Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Peatlands could help reduce carbon emissions
Print Edition
WETLANDS, forests, and oceans absorb and store carbon, which makes them a vital asset for countries pursuing the Paris climate agreement’s targets for reducing CO2 emissions. So how can we use them most effectively?
The Paris accord was concluded by 196 governments last December, and came into force earlier this month. Now, its signatories are meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, for the annual United Nations climate change conference. Several conference events specifically focus on how countries can use natural systems to meet their CO2-reduction targets.
While the climate-change challenge is immense, so, too, is the opportunity to accelerate sustainable development and ensure a better future for everyone on the planet. Under the Paris agreement, governments have committed to reducing their carbon emissions drastically, in order to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. The vast majority of signatory countries have already presented national action plans for achieving this goal, and these plans will become more ambitious over time.
These Nationally Determined Contributions include renewable-energy targets and proposals for sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and education. In addition, countries should consider adopting policies to manage natural capital better. The Paris agreement itself recognizes the important role that natural ecosystems play in limiting the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and governments should not neglect such powerful tools.
Governments will need to take action to conserve existing ecosystems in people-friendly ways. This is particularly true of wetlands, which include all land areas that are covered with water, either seasonally or permanently.
Peatlands are particularly important. Though they cover only 3 percent of the world’s total surface area, they store twice as much carbon as all forests combined. Peatland soils are composed of carbon that has accumulated for thousands of years; and when peatlands are drained or burned, that carbon is released into the atmosphere. In fact, draining peatlands releases two times more carbon into the atmosphere than the aviation industry does.
In 2015, fires raged across Indonesia’s forested peatlands, raising concerns worldwide about how much carbon was being released into the atmosphere, to say nothing of the far-reaching health effects. Indonesia’s government estimates that peatland fires and deforestation alone account for more than 60 percent of the country’s total greenhouse-gas emissions.
Conserving and restoring peatlands could significantly reduce global CO2 emissions, which is why, in 2015, the Nordic Council of Ministers announced a commitment to preserve the region’s peatlands. Almost half of Nordic countries’ peatlands have been lost, and this ecosystem degradation contributes 25 percent of their total carbon emissions.
The Paris agreement entered fully into force in less than a year. This indicates that there is global momentum for concrete action to address the causes of climate change, as well as its effects, such as the disastrous floods, water shortages, and droughts already afflicting many countries.
That sense of urgency is not surprising. According to UN-Water, 90 percent of all natural hazards are water-related, and they will increase in frequency and intensity as climate change worsens. But natural systems can mitigate them: wetlands act as sponges that reduce flooding and delay the onset of droughts; and mangroves, salt marshes, and coral reefs all act as buffers that protect against storm surges. And wetlands, oceans, and forests do far more than just absorb and store carbon; they also provide fresh water, and are a food source for nearly three billion people.
Martha Rojas-Urrego is Secretary-General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Patricia Espinosa is Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016.
www.project-syndicate.org
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
