Big win 3: Investing in protecting peatland ecosystems

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Deforestation (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) Fire (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) Drainage and subsidence (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) Increased drought frequency (CO 2 , CH 4 ,N 2 O) Peat extraction (CO 2 ) Big win 3: Investing in protecting peatland ecosystems Global Landscape Forum 2016. Kenzi Club Agdal Medina 16 th November 2016, Marrakech

Transcript of Big win 3: Investing in protecting peatland ecosystems

Page 1: Big win 3: Investing in protecting peatland ecosystems

Deforestation (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Fire (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Drainage and subsidence (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Increased drought frequency (CO2, CH4,N2O)

Peat extraction (CO2)

Big win 3: Investing in protecting peatland ecosystems

Global Landscape Forum 2016. Kenzi Club Agdal Medina16th November 2016, Marrakech

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Why investing in peatland ecosystems for climate mitigation?

• Carbon dense ecosystems, higher mitigation returns per unit area. Synergies with adaptation and co-benefits.

• Global drained and burned peatlands: 1GtCO2e.yr-1 (10% of global AFOLU GHG emissions in 2000-2009) (IPCC R5)

• Increased risks due to drought, fire and agriculture expansion

• Main peatland mitigation is conservation, cheaper than restoration

• Political momentum: sink protection through Paris AgreementSocial momentum: Transboundary haze effects: peatlands have reached public opinion through health

• Transparency initiatives: TRASE. Connecting commodity producers, distributors and consumers. https://ttp.sei-international.org/

• New data on peatlands.

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Barriers to peatland mitigation?

• Technical• Establishing a peatland baseline

• Establishing an MRV system to assess soil degradation and to assist robust GHG Inventorying

• Political framework Political will, long term vision, policy reforms

• Social requirements Social endorsement, inclusion of non-stake actors: particularly the

private sector • Financial requirements

Long term financial support

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Establishing a peatland baseline

Where are the peatlands?

Pastaza Marañón (Peru)

Cuvette Centrale Congolese (Congo- Congo DRC)

C2 C1

C3

Unbiasing continental contributions to tropical peatland. Gumbricht et al. (under review)

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South America: Amazon Basin, Rio La Plata, Ibera Wetlands

Asia: Bangladesh,all river deltas, Indonesian Papua

Africa: Niger river delta, Angola, Zambia, South Sudan.

Underreported peatland hotspots

Gumbricht et al. (under review) Global Change Biology

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Total area

Mkm2Volume km3 Depth (m) Stocks*

GtC

Estimates in Page et al., (2011)

0.44(0.39-0.66)

1,758(1,585-1,822) 2.3 89

Gumbricht et al. (study area of Page et al., (2011)

1.5 6,991(5,765-7,079) 2.5 352

Mitigation potential of tropical peatlands

• Tropical peat stocks: Four-fold increase (89 to 352 GtC)

• Mitigation potential using conservative annual emissions: 0.3 GtC.yr-1

(IPCC AR5)

Mitigation potential gross

Table 1: Estimates of tropical peat variables. Source: Gumbricht et al. (under review) Global Change Biology. * Using standard values for bulk density and carbon content

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Deforestation (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Fire (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Drainage and subsidence (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Drought (CO2, CH4, N2O)

Peat extraction (CO2)

What actions are needed? Drivers

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How can we achieve these potentials?

1. Conserving undrained peatlands, Not such a thing as sustainable oil palm management over drained peat (First International Peat Congress) (Wijedasa et al. 2016)

2. Rewetting,

3. Alternative uses (paludiculture over wet peat).

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Questions?