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by Hans Joosten
In its last Conference of Parties (CoP8, Valencia, November 2002), the Ramsar Convention has identified the urgent need to establish a global database of peatlands and mires to provide the baseline information necessary to assist Contracting Parties and others in their delivery of Global Action for Peatlands. This Database should be made widely accessible, be compiled in the first instance from existing sources of information, and be brought into line with the standardised terminology and classification systems. It should include baseline information on the distribution, size, quality, ecological characteristics, and biological diversity of the resource.
With a grant of the Global Peatland Initiative (GPI) and much in kind support of Greifswald University and IMCG members, IMCG has taken the challenge to develop such a database (see also IMCG Newsletter 2003-3). The first results of this on-going project are now being made available on the Internet.
Information for 263 countries and regions covering the entire world has been gathered from over 800 publications, countless websites, and personal communications.
Many peatland experts have participated in compiling the data. Information has been supplied by a wide range of governmental, NGO, and private sector agencies.
We have tried (…) to collect all available information on the distribution, extent, status and threat, and ecological characteristics of peatlands for all countries of the world.
The 263 country/region chapters clearly show the information coverage and the gaps in inventory. Evaluation of the data with respect to identifying priorities for further national or regional inventories still has to take place.
The classification and inventory approaches have been analysed in general and for every country individually. Differences in these approaches have been pointed out and instruments to make the data mutually compatible have been developed. Application of these models is still awaiting further verification with additional calibration data. Country/region chapters present a critical discussion on available data and their international compatibility. Because of the incompatibility of data, a simple standardised numerical database could not yet be established.
The project has created the best and most complete overview of peatland occurrences and status currently available in the world. For many countries and regions information is made internationally accessible for the first time in history. All information is (being) made available on the IMCG website and is downloadable (in pdf-format) per chapter and country. The information is often still rough but will be continually improved and updated.
The database forms a good starting point for further work of the Ramsar partners and will be actively used by the Coordinating Committee of Global Action on Peatlands of the Ramsar Convention and by IMCG for prioritising their work. Because of its abundance the material has not yet been fully analysed. The results will be feed back to the Ramsar focal points in each country to check and complement the information.
Please check the information and add your knowledge to the collective body of information!!
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