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This presentation for the UNFCCC meeting in Panama, 2011 provides key input for the correct accounting of carbon emissions from organic soils.
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Panama, 3 October 2011
Susanna Tol, Wetlands International
Hans Joosten, Greifswald University / IMCG
Getting Reference Levels and MRV Right for
Organic Soils
Peatlandsecosystems where - under conditions of permanent water
saturation - dead and decaying plant material has accumulated to form a thick organic soil layer
2
3Mitigation hotspots 3
Key role in global climate regulation:
• The most concentrated and most important reservoirs of terrestrial carbon: 550 Gton C.
• 2 Gton CO2 /year from drained peatland• 2 Gton CO2 /year from drained peatland
• From only 50 million ha = 0.3% of world land area
High value biodiversity & environmental services
���� HOTSPOTS FOR REDD AND NAMA’S
In which countries? 4
Russia: 160 Mt/CO2/yr
Finland: 67 Mt/CO2/yr
Germany : 32 Mt/CO2/yr
China:77 Mt/CO2/yr
US:67 Mt/CO2/yr
Belarus : 41 Mt/CO2/yr
Poland : 24 Mt/CO2/yr
Very large stocks in
Canada and Alaska
Mongolia:45
Mt/CO2/yr
Sub-Sahara Africa: peat CO2 = 25% of all its
fossil fuel CO2
SE Asia: peat CO2
= 70%of all its fossil
fuel CO2
Brazil:12 Mt/CO2/yr
Find stocks and emissions from all countries at www.wetlands.org/peatco2
Large stocks in South America,
e.g. Peru
Mt/CO2/yr
Reference levels 5
• After clearing and draining, emissions from peatland continue for decades, or even centuries
• To be reported for all these years
� Consequences for recording progress towards � Consequences for recording progress towards meeting emission reduction targets
Reference levels 6 6
A constant rate of deforestationkeeps the annual GHG emissionsconstant because deforesting an area implies a once-off emission.
A constant rate of peatland drainageincreases annual GHG emissionsbecause the emissions from newly drained peatland add to those of
already drained peatland.
Reference levels 7
Reference levels 8
Reference levels 9
Conclusion
Only way to reduce emissions from peatlands is:
1. Prevent any further peatland degradation in order to maintain annual GHG emissions from peatland on the status quo level;
Consequences for REDD+ 10
and simultaneously
2. Rewet already degraded and drained peatlands in order to reduce annual emissions from peatland.
Reasons for preventing new drainage:
• Emissions from new drainage come on top of ongoing emissions from already drained areas
• Not all wetlands can be restored and not all
Consequences for REDD+ 11
• Not all wetlands can be restored and not all emissions can be stopped at all times from rewetting. � Rewetting can not 1:1 compensate for drainage.
• The amount of peatlands that need to be rewetted to compensate emissions from new drainage is not realistic
���� Peatlands should become NO -GO Zones
1. Preventing further peatland degradation:
• No more conversion: undisturbed peatlands must become NO GO ZONES
• Existing concessions must be revoked and shift to already degraded mineral soils
Priorities for achieving reduction targets 12
already degraded mineral soils
• Supply chains must exclude products from drained peatlands
2. Rewetting drained peatlands:
• Restore peat soils where possible
• Paludicultures for severely degraded soils
Peatland MRV
• Peatlands: complex and different from other ecosystems
� Develop sophisticated MRV methodologies?
• Peatland emissions increase rapidly when conversion and degradation proceedsconversion and degradation proceeds
� Stop radically � NO GO!
� Make rapidly a practical MRV system. � Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
• Monitoring a peat swamp moratorium is simple:
• In peatlands, the interdependency between vegetation, peat and water is very tight
Peatland MRV
� Deterioration of any of these components leads to degradation and to increased emissions
� Each component can be used as an indicator for the condition of the entire system
• Emissions increase by:– removing (substantial) tree biomass– increasing drainage and subsequent peat
oxidation– fire
Peatland MRV
� Monitor changes in crown structure/cover and drainage infrastructure
• Simple monitoring can be based on
– peat soil maps: high priority!!– wall-to-wall remote sensing of land use/cover
using high-resolution satellite imagery – simple conservative algorithms for assessing
Peatland MRV
– simple conservative algorithms for assessing emission effects of land use change, and
– default emission factors for the identified types of land use/cover (cf. new literature, IPCC 2013 revision)
• This would be sufficient to guard the current peatswamp emission situation.
peat soil maps: high priority!!
wall-to-wall remote sensing
Peatland MRV
default emission factors for land use/cover types
• Refine on district/project level:
• use water level and subsidence to assess emission reductions from rewetting/reforestation.
Peatland MRV
• Further knowledge will refine the monitoring
Further knowledge will refine the monitoring
Monitor all peatland as part of REDD+, because they are intensively interlinked:
– primary peat swamp forests, – degraded peat swamp forests,
Peatland MRV
– degraded peat swamp forests, – secondary peat swamp forests, – deforested peatland areas, – agricultural areas on peat, – plantations on peat and – abandoned agricultural areas on peat.
Damani, Panama, March 2011
Damani, Panama, May 2011
Damani, Panama, June 2011
Damani, Panama, Sept. 2011
Peatlad MRV
• Peatland conversion is extremely rapid and largely irreversible
• Peatland conversion leads to persistent and increasing emissions
Peatland MRV
� Peatlands NO GOs for further conversion� Include all peatland in REDD+ monitoring� Rapidly implement a simple and practical MRV
system.
Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good!
THANK YOU More information:www.wetlands.org/peatclimate
www.imcg.net
22 Oktober 1997
Rewetting in IndonesiaReforestation in Indonesia