing-media-taskforce-announces.html">responsible sourcing scheme</a> within the horticultural industry will help ensure that new compost blends meet agreed sustainability standards in their sourcing and manufacture too. The stage is set for bags of peat-based compost to disappear from garden centres, but the transition to peat-free gardening will depend on gardeners sharing their experiences of how to get the best possible results from new peat-free products.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bek receives funding from Horticultural Trades Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margi Lennartsson Turner has received funding from Defra, EU Horizon 2020 and Horticulture Trades Association.</span></em></p>
What can gardeners use that isn’t so bad for the climate?
David Bek, Reader in Sustainable Economies, Coventry University
Margi Lennartsson Turner, Associate Professor of Horticulture, Coventry University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145290
2021-04-08T17:46:16Z
2021-04-08T17:46:16Z
How scientists are restoring boreal peatlands to help keep carbon in the ground
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393880/original/file-20210407-21-zeq00g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C61%2C3464%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The United Nation Environment Program is leading the Global Peatlands Initiative to save peatlands and help keep climate change in check. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peatlands are one of the most valuable terrestrial ecosystems in our fight against climate change. These deep layers of partially decayed plants and other organic material are tens of thousands of years old.</p>
<p>Globally, peatland covers more than three million square kilometres, and contains more than 550 gigatonnes of carbon — <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5285-2020">more than any other type of terrestrial ecosystems, including forests</a>. In fact, one square metre of northern peatlands contains five times the amount of carbon as one square metre of Amazon’s tropical forest. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, peatlands have been heavily exploited and damaged. They’ve been drained, converted into agricultural fields and burned or mined for access to natural resources. </p>
<p>But the United Nations Environment Program is leading the <a href="https://www.globalpeatlands.org/">Global Peatlands Initiative</a> to spearhead a co-ordinated effort to save peatlands, helping keep the global average temperature increase under 2C above pre-industrial levels. Through trial and error, peatland scientists like myself are finding the best ways to return peatlands to a functional state after they’ve been disturbed by oil and gas activity. </p>
<h2>What are peatlands?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C27%2C3019%2C4001&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="mosses, bushes and trees in a peatland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C27%2C3019%2C4001&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386289/original/file-20210224-17-1cwg8y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field view of a boreal peatland of northern Alberta. Sphagnum mosses form the ground base and drive ecosystem functions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xiu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peatlands are wetlands characterized by the thick accumulation of peat (more than 40 centimetres by the Canadian definition) due to an imbalance between the growth of plants and decomposition by micro-organisms in waterlogged conditions. </p>
<p>The removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its storage in peat has had a cooling effect on global climate over the past 10,000 years. If all this stored carbon were released, it would more than double the current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (to more than 800 parts per million), a scenarios of disastrous consequences for human civilization and natural ecosystems. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, peatlands have been heavily exploited and damaged. Around 15 per cent of global peatland has been drained by trenching, contributing to 5.6 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions (1.3 gigatonnes) already. Natural disturbances such as wildfires also pose serious threats to the the health of peatlands and the stability of stored carbon.</p>
<p>Canada is endowed with the <a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/fulle.web&search1=R=288786">world’s second-largest area of peatlands</a>, the majority of which are found in the boreal and sub-Arctic regions. Yet human activities, such as forestry, agriculture and resource extraction, and natural disturbances, including increasing temperature and fire frequency, are threatening their health and stability. </p>
<p>For example, winter roads and seismic lines created for resource exploration are extensive across the boreal forest, leading to permafrost disappearance, woodland <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/11-0666.1">caribou habitat fragmentation and population decline</a>, and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10762-4">seven per cent increase in Canada’s annual methane emission from land use change</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="open linear features are methane hotspots" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386500/original/file-20210225-17-sn4ne1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial view of multiple seismic lines and winter roads through a bog in Alberta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bryophytes: A keystone species of boreal peatlands</h2>
<p>In Canada, the boreal peatlands are dominated by bryophytes, a group of small, ancient land plants, whose importance to peatlands is often overlooked. Some of the most important bryophytes, commonly known as “peat moss” or “black dirt,” <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3244138?seq=1">belong to Sphagnum, the keystone genus of boreal peatlands</a>. </p>
<p>Bryophytes form the ground surfaces of peatlands, produce plant tissues that are difficult to decompose and release chemicals that slow down microbial activities that produce important greenhouse gases including methane and carbon dioxide. Over time, the undecomposed plant material of bryophytes form the bulk of peat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="deep pink coloured Sphagnum moss" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386287/original/file-20210224-23-cpjjh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Close-up of Sphagnum magellanicum, a common peat-forming moss of boreal peatlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Peatland restoration: Learning from nature</h2>
<p>The restoration of boreal peatland is a relatively new field of practice with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12434">early trials developed for horticultural peatlands in Québec and Ontario in the late 1990s</a>. In Alberta, the <a href="https://landusekn.ca/resource/literature-review-restoration-albertas-boreal-wetlands-affected-oil-gas-and-situ-oilsands">restoration of peatland disturbed by oil and gas activities has relied on trial-and-error approaches with variable and limited success</a>. </p>
<p>One of the key issues is the lack of understanding of bryophytes and the misplaced focus on trees. There has been a tendency to introduce trees through planting as a restoration practice and to use the establishment of a tree canopy as a measure of success. But these practices are best suited for upland forested ecosystems. </p>
<p>The approach ignores the fact that boreal peatlands are shaped by the ground-layer bryophytes. Without the keystone bryophytes, important <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-31913-9_4">peatland functions will not return</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of wetlands surrounding a small lake" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386285/original/file-20210224-19-170yncu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mosaic of bogs and fens around a small lake in northern Alberta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By studying fossil records of peatland plant fragments, pollens and spores, scientists have been able to reconstruct the development and succession of boreal peatlands over time. Many of Alberta’s peatlands formed through a process called “paludification,” the direct <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005425124749">establishment and formation of peat in areas formerly occupied by forest vegetation on mineral soil</a>. The majority of Alberta’s boreal peatlands started to form <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/b03-076">through paludification around 8,000 years ago</a>. </p>
<p>As the climate became cool and soil moisture increased, Sphagnum mosses slowly expanded into forest areas. Eventually, the growth and expansion of mosses led to the different types of peatlands we now see. </p>
<p>In North America, blocking drainage ditches and introducing live moss fragments with spores, seeds and roots, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022011027946">restored Sphagnum moss-dominated horticultural peat fields in eastern Canada</a>. This method is known as <a href="https://www.gret-perg.ulaval.ca/no_cache/pergs-publications/technical-guides/restoration/?tx_centrerecherche_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=6447">the moss layer transfer technique (MLTT)</a>. </p>
<p>In Alberta, limited field trials have shown that reclaimed industrial sites (for example, a former in-situ oil and gas well pad) can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2010.11.029">support the development of peatland mosses once appropriate soil conditions are established</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Field of bright green vegetation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386288/original/file-20210224-21-15vlnj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field view of a restored oil and gas well pad in peatland near Peace River, Alta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bin Xu)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Donor moss material can be collected from nearby winter roads and seismic lines. In all cases, the introduction of donor moss fragments was essential to the success of restoring peatland vegetation. </p>
<p>Successful growth of keystone mosses can ensure the return of critical peatland functions over time. Other plants will develop concurrently from seeds and roots in the donor material. Trees will establish naturally or through planting.</p>
<p>When it comes to peatland restoration, we should switch our focus from trees and canopy closure to promoting the development of a carpet of ground-layer bryophytes. We need to learn to use these small but important plants to our advantage in our fight against climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bin Xu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Peatlands store more soil carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem, including tropical forests. But they have been heavily exploited and damaged. Now, scientists are working to restore them.
Bin Xu, NSERC Industrial Research Chair Colleges, Peatland Restoration, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/151364
2020-12-07T16:18:31Z
2020-12-07T16:18:31Z
Peatlands keep a lot of carbon out of Earth’s atmosphere, but that could end with warming and development
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373121/original/file-20201204-15-1j8bmae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More valuable than it looks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/2i7ErG1">David Stanley/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://peatlands.org/peatlands/what-are-peatlands/">Peatlands</a> are a type of wetland where dead plant material doesn’t fully decompose because it’s too soggy. In these ecosystems, peat builds up as spongy dark soil that’s sometimes referred to as sod or turf. Over thousands of years, yards-thick layers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat">peat</a> accumulate and trap huge amounts of carbon, helping to cool the climate on a global scale. </p>
<p>But that might not be true for much longer. Warming temperatures and human actions, such as draining bogs and converting them for agriculture, threaten to turn the world’s peatlands from carbon reservoirs to carbon sources.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00944-0#citeas">newly published study</a>, our <a href="http://pastglobalchanges.org/science/wg/peat-carbon/intro">multidisciplinary team of 70 scientists</a> from around the world analyzed existing research and surveyed 44 leading experts to identify factors that could change peatlands’ carbon balance now and in the future. We found that permafrost degradation, warming temperatures, rising sea levels and drought are causing many peatlands around the world to lose some of their stored carbon. This is in addition to rapid degradation caused by human activity. And unless steps are taken to protect peatlands, carbon loss could accelerate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing global distribution of peatlands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373119/original/file-20201204-21-16ozcjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peatlands are found in an estimated 180 countries. Many of them have not been recognized and are not yet properly mapped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4575/38989454502_ccb67be1e8_b.jpg">Levi Westerveld/GRID-Arendal</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From carbon sink to carbon source</h2>
<p>Although they only occupy 3% of the global land area, peatlands contain about 25% of global soil carbon — twice as much as the world’s forests. Peatlands exist on every continent, even in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12479-0">Antarctica</a>. In the U.S. they are found in many states, including Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. These ecosystems form where partially decayed organic matter accumulates in cold soil that is nearly always wet, which <a href="https://www.livescience.com/38983-irish-bog-body.html">dramatically slows decomposition</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sMawMMtME7g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Humans have used peat for centuries as a fuel, and also to flavor whiskey.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But now climate change is altering those conditions. For example, in many regions of the Arctic, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01313-4">rapid permafrost thawing</a> promotes microbial activity that releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These microbes feed off carbon-rich peats that were once frozen. </p>
<p>Massive peatland fires also contribute. Recent wildfires <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/29/zombie-wildfires-threaten-arctic-russia-scientists-warn-a70416">like those in Russia</a> are known to release as much carbon in a few months as total human carbon dioxide emissions in an entire year. And these fires are especially tricky to put out. Embers within the dense organic matter can reignite many months or even years later.</p>
<p>Human activities are also increasing greenhouse gas releases from these carbon-rich ecosystems. In the United Kingdom, for example, <a href="https://candidegardening.com/GB/stories/ea083986-c223-44f9-a50f-1ff2813cdf09">extracting peat for use in gardening</a> has caused peatlands to emit an estimated 16 million tons of carbon every year – roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator">over 12 million cars</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/as-fires-strangle-national-parks-indonesia-struggles-to-restore-peatlands/">Indonesia</a> and <a href="https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/living/2020/11/24/ways-to-save-degraded-peatlands-and-stop-them-turning-into-fire-hazards">Malaysia</a>, as fertile land becomes increasingly scarce, peatlands are being burned, drained, and repurposed. Already, most peatlands in Indonesia have been <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/11/asia/borneo-climate-bomb-intl-hnk/">destroyed in order to build palm oil plantations</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Peat blocks stacked to dry" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373118/original/file-20201204-19-14drpop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peat cut into blocks and drying on racks in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julie Loisel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/destruction-tropical-peatland-overlooked-source-emissions">World Resources Institute</a> estimates that in Indonesia and Malaysia, peatland draining results in total annual emissions equal to those of nearly 70 coal plants. These activities also endanger vulnerable animal populations, such as orangutans and various species of freshwater fish. Peatland degradation due to human activity accounts for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0615-5">5-10% of annual carbon dioxide emissions from human activity</a>, despite these zones’ tiny geographic footprint. </p>
<h2>Quantifying peatland carbon</h2>
<p>Predicting how much carbon will be released from peatlands worldwide is hard to do, especially because no models can adequately represent these ecosystems and the many factors that influence their carbon balance. </p>
<p>Peatlands are not included in most <a href="https://www.climateurope.eu/earth-system-modeling-a-definition/">earth system models</a> that scientists use to make future climate change projections. There is a long-held view that peatlands are minor players in the global carbon cycle on a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0271-1">year-to-year basis</a>, but our study and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z">many others</a> show that climate change and human intervention are making these ecosystems very dynamic. Our study highlights the need to integrate peatlands into these models; we also hope it can help direct new research. </p>
<p>Even though models are not ready, decisions need to be made now about how to manage peatlands. That’s why we surveyed experts as a first step towards predicting the fate of peat carbon worldwide. </p>
<p>Based on their responses, we estimate that 100 billion tons of carbon could be emitted from peatlands by 2100 – an amount equivalent to about 10 years of emissions from all human activities, including burning fossil fuels and clearing forests. The experts we consulted have not reached a consensus, and our estimate is highly uncertain: Net changes in peat carbon over the next 80 years could range from a gain of 103 billion tons to a loss of 360 billion tons. </p>
<p>Not every region will be affected the same way. High-latitude peatlands might see an increase in carbon storage under a warming climate because of increased plant growth and greater peat accumulation. Tropical peats, on the other hand, are more likely to dry out and burn due to warming temperatures and human activity. These factors and human choices about peatland use will affect whether these areas become carbon sources or sinks in the future.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tropical forested wetland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373120/original/file-20201204-17-134iqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tropical peatlands in Panama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angela Gallego-Sala</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Overall, our results suggest that carbon releases will surpass carbon gains in the coming years, primarily because of human impacts in tropical peatlands. This switch from carbon sink to carbon source will feed a <a href="https://sciencetrends.com/positive-feedback-loop-examples/">positive feedback loop</a>, with peatlands releasing carbon that makes Earth’s climate warmer, which makes peatlands release more carbon, and so on.</p>
<p>Despite the uncertainty in our findings, we believe our results show that peatlands should be included in climate models, and that nations should take steps to preserve them. </p>
<h2>Toward sustainable use</h2>
<p>A balance must be achieved between wise peatland use and local economic needs. Given how much carbon peatlands hold and how vulnerable they are, many surveyed experts believe people soon will adopt more sustainable practices for managing them. But others are not so optimistic. In regions such as <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/its-not-just-the-amazon-we-must-also-protect-congo-basin-peatlands-from-fire/">the Amazon and the Congo basins</a>, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-017-9774-8">large peatland complexes</a> were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/12/124017">recently discovered</a>, it is critical to take action to preserve them.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Peatlands should also be considered in <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/publications/2018/integrated-assessment-models-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-arrive-at-their-conclusions/">integrated assessment models</a> that researchers use to understand climate change impacts and options for mitigating them. Models that project future socioeconomic change and carbon emission pathways could help develop incentives such as peatland carbon pricing and sustainable use practices. This would change the way these ecosystems are valued and managed. </p>
<p>The first step, however, is to raise awareness around the world of this precious natural resource and the consequences of continuing to exploit it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Loisel receives funding from the US National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. </span></em></p>
Peat beds around the world hold huge quantities of carbon and keep it from warming the planet. But rising temperatures and over-use could turn them from a brake on climate change into an accelerant.
Julie Loisel, Assistant Professor of Geography, Texas A&M University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150324
2020-11-20T13:50:17Z
2020-11-20T13:50:17Z
How medieval Christian ideology changed the Polish environment forever – new study
<p>Few would seriously dispute that human activities are causing <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/climate-change-27">climate change</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/ecosystem-collapse-24931">destroying ecosystems</a>. It’s less understood why people do these things despite knowing the consequences, and why we seem unable to stop. </p>
<p>Human disruption of natural systems is nothing new, and nor are the ideologies and political and economic systems that drive it. A new study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75692-4">published in Nature</a> captured a moment in history when a small society of people transitioned from one way of living to another, transforming the world around them as a result.</p>
<p>Researchers discovered the rapid destruction of pristine forest to make room for cereal agriculture in 14th-century Poland by looking at information stored in peat bogs. Deforestation accelerated sharply when management of the land was taken over by the Order of St John – knights who had taken religious vows, fought in the crusades and helped <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9R0fmcWVJAgC&q=poland#v=onepage&q=the%20polish%20cases%20are%3A%20the%20grant%20of%20land&f=false">colonise central</a> and <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_m-FAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hoffmann+environmental+history&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO8Ijklo_tAhVNURUIHbZxCxAQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=in%20western%20polish%20lands&f=false">eastern Europe</a>. </p>
<p>Also known as the Joannites, their concern was maximising profits from their new estates, believing it a moral duty to “clear” landscapes and make them “productive”. They set peasants to work uprooting trees, turning the bare soil with heavy plows and iron harrows, and planting cereal crops.</p>
<h2>Deforestation and serfdom</h2>
<p>The research was carried out near Łagów, in western Poland, in an area of peatland that has been a nature reserve since 1970. <a href="https://theconversation.com/bogs-are-unique-records-of-history-heres-why-100627">Peat bogs</a> are damp, acidic and low-oxygen environments that are hostile to <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/peat-bogs-are-freakishly-good-at-preserving-human-remains.htm">bacteria and fungi</a>. As a result, plant matter can accumulate here for centuries without decomposing. Researchers took peat core samples and used radiocarbon dating to establish a chronology of events. They analysed pollen, spores, charcoal particles, plant remains, and the single-celled organisms that inhabit the soil, which provided detailed evidence of environmental change. With surviving medieval written records and archaeological remains from the period, as well as evidence from documentary archives, the researchers charted the distribution, density and character of human settlements at the time.</p>
<p>With great clarity, the results showed how the onset of rapid deforestation affected the surrounding wetlands. From 500 AD onwards, the evidence alluded to a mixed broadleaf forest of hornbeam, oak, birch, beech, pine and alder, surrounding a wet alkaline fen. The numbers of each tree species and the density of the forest appeared largely stable until the arrival of the Order in 1350. At that point, sharp changes were discernible. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sunlit bog with tree saplings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369839/original/file-20201117-17-10r8ci0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pawski Ług peatland, now dominated by Sphagnum moss since the loss of pristine forest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75692-4">Mariusz Lamentowicz</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The green algae that thrived in the fen disappeared totally by about 1400, to be replaced by peat moss. Evidence for hornbeam, previously the most prevalent tree, together with birch, beech and alder, drastically fell over the same period. The only tree that prospered was pine, which dominated in the record as the other trees disappeared. Cereals were present from the beginning of the record, but their quantity suddenly increased from 1350. Coprophilous fungi, which grows on animal dung, wasn’t discernible before then, but makes its appearance around 1400, coinciding with the rise of animal husbandry. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the destruction of the old broadleaf forests and the resulting soil erosion caused the fen wetlands to acidify, and eventually transform into peat bogs. The destruction of one habitat irrevocably altered another.</p>
<p>When the Order arrived in 1350, they enlarged the castle, built houses for servants and artisans, and created a commercial hub for the surrounding villages. Written records show how the land was parcelled among the peasant farmers who worked it for their feudal landlords, the Joannites. The peasants had to finance local churches and priests. Large farms were established with new farming practices such as three-field crop rotation. This all generated enough money to support the aristocratic knights, together with the priests, their church building, and perhaps more besides.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A small castle with a single turret sits amid trees at dusk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369840/original/file-20201117-13-l25u20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The castle in Łagów, 2 kilometres from the peatland, which served as the Joannite headquarters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75692-4">Ryszard Orzechowski</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lost connections</h2>
<p>The study traced the ecology of the region of Łagów from 500 AD, but evidence of permanent human settlements goes back as far as 1300 BC. For more than two millennia, humans managed to live in the region without deforesting it. What changed? Above all else, human ideologies.</p>
<p>Prior to being enveloped in the Christian kingdom of Poland from the late 10th century, and no doubt for some time afterwards, the Slavic communities who lived in the area were “pagan” – a pejorative label used by Christian authorities. Whatever worldviews or practices it might once have described were so thoroughly and violently erased that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0254.2007.00214.x">we cannot recover them</a> with any confidence. </p>
<p>We do know that, in Christian eyes, pagans were too close to the natural world, too deferential to trees, springs, rivers and rocks. The archetypal image of the conversion of pagans east of the Rhine is that of the evangelising monk, St Boniface, hacking down an ancient and revered oak tree. In this story, the local population is so dismayed and awed as the tree crashes down that they immediately convert to Christianity. Boniface uses the wood of the tree to make a chapel. The alliance of warriors and missionaries intent on integrating the region and its natural resources into the Frankish Empire achieves another propaganda coup.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An engraving depicting a bearded man swinging an axe at an oak tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370439/original/file-20201119-21-are0al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bonifatius Donareiche fells Donar’s Oak in an engraving from 1781.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Boniface#/media/File:Bonifatius_Donareiche.jpg">Bernhard Rode/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the past, our understanding of “Christianisation” depended on such celebratory stories. They formed the foundation myths of modern Europe: a continent unified through conversion to a shared religion and a culture that harked back to imperial Rome. These ideologies underwrote later European colonialism, connecting notions of “progress” and “enlightenment” with rendering landscapes profitable to humans. Their potency has made us blind to reality. </p>
<p>This study shows vividly and poignantly that such ideas are, and always have been, inseparable from their environmental consequences. Through its findings, we can see the precise ecological effects of the replacement of an old, sustainable, “pagan” way of living in the forests and wetlands of the Łagów region. What we thought was profit turns out to be mostly loss.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Power does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Historians and scientists discovered how colonisation in eastern Europe changed ecosystems – and the societies embedded in them.
Amanda Power, Associate Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144235
2020-08-12T12:49:52Z
2020-08-12T12:49:52Z
We mapped the world’s frozen peatlands – what we found was very worrying
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352228/original/file-20200811-23-1xdb924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5342%2C3053&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">F-Focus by Mati Kose / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peatlands cover just a few percent of the global land area but they store almost one-quarter of all soil carbon and so play a crucial role in regulating the climate. My colleagues and I have just produced the most accurate map yet of the world’s peatlands – their depth, and how much greenhouse gas they have stored. We found that global warming will soon mean that these peatlands start emitting more carbon than they store.</p>
<p>Peatlands form in areas where waterlogged conditions slow down the decomposition of plant material and peat accumulates. This accumulation of carbon-rich plant remains has been especially strong in northern tundra and taiga areas where they have helped cool the global climate for more than 10,000 years. Now, large areas of perennially frozen (permafrost) peatlands are thawing, causing them to rapidly release the freeze-locked carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane.</p>
<p>Geoscientists have studied peatlands for a long time. They’ve looked at why <a href="https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/9/4071/2012/bg-9-4071-2012.html">some areas have peat but others don’t</a> and they’ve looked at how peatlands work as natural archives through which we can reconstruct what the climate and vegetation was like in the past (or even what human life was life: many well-preserved ancient humans have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/bogs-are-unique-records-of-history-heres-why-100627">found in peat bogs</a>). </p>
<p>Scientists have also long recognised that peatlands are important parts of the global carbon cycle and the climate. When plants grow they absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere and as this material accumulates in the peat, there is less carbon in the atmosphere and therefore the climate will cool in the long-term. </p>
<p>With all this knowledge about how important northern peatlands are, it is perhaps surprising to learn that, until recently, there was no comprehensive map of their depth and how much carbon they store. That is why I led an international group of researchers who put together such a map, which we can use to estimate how the peatlands will respond to global warming. Our work is now published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1916387117">PNAS</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Maps showing the location of northern peatlands and permafrost." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352245/original/file-20200811-14-2shmgl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peatland covers much of the far north – and often overlaps with permafrost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/08/04/1916387117.short?rss=1">Hugelius et al / PNAS</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peatlands are surprisingly difficult to map as their growth is connected to many different local factors, such as how water drains in the landscape. This meant we had to gather more than 7,000 field observations and use new statistical models based on machine learning to create the maps.</p>
<p>We found that peatlands cover approximately 3.7 million square kilometres. If it were a country, “Peatland” would be slightly larger than India. These peatlands also store approximately 415 gigatons (billion tons) of carbon – as much as is stored in all the world’s forests and trees together. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scientist in protective clothing sat beside lake in peat bog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352249/original/file-20200811-15-qtbog9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sampling peatland in Siberia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gustaf Hugelius</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Almost half of this northern peatland carbon is presently in permafrost, ground that is frozen all year round. But, as the world warms and permafrost thaws, it causes peatlands to collapse and completely changes how they relate to greenhouse gases. Areas that once cooled the atmosphere by storing carbon would instead release more of both CO₂ and methane than they stored. We found that the thaw projected from future global warming will cause releases of greenhouse gas that overshadow and reverse the carbon dioxide sink of all northern peatlands for several hundred years. The exact timing of this switch is still highly uncertain, but it is likely to happen in the later half of this century.</p>
<p>There are regions of very extensive permafrost peatlands in Western Siberia and around Hudson Bay in Canada. These unique environments and ecosystems will be fundamentally changed as the permafrost thaws, and their characteristic mix of frozen peat mounds and small lakes will be replaced by extensive areas of wet fens.</p>
<p>These changes will cause more CO₂ and methane to be released into the atmosphere as the previously frozen peat becomes available for microbes that degrade it. The thaw will also lead to large losses of peat into rivers and streams, which will influence both the food chains and biochemistry of inland waters and the Arctic Ocean.</p>
<p>These new finding further reinforce how urgent it is to rapidly reduce our emissions, as the only way to stop permafrost thaw is to limit global warming. There are no geoengineering solutions that can be deployed in these vast and remote areas. Our results clearly show that more limited global warming of 1.5°C-2°C would be much less damaging than our current trajectories of 3°C-4°C degrees or above.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gustaf Hugelius receives funding from the Swedish Research Council and the European Union Horizon 2020 research
and innovation project Nunataryuk.</span></em></p>
Peatlands will become a major source of greenhouse gases as the permafrost thaws.
Gustaf Hugelius, Senior Lecturer, Physical Geography, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126330
2019-11-28T03:31:06Z
2019-11-28T03:31:06Z
4 steps the Indonesian government can take to ensure locals help put out forest fires
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303072/original/file-20191122-113006-jri622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C5406%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forest fires break out in Indonesia every year from land clearing using fires. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A massive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/nov/11/indonesia-forest-fires-explained-haze-palm-oil-timber-burning">forest fire broke out in Indonesia in 2015</a>, burning at least two million hectares and killing 19 people.</p>
<p>It also resulted in an estimated 500,000 cases of respiratory tract infections. It cost the country at least <a href="https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20151211143623-106-97575/indonesia-rilis-data-kebakaran-hutan-2015-di-paris">US$47 billion</a> and polluted neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia.</p>
<p>The Indonesian government introduced a peatland restoration program to prevent massive forest fires in 2016 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-haze-peatlands/indonesia-sets-up-peatland-restoration-agency-after-fires-idUSKCN0US0C620160114">establishing the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG)</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sebelum-jabatan-berakhir-susi-pudjiastuti-tetapkan-teluk-benoa-sebagai-kawasan-konservasi-maritim-ini-langkah-selanjutnya-126842">Sebelum jabatan berakhir, Susi Pudjiastuti tetapkan Teluk Benoa sebagai kawasan konservasi maritim. Ini langkah selanjutnya</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Restoring peatland, a distinct ecosystem that needs to be flooded by water at all times, is an ideal way to prevent forest fires.</p>
<p>If <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/why-peatlands-matter">peatland</a> dries up, either by being drained or burned down for plantation, the area becomes flammable and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.my/indonesia-is-burning-peatlands-heres-why-that-makes-the-haze-even-worse-than-normal-fires/">hard to extinguish</a>. Fires are smoldering in low temperature and spread undetected underground on dry peatland.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303907/original/file-20191127-112512-ovslef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burned areas for oil palm plantation in 2016, in Ketapang, Kalimantan. Indonesia loses billions of dollars from land clearing using burning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Salvacampillo / Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The restoration program seems like the perfect plan to prevent forest fires. It focuses on how to flood <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/why-peatlands-matter">peatland</a>, plant endemic trees and provide alternative livelihood – known as the 3Rs (rewetting, revegetation, and revitalisation).</p>
<p>Nevertheless, peat fires still happens in Indonesia, ironically the provinces heavily dominated by peatlands in Sumatra and Kalimantan.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-it-takes-to-put-out-forest-fires-122644">What it takes to put out forest fires</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This year’s fores fires <a href="https://www.mongabay.co.id/2019/10/22/kebakaran-hutan-dan-lahan-sampai-september-2019-hampir-900-ribu-hektar/">started as early</a> as January and burned until October or November, burning nearly 900,000 hectares, polluting air with thick haze and eventually harming human health. </p>
<p>Our research in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, between 2018 and 2019, reveals resistance by local communities to the government’s restoration program is the main reason forests keep burning. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We conducted research to examine community participation in peatland restoration in two provinces in Sumatra (South Sumatra and Riau), and Central Kalimantan in Kalimantan island, in 2018 and 2019. </p>
<p>We conducted interviews and focus group discussions, involving ten to 20 respondents. They comprise heads of villages, local disaster agencies, local villages’ fire fighting squads, farmers and indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Our interviews with farmers showed they mostly rejected the government’s ban on clearing the land with fires as it’s against their common practice. </p>
<p>In Indonesia, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southeast-asia-haze/area-burned-in-2019-forest-fires-in-indonesia-exceeds-2018-official-idUSKBN1X00VU">slashing and burning</a> is the most preferable technique to clear land as it is considered the cheapest method.</p>
<p>The local communities’ stance leads them to refuse rewetting, revegetation, and revitalisation efforts under the government’s peatland restoration program.</p>
<p>For example, Simpur villagers in Pulang Pisau regency in Central Kalimantan broke down canal blocking, intended to wet the peat (rewetting), to make way for their boats to go to their plantations. </p>
<p>Most of these land owners also refuse to plant endemic trees such as <em>galam</em> (<em>Melaleuca leucadendra</em>), <em>belangerin</em> (<em>Shorea balangeran</em>), jelutong (<em>Dyera polyphylla</em>) or sedges (<em>Cyperaceae</em>) and prefer short-lived and economical crops, such as <em>sengon</em> (<em>Albizia chinensis</em>) or oil palm. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303908/original/file-20191127-112489-1vtkfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jelutong tree or Dyera costulata has longer growth time compared to commercial crops, such as oil palm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://id.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Dyera_costulata.jpg">wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This happens in local communities in Ogan Komering Ilir villages in South Sumatra and Pulang Pisang regency. </p>
<p>They prefer palm oil as it only takes five years to cultivate, while endemic trees need at least 20 years. </p>
<p>Around 2 million hectares of peat need to be restored by 2020. At least 400,000 hectares of this is located in private and community lands, mostly owned by local and indigenous communities.</p>
<p>Without local participation in peatland restoration, it would be difficult to restore degraded peat and to prevent fires in the future. </p>
<p>There are four steps the Indonesian government can take to improve local people’s participation in restoring peatlands and to reduce risks of forest fires: </p>
<p><strong>1. Provide maintenance funds</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://pantaugambut.id/uploads/default/komitmen/resources/2c3d33fec9168c27a5a631a19f72d3e5_Perpres_Nomor_1_Tahun_2016_BRG.pdf">Peatland Restoration Agency</a> aims to rehabilitate 2 million hectares of burned peat by 2020. </p>
<p>Peatland restoration needs funding. The agency only has the budget to implement the restoration program but not to maintain it. </p>
<p>The agency may have built various infrastructure, like deep wells or canal blockings to restore peatland. But without proper maintenance, this infrastructure is easily destroyed, especially by disapproving villagers.</p>
<p>The government can provide money for maintenance through village funds. </p>
<p>A new ministerial regulation on village funds in 2019 allows the disbursement of <a href="https://mediaindonesia.com/read/detail/262129-dana-desa-bisa-dipakai-untuk-karhutla">village funds</a> to maintain infrastructure built to mitigate disasters, like forest fires. </p>
<p><strong>2. Reward and punishment</strong> </p>
<p>The government should introduce a reward and punishment system to involve local villages in the implementation of the restoration program. </p>
<p>If they are willing to participate in the program , they can get rewards. The rewards can be in the forms of incentives, or grants and partnerships to manage the lands.</p>
<p>On the other hand, penalties can be given to those who intentionally burn down peat areas or fail to prevent their areas from burning. </p>
<p>The money from the penalties can be used to finance peatland restoration. </p>
<p><strong>3. Cut red tape</strong> </p>
<p>More often than not, forest fire mitigation is marred in bureaucracy, especially among government agencies.</p>
<p>When land or peatland is on fire, local fire brigades, involving villagers and civil societies, will be the first to respond. However, they are usually lacking in equipment and even knowledge of how to put out fires in burned peatlands.</p>
<p>Deployment of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), with better equipment, is allowed when emergency status is declared. </p>
<p>This is slowing down efforts to put out fires, risking thousands of hectares of peatland being burned. </p>
<p>To cut red tape, we recommend using village funds to better equip the local fire brigades. At the same time, the deployment of BPBD should not wait until emergency status is declared. </p>
<p><strong>4. Promoting cheap and reliable no-burning technology</strong></p>
<p>Aside from the infamous slash and burning tehnique, other options are available. This includes <a href="https://www.ru.nl/science/aquatic/education/internships/msc-student-research-projects/paludiculture-sustainable-management-peatlands/">paludiculture</a>, a practice of crop production on wet soil, suitable for peatlands. This practice in Sumatra promotes <a href="https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1134980/milenial-kabupaten-ogan-komering-ilir-buat-kerajinan-berbahan-purun">purun</a> (a grass-like plant that grows on peat swamps), planting <a href="https://forestsnews.cifor.org/61092/pineapples-and-peatlands?fnl=en">pineapples</a> and fish farming.</p>
<p>The government can also provide hand tractors to every village (suitable for palm oil plantation and sengon) and better irrigation in non-peat areas to grow rice, while promoting <a href="http://www.worldagroforestry.org/publication/agroforestry-peatlands-combining-productive-and-protective-functions-part-restoration-0">agroforestry</a>.</p>
<p>These alternatives, if implemented properly, can support revitalisation efforts where the government needs to provide alternative forms of livelihood. This way, farmers can still manage and reap economic benefits from their crops without burning land. </p>
<h2>Moving Forward</h2>
<p>Land and forest fires will continue in Indonesia – with devastating consequences for the world – as long as peatlands continue to be used for agriculture, livelihood, plantation and other activities.</p>
<p>We need holistic reform to ensure all stakeholders contribute to the peatland restoration program. The government also needs to promote existing policies such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/jokowi-telah-berlakukan-permanen-moratorium-izin-hutan-ini-tiga-keuntungannya-bagi-indonesia-121892">peatland moratorium</a>, <a href="https://forestsnews.cifor.org/60457/the-future-of-social-forestry-in-indonesia?fnl=en">social forestry</a> and the <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/12/11/indonesia-launches-one-map-policy-to-resolve-land-conflicts.html">integrated map</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laely Nurhidayah receives funding from ANU SMERU Indonesia Research Project 2019, Peatland Restoration Agency Research fund, LIPI Research fund, AMINEF Fulbright visiting fellow 2019-2020. </span></em></p>
Villagers of Sumatra and Kalimantan relunctant to participate in peatland restoration, contributing to the recent forest fires in Indonesia.
Laely Nurhidayah, Researcher, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121923
2019-11-12T11:51:33Z
2019-11-12T11:51:33Z
Should Ireland fuel its power stations with wood shipped from Australia?
<p>In Ireland, there has recently been some controversy over a proposal to transition a number of the country’s dirtiest power stations away from burning peat bogs, which emits even more carbon than coal. Instead, the plan is to <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2019/0713/1061917-bord-na-mona/">burn “biomass”</a> – that is, wood. However, because Ireland has relatively little forestry, there is not enough wood available to meet demand. That’s why Bord na Mona, a semi-state body that manages several peat burning power plants, proposed to source the wood <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0713/1061843-bord-na-mona-jobs/">from Australia</a>. </p>
<p>This angered conservation groups, who pointed to the very high carbon footprint of hauling timber all the way from the other side of the world, just to burn it for electricity. And over the summer Irish planning authorities <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/esb-power-station-plans-refused-4736527-Jul2019/">refused permission</a> for one peat-burning power plant in County Offaly to be converted to biomass, putting the plans on hold.</p>
<p>Burning Australian wood in Ireland does indeed sound daft, at first. But the true carbon footprint isn’t always as straightforward as it would seem at first glance (just look at how, for example, cutting plastic packaging can sometimes lead <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-plastic-packaging-is-necessary-to-prevent-food-waste-and-protect-the-environment-117479">to more food spoiling</a> and thus higher carbon emissions, or how <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17027990">cotton or paper bags can sometimes work out worse than a plastic bag</a>). Therefore, since Bord Na Mona has been <a href="https://greennews.ie/bnam-refuses-release-biomass-docs/">slow to release details</a> on the potential carbon emissions, I thought it would be useful to try and estimate them myself.</p>
<p>First I want to clear up one thing: burning trees doesn’t necessarily count as emissions. Though trees are made of carbon, if at least one is planted for every one cut down then the overall amount of carbon in the atmosphere should remain roughly neutral. </p>
<p>There are many other sources of <a href="https://theconversation.com/british-power-stations-are-burning-wood-from-us-forests-to-meet-renewables-targets-54969">carbon emissions related to forestry</a> though, including land use changes, forest management or processing of the wood after harvest. But in this particular case, the main source of carbon emissions would be transport. </p>
<h2>Calculating the footprint</h2>
<p>To make the calculations simple, let’s assume a shipment of exactly 1,000 tonnes of logs from Australia to Ireland, a distance of about 21,000km by sea. We’ll also assume another 500km by lorry to and from the port. The <a href="https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/Global-shipping-GHG-emissions-2013-2015_ICCT-Report_17102017_vF.pdf">carbon footprint of a cargo ship</a> depends on the type of ship, fuel used, route, speed, and so on, but for a bulk carrier it works out to about <a href="http://www.worldshipping.org/industry-issues/environment/air-emissions/carbon-emissions">8 grams of CO₂ per km per tonne of cargo</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297390/original/file-20191016-98670-e72104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carbon emissions by transport method.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">International Chamber of Shipping, https://www.ics-shipping.org/docs/co2</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For trucks it varies between <a href="https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-vehicle-efficiency-and-emissions-standards#Table1">40 to 90 grams</a>, but 55 grams per km per tonne would be a reasonable estimate. Do the maths and that works out at 168 tonnes of CO₂ emitted by the ship, and 27.5 tonnes by truck, giving a combined total of 195.5 tonnes of CO₂.</p>
<p>Whether these emissions are worthwhile depends on how much energy the timber contains, and that depends on the type of wood and its <a href="http://woodenergy.ie/woodfuelsstovesandboilers/#moisturecontent">moisture content</a> (wood absorbs water, making it heavier and less energy dense). A fast growing and moderately wet hardwood such as eucalyptus has an energy content of <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/biomass-energy-resources/fuel/woodfuel-production-and-supply/woodfuel-processing/drying-biomass/effect-of-moisture-content/">3,500 kilowatt hours per tonne</a>. We then have to assume the power plant will lose around 70% of all that energy (mostly as <a href="https://www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/72369-compare-the-efficiency-of-different-power-plants/">heat</a>) when burning it to make electricity. </p>
<p>What this means is 1,000 tonnes of eucalyptus will yield around 1.05m kilowatt hours of electricity (the full calculation is at the end of the article). And when you take the total carbon emitted in transporting those logs to Ireland, and divide it by that total electricity generated, you get a carbon footprint of 186 grams of CO₂ per kilowatt hour. </p>
<p>It is worth emphasising that there is considerable sensitivity in these estimates. If any of the key variables change – if the distance to port increases, if we use a different type of wood with less moisture, and so on – it can have a big impact.</p>
<p>By comparison, the carbon footprint of importing biomass from North America to the UK has been estimated at <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/investigation-does-the-uks-biomass-burning-help-solve-climate-change">122 gCO₂/kWh</a>. One 2014 study found that a more conventional biomass operation using locally sourced timber would have a footprint of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259513614_Assessing_the_lifecycle_greenhouse_gas_emissions_from_solar_PV_and_wind_energy_A_critical_meta-survey">30 gCO₂/kWh</a>, compared to 34 gCO₂/kWh for wind and 50 gCO₂/kWh for solar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297392/original/file-20191016-98674-1gnni9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The carbon footprint of electricity from selected sources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nugent & Sovacool, 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>(Almost) anything is better than peat</h2>
<p>So hauling biomass such a long distance doesn’t look like a great idea. However, the carbon footprint of peat is at least <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/6376/pdf">1,100 gCO₂/kWh</a>, nearly five times higher, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/6376/pdf">coal is very similar</a>. And even these figures ignore the enormous <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mary-robinson-demands-urgent-end-to-peat-harvesting-jfbgr327x">environmental destruction</a> that comes from peat extraction or coal mining.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299538/original/file-20191030-17908-3unpki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An industrial peat harvester.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1242474">James T M Towill</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So the critics certainly have a point – bringing wood from Australia is indeed considerably worse than any other renewable option. But it’s still better than burning peat and destroying more of Ireland’s diminishing bog lands. Yes, the country could develop other <a href="https://www.need.org/Files/curriculum/Energy%20At%20A%20Glance/BiomassAtAGlance_11x17.pdf">sources of biomass</a> such as agricultural or municipal waste, or fast-growing crops like willow or hemp. But factories take time to build and trees or crops take time to grow, and nobody is going to develop such resources if demand for the fuel simply isn’t there.</p>
<p>This is the reality of sustainability: we are often faced with trade offs between least worst options. In fact, Ireland will soon face an even bigger decision. Moneypoint, a coal burning power station and the country’s single largest source of carbon emissions, will hit the end of its service life <a href="https://clarechampion.ie/government-urged-to-reveal-moneypoint-plan/">in 2025</a> and there is a big question mark about what’s going to replace it.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there is no perfect solution to climate change. If there was, we’d have already implemented it. Options need to be carefully evaluated, for the devil is truly in the detail and small tweaks to a process can potentially lead to big changes in carbon emissions. This also shows the importance of long-term planning. After all, had the unsustainable nature of peat burning been acknowledged decades ago, we’d not be in this situation.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The full calculation:</em></p>
<p><em>Total generated from 1,000 tonnes of eucalyptus logs: 1,000 tonnes x 3,500 kilowatt hours per tonne = 3,500,000 kwh x 0.3 (because the other 70% is lost and not converted to electricity) = 1,050,000 kwh</em></p>
<p><em>Transport emissions: 195.5 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> are emitted in transporting 1,000 tonnes of logs from Australia to Ireland, or 195,500,000 grams.</em></p>
<p><em>Divide the carbon emissions by the generated electricity to get a carbon footprint of 186 gCO2/kWh (195,500,000 / 1,050,000 = 186)</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dylan Ryan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ireland needs to stop burning peat, and wood from down under presents a surprising sustainability dilemma.
Dylan Ryan, Lecturer in Mechanical & Energy Engineering, Edinburgh Napier University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111593
2019-02-26T13:10:13Z
2019-02-26T13:10:13Z
Carbon farming: how agriculture can both feed people and fight climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260998/original/file-20190226-150712-bpm24b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=957%2C0%2C3405%2C1728&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A future farm?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shzphoto</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine “carbon emissions”, and what springs to mind? Most people tend to think of power stations belching out clouds of carbon dioxide or queues of vehicles burning up fossil fuels as they crawl, bumper-to-bumper, along congested urban roads. But in Britain and many other countries, carbon emissions have another source, one that is almost completely invisible. In the UK, these overlooked emissions come from our most extensive semi-natural habitat, yet it is a habitat which is almost invisible within the national consciousness.</p>
<p>The source of these emissions can be seen in the rich black peat soils of the East Anglian Fens, the Lancashire lowland plain, the Somerset Levels, the Forth Valley and indeed many lowland river flood plains, as well as in the hugely damaged peat soils of the UK’s uplands. The common thread here is “peat”, a soil derived almost entirely from semi-decomposed plant remains which have accumulated over thousands of years because the ground is waterlogged. Such peat soils are immensely carbon-rich because they largely consist of organic matter. Globally, peatlands contain more carbon than <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011EO120001">all the world’s vegetation combined</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261030/original/file-20190226-150712-1oc4vft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eroding soil in England’s Peak District.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Lindsay</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite this, peatlands rarely feature in our cultural consciousness other than as areas of struggle – “stuck in the mire”– or as places of despair or danger. In the uplands, beyond the boundary of cultivated land, extensive peat bogs are lost in the all-embracing term “moorland”, which is more of a cultural term than anything ecologically meaningful. At lower altitudes, living peatland has all but vanished. Britain has drained its fens and converted the land into highly productive fields. Much of East Anglia was once a vast fen peatland, for instance, but <a href="https://www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/isbn/9783510653836/Joosten_Tanneberger_Moen_Mires_and_peat">just 3%</a> of the original habitat remains today, in small scattered fragments. Such losses are mirrored <a href="https://www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/isbn/9783510653836/Joosten_Tanneberger_Moen_Mires_and_peat">throughout Europe</a>, while much of the debate about palm oil and forest fires in South-East Asia is actually about the draining and conversion of peatland swamp forest.</p>
<p>When peat soils are drained, the ground surface sinks, which is why large parts of East Anglia and the western Netherlands now lie below sea level. This is partly because peat shrinks and becomes more compact when it dries out, but there is also another key reason. Carbon in the now-dry peat reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide so each year some of the soil simply vanishes into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. While a sinking ground surface does pose ever-increasing flood risk, it is the release of CO₂ that has far wider implications.</p>
<p>Every hectare (one and a bit football pitches) of tilled peat soil with a water table lowered to 50 cm or more below the ground surface emits somewhere between <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/50635/">12 and 30 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent</a> (that is, all greenhouse gases, including CO₂) per year. To put this into context, that’s <a href="https://www.lightfoot.co.uk/news/2017/10/04/how-much-co2-does-a-car-emit-per-year/">ten times the emissions</a> of an average modern car travelling 10,000 miles per year. In fact, the total CO₂ emitted each year from just the East Anglian Fens and the UK’s damaged upland peat soils may be equivalent to around 30% of the country’s annual car emissions.</p>
<h2>Dry land good, wet land bad?</h2>
<p>The irony here is that, although these peat soils were created precisely because they were wetlands, and wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, farming tends to celebrate dryness. Our agricultural system is based on ideas that spread from the dry semi-desert conditions of the Middle East during the Neolithic shift from hunter-gathering to settled farming. Farming has thus been dominated for the past 5,000 years by the principle that dry land is good and wet land is bad – indeed, a farmer who tolerates significant areas of wet ground on the farm is still widely regarded as a poor farmer.</p>
<p>Change is in the air, however. International climate obligations mean that countries are having to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and in many parts of the world there are also increasing concerns about the spiralling <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxmlvGiV9k">costs of flooding</a>. No wonder many researchers are now looking at the agricultural possibilities of re-wetting former wetlands in order to establish new forms of farming based on productive wetland species. </p>
<p>In Germany, for instance, a type of “bulrush” is already being used to produce fire-resistant <a href="https://typhaboard.com/">building board</a>. At the University of East London we are currently testing two potential crops: sphagnum bog moss as a <a href="https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FR021686%2F1">replacement for peat</a> in garden-centre “grow bags”, and “sweet grass” as a food crop. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261029/original/file-20190226-150728-cntx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sphagnum cultivation: the moss is useful as it is excellent at retaining water and nutrients.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neal Wright</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In only a few decades, traditional dryland farming on drained peat soils will be increasingly difficult as the rich organic soils vanish and flood prevention becomes too costly. By instead re-establishing wetland conditions, farms could reduce the risk of floods and retain the existing reservoirs of soil carbon but also potentially add new carbon to these long-term stores.</p>
<p>Indeed, the longer-term vision of farming for carbon as well as food, and all the other ecosystem benefits that come from healthy peatland ecosystems, may already be upon us. It is part of the UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan">25 year environment plan</a>, and environment secretary <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/farming-for-the-next-generation">Michael Gove</a> has pointedly signalled his support. </p>
<p>Such a longer-term vision is also deftly expressed in a film titled “The Carbon Farmer” by Andrew Clark, which looks at what life might be like for a carbon farmer three or four generations from now: </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/303463841" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Farmers of the future may be tasked with storing carbon as well as producing food.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Everything in the film is already at least possible in one form or another. Our task is now to make it probable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111593/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Lindsay works in partnership with Micropropagation Services Ltd. He receives funding from Innovate UK in a partnership project looking at Sphagnum farming. He is affiliated with the IUCN UK Peatland Programme.</span></em></p>
It’s time for farmers to embrace the wetland instead of draining it.
Richard Lindsay, Head of Environmental and Conservation Research, Sustainability Research Institute, University of East London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100627
2018-09-04T10:11:59Z
2018-09-04T10:11:59Z
Bogs are unique records of history – here’s why
<p>Peat bogs, which cover 3% of the world’s land surface, are special places. While historically often considered as worthless morasses, today they are recognised as beautiful habitats providing environmental benefits from biodiversity to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/28/ultimate-bogs-how-saving-peatlands-could-help-save-the-planet">climate regulation</a>. However, they are threatened by drainage, land reclamation for agriculture and peat cutting for fuel, which has significantly reduced the extent and condition of these ecosystems on a global scale. Bogs are fragile and sensitive to change, whether by human hands or by processes such as climate change.</p>
<p>A less well known aspect of bogs is their remarkable archaeological potential. In their undisturbed state at least, bogs are anoxic (oxygen-free) environments due to their saturation. These conditions are hostile to the microbes and fungi that would normally decay organic material such as the remains of plants, which are the principal constituents of the peat. The same anoxic conditions also offer protection from decay for organic archaeological remains. The vast majority of objects and structures used by our ancestors were made from organic materials (in particular wood). These are normally lost on dryland archaeological sites but can be preserved in peatlands.</p>
<p>The saturated conditions mean that even soft tissue can survive, including both skin and internal organs. Probably the best known archaeological finds are the remains of “bog bodies” such as the famous prehistoric <a href="http://www.tollundman.dk/">Tollund Man</a> in Denmark, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28589151">Lindow Man</a> in the UK, or the more recent Irish discoveries of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01mc3wb/p01mc1tj">Clonycavan Man</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01mc3wb/p01mc1ym">Old Croghan Man</a> and Ireland’s oldest known bog body, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24053119">Cashel Man</a>, dated to the Bronze Age. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233871/original/file-20180828-86126-acgbbk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavating a trackway on Hatfield Moors, South Yorkshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Henry Chapman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Seeing hidden landscapes</h2>
<p>But archaeology is only part of the story these environments have to tell. They are important archives of the past in other ways: the layers of moss and other vegetation that make up peat are themselves immensely valuable as archives of past environments (palaeoenvironments). The manner in which peat accumulates means that the deposits have stratigraphic integrity, meaning that contained within each layer can be found macroscopic and microscopic remains of plants and other organisms that shed light on landscape change and biodiversity on timescales ranging from centuries to millennia. The high organic content of peat means that these records can be dated using the radiocarbon method.</p>
<p>The best known such records are probably <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/palynology.html">pollen grains</a> which provide evidence of past vegetation change. But evidence from other organic material can be used to reconstruct other past environmental processes. For example, single-celled organisms called testate amoebae, preserved in sub-fossil form, are highly sensitive to peatland hydrology and have been extensively used in recent years to reconstruct <a href="https://bogology.org/how-we-do-it/biological-methods/testate-amoebae/">a history of climatic changes</a>. Meanwhile, fossil beetles can tell us how the biodiversity and nutrient status of a peatland has altered over time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234248/original/file-20180830-195331-1ciyqlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fossil beetle remains associated with Old Croghan Man bog body, Ireland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Nicki Whitehouse</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The potential of bogs to preserve both environmental and archaeological records means that they can be regarded as archives of “hidden landscapes”. The accumulating peat literally seals and protects evidence of human activity ranging from the macroscopic (in the form of archaeological sites, artefacts and larger plant and animal remains) through to the microscopic (pollen, testate amoebae and other remains) material that provides contextual evidence of environmental processes. </p>
<p>Through detailed integrated analyses these records can provide evidence of past human activity ranging from the everyday exploitation of economic resources of peatlands, through to the ceremonies associated with prehistoric human sacrifice and the deposition of the so-called bog bodies. The associated palaeoenvironmental record can be used to situate these cultural processes within long term patterns of environmental changes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231891/original/file-20180814-2924-1q2xcdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bog in Estonia seen from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/areal-view-bog-wetlands-estonia-northern-1153059275?src=qDEksY65BXq4R3ztzgP2gg-1-3">FotoHelin/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taming the wild</h2>
<p>There has been extensive study of the palaeoenvironmental record from bogs and notable archaeological excavations of sites and artefacts, but there have been relatively few concerted attempts to integrate these approaches. In part this is because generating sufficient data to model the development of a bog in four dimensions (the fourth being time) is a formidable research challenge. But some peatlands have seen relatively extensive archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research over the last few decades, providing an excellent starting point. Hatfield and Thorne Moors, situated primarily in South Yorkshire, are two such peatlands.</p>
<p>These two largest surviving areas of lowland bog in England are located within a wider lowland region known as the Humberhead Levels. After decades of industrial peat extraction, these bogs are now nature reserves managed by Natural England, and are becoming the “wild” bogs they once were. We are attempting to <a href="https://projectwildscape.wordpress.com">reconstruct the wildscape</a> and bring the complex histories of this vast and dynamic boggy landscape to life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234638/original/file-20180903-41711-bvvvpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flora on Thorne Moors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Peter Roworth</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These moors are just two surviving parts of a once rich mosaic of wetland landscapes. In the past, this landscape was famed for its wildness – a remnant of an extensive complex of mires, rivers, meres and extensive floodplain wetlands. Antiquarians such as John Leland visited the area in the 16th century, and his descriptions provide a “window onto what must have been a truly fabulous ‘everglades-like’ landscape”, as described by local historian Colin Howes.</p>
<p>Now largely drained, tamed and converted to farmland, it’s hard to imagine the vast wetland landscapes that once characterised these areas. Following large-scale land reclamation in the 17th century, many of the traditional practises such as fishing, fowling, grazing and peat-cutting (turbary) rights were no longer available to commoners. Consequently, the connections between people and place became increasingly defined by a new, dryland landscape and disconnected from its former wetlands that were once so central to people’s lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234639/original/file-20180903-41723-ihswj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sphagnum moss on Thorne Moors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Peter Roworth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://projectwildscape.wordpress.com">We are investigating</a> and reconstructing this dynamic and changing wildscape throughout its history, reconnecting communities to these wetland landscapes. Drawing together previous research alongside targeted archaeological fieldwork and palaeoenvironmental analyses, we are combining these with newly available digital data and sophisticated modelling techniques to reconstruct their interwoven landscape and human histories. Together, for the first time, we are beginning to see the complexity of the dynamic and changing landscape that once characterised the Humberhead Levels.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Chapman is a project partner of The Reconstructing the Wildscape project, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is co-produced through the participation and commitment of volunteers and projects via the HLF-funded Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Partnership.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Gearey is a project partner of The Reconstructing the Wildscape project, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is co-produced through the participation and commitment of volunteers and projects via the HLF-funded Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Partnership.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Bunting is a project partner of The Reconstructing the Wildscape project, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is co-produced through the participation and commitment of volunteers and projects via the HLF-funded Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Partnership.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberley Davies is a project partner of The Reconstructing the Wildscape project, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is co-produced through the participation and commitment of volunteers and projects via the HLF-funded Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Partnership.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicki Whitehouse is a project partner of The Reconstructing the Wildscape project, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is co-produced through the participation and commitment of volunteers and projects via the HLF-funded Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Partnership. She also receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the European Research Council.</span></em></p>
A lesser known aspect of bogs is their remarkable potential to preserve both environmental and archaeological records.
Henry Chapman, Professor of Archaeology, University of Birmingham
Benjamin Gearey, Lecturer in Environmental Archaeology, University College Cork
Jane Bunting, Reader in Geography, University of Hull
Kimberley Davies, Research Assistant, Wildscape Project, University of Plymouth
Nicola Whitehouse, Associate Professor (Reader) in Physical Geography, University of Plymouth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.