One of the challenges IMCG currently faces is that of peatlands in relation to energy. Not only the renewed focus on fuel peat in Sweden, Finland, Canada, the USA, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Senegal, Jamaica and many other states, poses a problem that needs to be addressed.
With the decreasing availability of global oil/gas reserves and the increasing energy demand of developing countries (China!), peatlands will increasingly be used as sources of energy and alternative raw materials.
So not only peat extraction poses a threat, but also an increased use of peatlands for forestry and the cultivation of energy crops such as is already happening in Germany (maize) and SE Asia (oil palm). It will be important to stop perverse incentives for energy crop production on drained peatlands and to direct biomass production to already degraded peatland sites and combine it with rewetting.
Peatlands are furthermore threatened by infrastructure for fossil fuel extraction. Vast areas of peatlands in Russia (W.-Siberia), Alaska (Prudhoe Bay), and Nigeria (Niger delta) have been destroyed or are threatened (cf. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, USA). In Georgia (Transcaucasia) facilities are being constructed in the Ramsar protected Kolkheti National Park to carry Caspian oil to the Black Sea. The planned pipeline between Siberia and China will affect peatlands along 150 km. Road and pipeline constructions not only change the hydrology, but also cause GHG exchange misbalances over large areas. Also opencast mining of coal and lignite causes important losses in several countries.
The increasing demands for clean and renewable energy lead to the destruction of mires through flooding for hydropower. In Canada 20,000 km2 of water reservoirs have flooded 7,500 km2 of wetlands and peatlands. In Finland, approximately 900 km2 of peatland are covered by water reservoirs. In Russia, most fens of the Volga valley were destroyed by a cascade of reservoirs built for hydroelectricity. Current hydroelectric projects are planned or carried out in Iceland, Malaysia, Cameroon, Brazil, South Africa, Lesotho, and Uganda. Even if the reservoirs do not cover large areas, still they may affect mire biodiversity substantially.
Rapid expanding facilities for wind energy generation threaten and destroy peatlands in oceanic and mountainous regions (Ireland, Scotland [Lewis Island], Northern Spain), and may create new environmental disasters.
Peatlands and energy is one of the major blocks of the IMCG Action Plan 2007-2010. IMCG is its members and that means you. Please send your ideas and comments on how to tackle this topic to the Secretariat.
Windfarm on blanket bog in Galicia (Spain). The development of windfarms on peatlands is a hotly debated subject in Europe. Next year IMCG will organise a meeting on the topic (photo: Eduardo Garcia Rodeja).