Peatlands are a special kind of wetland that have enormous potential for helping to mitigate climate change. They are great at capturing carbon because their constantly soggy soils deprive decomposer organisms of the oxygen they need to break down dead plants. Living plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and incorporate the carbon into their tissues. When plants die, decomposers like bacteria digest the plant matter and release the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
Researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz found that the average per-area carbon densities in peatlands in Colombia are four to ten times higher than those in the Amazon rainforest. This agrees with other studies around the world. On a global scale, peatlands cover only 3% of land areas but store more carbon than all the world’s trees. Peatlands are unsung heroes helping to reduce the impact of fossil fuel emissions.
Peatlands can only store carbon if they remain constantly wet. When they are drained for agriculture or other development, decomposer organisms get back to work digesting organic matter and releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
A major challenge in protecting peatland is finding them. They are often hard to distinguish from other types of wetlands.
The Santa Cruz researchers have been identifying and locating peatlands in Colombia, where decades of civil war had made many parts of the country inaccessible for research. Finding and protecting peatlands there and in many other places around the world is an important task in the battle against climate change.
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Photo, posted January 2, 2018, courtesy of Roni Ziade / U.S. Forest Service via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
