<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/13/worlds-largely-unprotected-peatlands-are-ticking-carbon-bomb-warns-study>
"The world’s peatlands are “dangerously underprotected” despite the colossal
amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their
destruction, a study has warned.
Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the
world’s forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands,
releasing so much CO₂ that if they were a country, they would be the fourth
biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.
The first global assessment found that only 17% of the peatlands were within
protected areas. This contrasted starkly with other valuable ecosystems such as
tropical forests, where 38% were protected, and mangroves (42%).
Protection was even lower than the 17% average in the three nations with the
most peatlands: Canada, Russia and Indonesia. The US and Brazil completed the
top five nations, which contained almost three-quarters of all peatlands, and
had higher proportions in protected areas. But the researchers cautioned that
protected status on a map did not always translate to strong protection on the
ground.
The scientists said conserving and restoring peatlands was essential to keeping
global heating below internationally agreed targets and limiting the damage to
lives and livelihoods.
Almost a quarter of peatlands are under heavy pressure from human activities.
However, action to defend peatlands was a cost-effective way of tackling the
climate crisis, the researchers said, and a quarter were within Indigenous
peoples’ lands, which have been shown to suffer less environmental degradation
than elsewhere."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
