Presentation by Clifton Bain at VNN peatland meeting, Leeds 19th January 2012

1. Clifton Bain, Dr Aletta Bonn, Dr Mark Reed
IUCN UK Peatland Programme

2. Peatland Carbon Policy Framework
• United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCC)
• “Protecting and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks and carbon stores
and promoting practices that reduce emissions from agriculture and
forestry”
• Kyoto Protocol Article 3.4 (from 2013)
• “A Party included in Annex I may choose to account for
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals
by sinks resulting from any or all of the following activities:
revegetation, cropland management, grazing land management, and
wetland drainage and rewetting”

3. Wetland drainage and rewetting - a system of practices for draining and
rewetting on land with organic soil that covers a minimum area of 1 hectare.
Applies to all lands that have been drained since 1990 and to all lands that
have been rewetted since 1990 ..
Drainage is the direct human-induced lowering of the soil water table and
rewetting is the direct human-induced partial or total reversal of drainage.

4. World leading expertise in peatland restoration
Monitoring and survey to inform :-
•IPCC revision of IPCC Guidance on wetlands
•UK Government National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
•UK and Scottish Government Climate Change targets

5. Climate Change Mitigation

6. Carbon Markets
 Formal carbon markets under Kyoto Protocol
Emissions Trading, Joint Implementation and Clean
Development Mechanism
 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest
Degradation“. REDD Plus (includes peatlands)
 Voluntary Carbon Markets
 Need to consider payment for restoring function as
well as maintaining and conserving function
 UK Government Corporate Greenhouse gas
reporting