UNFCCC Conference and Peatland Side Event

The 188 Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) have met in Milan from 1 to 12 December to assess progress in addressing climate change and to set the global agenda for the coming year.

The Milan conference evaluated the efforts that governments have been making to tackle the climate change challenge. The “national communications” that they submit on a regular basis reveal that the combined emissions of Europe, Japan, the US and other highly industrialized countries could grow by 8% from 2000 to 2010 (or to about 17% over 1990 levels) despite domestic measures currently in place to limit them.

At the same time, it is clear that governments are adopting more comprehensive and ambitious policies and measures for cutting emissions than they did just several years ago. Although the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has not yet entered into force, many governments cite its influence on their efforts to reinforce domestic climate change policies. The Protocol has been ratified by 119 Parties, but its entry into force depends on the ratification by the Russian Federation.

The conference saw major achievements on the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. Thanks to two years of intensive work, the CDM is now operational and the first projects will be registered early next year. (The CDM promotes sustainable development in developing countries by channelling private-sector investment into emission reduction projects, while offering industrialized countries credits against their Kyoto Protocol targets)

Two funds, the Special Climate Change Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund, which will support technology transfer, adaptation projects and other activities, were further developed. The European Union, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland renewed an earlier pledge to contribute 410 million USD annually to developing countries through these funds and other avenues.

The meeting also focused on what needs to be done to help countries cope with the impacts of climate change. In addition to the formal intergovernmental talks, a wide spectrum of initiatives and institutions tackled a wider range of issues during numerous side events. A peatland side event took place on the 2nd of December.

Under the title of “Peatlands and climate change: Carbon store or source?” this side event was presented by the Global Environment Centre, Wildlife Habitat Canada, and Wetlands International with representatives of IMCG present.

Peatlands form one of the world’s largest carbon stores with an estimated 550 billion tonnes of stored carbon equivalent to 100 years of fossil fuel emissions or 75% of the carbon in the atmosphere. They are found in 150 countries from Polar to tropical region and have multiple values for carbon storage, biodiversity, water storage and supply, and economic and social benefits. Peatlands store more carbon per unit area than other ecosystems with up to 5000 tonnes per hectare being stored in tropical peat swamp forests – 10-15 times more than other forest types. Furthermore, besides being net carbon sinks, they form one of the few long-term carbon stores among terrestrial ecosystems – almost all of the world’s coal deposits were originally peatlands.

Degradation of peatlands occurs through drainage, mining or fire and releases massive mounts of stored carbon. Fires can burn in drained peatlands for months and generate massive smoke clouds which have major social, economic, and health impacts. Peatlands are vulnerable to changing climate regimes (warming and drying and extreme events) and action is needed to minimise impacts

Sustainable management of peatlands can bring climate change, biodiversity, and socio-economic benefits and can be combined with livelihood development for local communities. Human induced emissions from peatland can be reduced through simple management measures (controlled drainage, fire prevention, rehabilitation).

The importance for carbon storage and climate regulation has been recognized by other conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. To date peatlands have not been given adequate attention in deliberations in the framework of the UNFCCC

Action is needed to urgently address a number of management problems. Remaining intact peatlands need to be protected for their carbon store functions. Further clearance and drainage of peatlands must be restricted and controlled. Sustainable use of peatlands with positive climate effects needs to be promoted. Water management in peatlands under agriculture must be improved to prevent subsidence and carbon loss. Peatland fires must be prevented and burnt and degraded peatlands rehabilitated.

National communications to the UNFCCC should better document extend and status of significant carbon stores such as peatlands and incorporate strategies to address mitigation and adaptation measure related to peatlands.

Faizal Parish, GEC, presented an overview on peatlands and climate change, noting that peatlands occur in 150 countries, and that Canada and the Russian Federation have the largest extent. Peatlands are important for forestry and biodiversity and play an important role in the global carbon cycle, as at least 550 billion tonnes of terrestrial carbon is stored in the peatlands system.

David Cooper, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, said that certain climate change mitigation and adaptation measures could have negative impacts on biodiversity. He concluded that: there is a clear opportunity to implement mutually beneficial activities; these opportunities are rarely realized because of lack of coordination at national and international levels; and there is a range of tools available to help future coordination efforts.

Ed Wiken, Wildlife Habitat Canada, noted that peatlands contribute to domestic as well as international wildlife conservation and biodiversity goals. He explained a Canadian model used to predict sensitivity to climate change, noting that severe and very severe effects will occur on peatlands in the mid-belt of Canada.

Yus Rusila Noor, Wetlands International Asia Pacific, explained why peatlands are important in Indonesia, noting their linkages to biodiversity, climate change, hydrology and sustainable livelihoods. He identified the threats to Indonesian peat swamp forests such as conversion of land, drainage, fires and overexploitation. Noor highlighted Indonesia's community approaches to replanting, the debt-for-peatlands rehabilitation-swap, training to prevent forest fires and restoring hydrology.

Tatiana Minayeva, Wetlands International Russia, discussed peatlands and climate change in the Russian Federation. Minayeva noted that the UNFCCC does not adequately consider peatlands, and expressed hope that this gap would be addressed. She indicated that the Russian Federation has a high diversity of peatlands, and that agriculture is the main cause of peatland loss. She said more information on the integrative ecosystem management approach was needed in her country.

David Lee, Global Environment Centre, noted the existing networks for disseminating and discussing information on peatlands, the Southeast Asia Peat Network and PEAT-Portal. He expressed the hope that these networks would provide a platform for discussion on peatlands and climate change issues. Lee said awareness could be enhanced by use of the internet, collaborative networking and the establishment of an e-community to exchange information and promote peatlands.

The participants discussed possible global activities on wetlands and climate change, ways to combat illegal logging at the local level, the need to quantify global peatland emissions and the importance of relating peatlands to COP-9 issues, including methodologies for emissions, good practice guidance and cooperation with other conventions.

The Microsoft power point presentations of the side event and other related documents can be downloaded from the Peat-Portal: http://www.peat-portal.net/. However, due to the large size of some presentations, they had to be edited.

On the occasion of the UNFCCC 2003, the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change as CBD Technical Series #10, “Interlinkages Between Biological Diversity and Climate Change” was published. The document is available on the CBD website at: www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/cbd-ts-10.pdf

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) established an Ad hoc technical expert group on biological diversity and climate change to carry out an assessment of the inter-linkages between biodiversity and climate change. The results are contained in this report, which draws upon best available scientific knowledge, including that provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

This report will also be available during the forthcoming seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity being held in Malaysia from 9 to 20 February 2004.

A peatland relevant quote from the document follows: “Pristine mires play an important role with respect to global warming as carbon stores. Their impact on climate change due to the emission of methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) is typically insignificant (Joosten and Clarke 2002). However, methane production can be high when water tables are within 20 cm of the surface. Mires and peatlands25 are characterized by their unique ability to accumulate and store dead plant material originating from mosses, sedges, reeds, shrubs, and trees (i.e., peat), under waterlogged conditions. About 50% of the dry organic matter of peat consists of carbon. Peatlands are the most prevalent wetland in the world, representing 50 to 70 percent of all wetlands and covering more than four million km2 – or three percent – of the land and freshwater surface of the planet (Lappalainen 1996). Between 270-370 Gt of carbon is currently stored in the peats of boreal and sub-boreal peatlands alone (Turunen et al. 2000). This means that, globally, peat represents about one-third of the total soil carbon pool (about 1395 Gt) (Post et al. 1982). Peat contains the equivalent of approximately 2/3 of all carbon in the atmosphere and carbon equivalent to all terrestrial biomass on the earth (Houghton et al. 1990).

“Peatlands exist on all continents, from tropical to polar zones, and from sea level to high altitude. Humans affect peatlands both directly, through drainage, land conversion, excavation, and inundation, and indirectly, as a result of air pollution, water contamination, water removal, and infrastructure development.

“Anthropogenic drainage has changed mires and peatlands from a global carbon sink to a global carbon (and other greenhouse gas) source, and afforestation and reforestation activities in recently drained peatlands may be inconsequential as carbon sequestration activities (Joosten and Clarke 2002). Human activities continue to be the most important factors affecting peatlands, both globally and locally, leading to a current annual decrease of the mire resource. When peatlands are drained to create more agricultural land N2O emissions are increased and these lands become more prone to fires. In some years greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of these drained peatlands (e.g., in South East Asia) may constitute a substantial portion of the global emissions (Page et al. 2002).”