New research shows that northern peatlands may not help regulate our climate by the end of the century.
For centuries, society has scorned bogs, fens and swamps — collectively known as peatlands — treating them as wastelands available to be drained and developed without realizing they’re important buffers against climate-changing carbon emissions.
Threats to carbon-sequestering peatlands A majority of all the world’s peatlands are found in northern regions. Layered by waterlogged peat topped by living mosses, these peatlands absorb and expel carbon, typically storing a little more than they give off, making them carbon sinks over time. Over thousands of years, they have stockpiled massive amounts of carbon.
Fire and bogs Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more severe, meaning peatlands will have to be at their best to continue absorbing carbon. Our study of natural, degraded and restored forms of peatlands in boreal and temperate regions revealed that the once stable carbon-storing power of our northern peatlands is gradually losing to the effects of fire, and drained peatlands are the biggest culprits for this.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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