Peatland Protection and Rewetting
Reduced / Sequestered
(2020–2050)
(To Implement Solution)
Solution Summary*
Peatlands, also known as bogs or mires, are neither solid ground nor water but something in between. Peat is a thick, mucky substance made up of dead and decomposing plant matter. It develops over hundreds, even thousands of years, as wetland vegetation slowly decays beneath a living layer of flora and in the near absence of oxygen.
Although these unique ecosystems cover just 3 percent of the earth’s land area, they are second only to oceans in the amount of carbon they store—twice that held by the world’s forests, at an estimated 500 to 600 gigatons. Protecting them through land preservation and fire prevention is a prime opportunity to manage global greenhouse gases.
Because peatlands’ typical carbon content is over 50 percent, they become powerful greenhouse chimneys if disrupted. When peat is exposed to the air, the carbon it contains gets oxidized into carbon dioxide. It can take thousands of years to build up peat, but a matter of only a few to release its greenhouse cache once it is degraded.
Luckily, 85 percent of the world’s peatlands are intact. Though not as effective as halting degradation before it starts, restoring drained and damaged peatlands is an essential complement to protection.
If the total protected area of peatlands increases from 8.84 million hectares to 266.7-448.6 million hectares by 2050, approximately 14.9-27 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions can be avoided. In addition, protection would secure the intact stock of 520-875 gigatons of carbon, or roughly 1906-3207 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Though peatlands comprise only 3 percent of global land area, they are the most organic-rich soils; their degradation would release an enormous amount of carbon. Our analysis shows that rewetting of 35.2-47.0 million hectares of currently degraded peatlands could avoid additional 11.1-14.9 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions. Financials are not projected as they are not incurred at the landholder level.