Uniquely, an Australian subtropical peatland ecosystem exists that is not only resilient to the frequent bushfires, but actually needs fire to survive.
A wildfire burns a section of forest in the Grande Prairie district of Alberta.
(Government of Alberta Fire Service/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Current greenhouse gas inventories in Canada only consider “managed” lands. This must change before we can truly understand the scale of Canada’s carbon emissions.
Indonesian fire fighters extinguish a fire in a land next to residence in Pekanbaru, Riau province on September 13, 2019. The blazes spread smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact on global warming.
Adek Berry/AFP
Wildfires are intensifying, yet they’re one of the most poorly understood phenomena on Earth. New research shows that they can disturb both regional and global climate.
David Gaveau, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
Research found more than 3.11 million hectares of land burned in 2019 across Indonesia’s 34 provinces, nearly double the official estimate of 1.64 million hectares.
Arctic peatland in the Mackenzie Valley. A quarter of all global peatland carbon is found in Canada.
(Ed Struzik)
Peatlands play an outsized role in filtering water and mitigating floods, drought and wildfire — and they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.
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.
Indonesia’s Peatland Restoration Agency is likely to have its tenure extended by four years. What has been achieved and what should the agency focus on for the next term?
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.
Strict physical distancing restrictions have resulted in cleaner air, but atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise.
PeteLinforth/Pixabay
We have developed an online tool to help authorities identify which areas they should focus on for reducing forest fires and haze in order to maximize overall health benefits.
As Amazon fires rage, Indonesia faces similar issues with peat fires that have been burning for several weeks in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Ministry of Environment and Forestry
As unlikely as it may sound, a new approach for fighting the destruction of wildfires in Canada’s boreal region may lie in wetlands packed with soaking layers of peat and topped with living moss.
Forest fires in Indonesia may become an important issue to discuss at Paris 2015 UN Climate Change Conference.
Darren Whiteside/Reuters
One of the world’s major terrestrial carbon pools is rapidly deteriorating as large parts of Indonesia’s peatlands are deforested and converted to oil palm and paper plantations. No longer a carbon sink…
Could charcoal be our climate saviour?
Oli R/Flickr
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is co-ordinating a new venture to tackle short-lived global warming agents such as black carbon. Should we be paying more attention to black carbon? Yes…
It’s time to pay attention to warnings from the Arctic.
NOAA Photo Library
We are seeing the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic. This is our warning that humanity is facing a dire future. The Arctic region is fast approaching a series of “tipping points” that…