{"id":39145,"date":"2026-04-29T02:58:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=39145"},"modified":"2026-04-29T02:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:59:55","slug":"a-new-global-agenda-for-saving-peatlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2026\/04\/29\/a-new-global-agenda-for-saving-peatlands\/","title":{"rendered":"A new global agenda for saving peatlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems characterized by the accumulation of partially decomposed organic material, i.e. peat. Although covering only 3 to 4 % of our planet's land surface, they hold almost one-third of the world's soil carbon<\/strong>. This huge amount of carbon making them key players in climate regulation, as they absorb and store carbon for millennia. In addition, peatlands regulate water regimes, mitigate floods, filter water and support unique biodiversity, including many specialist and endemic species.<\/p>\n

Despite their immense importance, peatlands around the world are under enormous pressure due to climate change and human intervention. When peatlands are disturbed or drained, for example for agriculture or forestry, they are changing from carbon sinks to net carbon sources, releasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere<\/strong>. This degradation is estimated to be responsible for 5 to 10 % of annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions worldwide. Approximately 12 % of peatlands are degraded worldwide.<\/p>\n

Historical review and new research initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite their critical ecological functions, peatlands have historically received far less scientific and policy attention than other ecosystems, such as forests or coral reefs. The impacts of climate change on peatland carbon dynamics were only recently added to the international IPCC-AR6 report.<\/p>\n

To address this shortcoming, an international team of scientists and experts initiated a massive project. The goal was to determine strategic, globally coordinated research for the protection, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands<\/strong>. Through a two-stage online survey and expert voting involving 467 participants from 54 countries, 50 priority research questions for the next decade were identified. The European continent accounted for 45% of the respondents, followed by Asia and North America. The resulting questions were divided by experts into five key thematic areas.<\/p>\n

Five key topics for the future of scientific research<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Carbon dynamics in peatlands and climate regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Estimates suggest that northern peatlands alone store around 450 billion tonnes of carbon, with a global total of around 600 billion tonnes. However, large uncertainties remain. A priority research question is therefore to determine the exact global extent of peatlands, particularly in tropical regions where they are poorly mapped. Scientists are also asking how large the global emissions from these areas are, depending on their disturbance and what environmental conditions affect their ability to absorb carbon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2. The impact of climate change and human activity on the resilience of peatlands<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peatlands and climate change interact in a complex way. Changes in precipitation can cause these ecosystems to release carbon instead of storing it, and become areas prone to intense fires. The questions in this topic focus on how peatlands will respond to extremes and what are the tipping points, beyond which peatlands change from sinks to massive sources of emissions<\/strong>. It is essential to determine how quickly they can recover after fires.<\/p>\n

3. Peatland management and restoration<\/strong><\/p>\n

To meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, restoration of approximately 500,000 km2 of drained peatlands worldwide is needed by mid-century. Re-watering can reverse the effects of drainage and reduce degradation. Experts are looking for the most effective techniques for long-term restoration of these ecosystems, asking, how to integrate traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous knowledge into land management<\/strong>. Cost-effective approaches that take into account the needs of local communities and fire prevention are also a priority.<\/p>\n

4. Technological advances for science and monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n

Modern technologies are opening up new horizons in research. They are helping to overcome the limitations of traditional field surveys thanks to cheap sensors, artificial intelligence and satellite data. It is important to find out how best to use remote sensing to map peatlands and reliably estimate underground carbon stocks. The goal is also incorporate peatlands directly into complex Earth system models<\/strong>, in which they are currently painfully lacking.<\/p>\n

5. Communities, policies and economic frameworks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Effective peatland protection requires coherent policies and fair community involvement. Fragmentation is a problem \u2013 for example, EU subsidies for agriculture on drained land directly contradict strategies aimed at their restoration. Questions are how peatlands can create sustainable economic value through ecotourism or climate finance without degrading them. The priority is, among other things, development of paludiculture (agriculture and forestry on wetlands) and the search for economic alternatives to the use of peat<\/strong> in commercial horticulture.<\/p>\n

A call to action for a better future<\/strong><\/p>\n

This list of 50 priority questions provides the first ever community-driven agenda for guiding future peatland research. Successfully answering these questions will require new approaches, common data collection standards, and interdisciplinary collaborations.<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal is to maximize the contribution of peatlands to meeting the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)<\/strong>, including climate action, improving terrestrial ecosystems and access to clean water. Progress in these priority areas can provide humanity with a solid scientific foundation for better management of peatlands in an era of global change, so that these unique lands can protect the climate for generations to come. JRi&CO2AI\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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