This presentation for the UNFCCC meeting in Panama, 2011 provides key input for the correct accounting of carbon emissions from organic soils.

1. Getting Reference Levels and MRV Right for
Organic Soils
Panama, 3 October 2011
Susanna Tol, Wetlands International
Hans Joosten, Greifswald University / IMCG

2. Peatlands 2
ecosystems where - under conditions of permanent water
saturation - dead and decaying plant material has
accumulated to form a thick organic soil layer

3. Mitigation hotspots 3
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
• From only 50 million ha = 0.3% of world land area
High value biodiversity & environmental services
HOTSPOTS FOR REDD AND NAMA’S

4. In which countries? 4
Very large Belarus:
Finland: 67 Mt/CO2/yr 41 Mt/CO2/yr
stocks in
Canada and Russia: 160
Germany: 32 Mt/CO2/yr
Alaska Mt/CO2/yr
US: Poland: China:
77 Mt/CO2/yr Mongolia:
67 Mt/CO2/yr 24 Mt/CO2/yr
45
Mt/CO2/yr
SE Asia:
Large stocks in peat CO2
South America, = 70%
e.g. Peru Brazil: of all its
12 Mt/CO2/yr fossil
fuel CO2
Sub-Sahara Africa:
peat CO2 = 25% of all its
fossil fuel CO2
Find stocks and emissions from all countries at www.wetlands.org/peatco2

5. 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
meeting emission reduction targets

6. Reference levels 6 6
A constant rate of deforestation A constant rate of peatland drainage
keeps the annual GHG emissions increases annual GHG emissions
constant because deforesting an because the emissions from newly
area implies a once-off emission. drained peatland add to those of
already drained peatland.

7. Reference levels 7

8. Reference levels 8

9. Reference levels 9
Conclusion

10. 10
Consequences for REDD+
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;
and simultaneously
2. Rewet already degraded and drained peatlands in
order to reduce annual emissions from peatland.

11. 11
Consequences for REDD+
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
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

12. 12
Priorities for achieving reduction targets
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
• Supply chains must exclude products from drained
peatlands
2. Rewetting drained peatlands:
• Restore peat soils where possible
• Paludicultures for severely degraded soils

13. Peatland MRV
• Peatlands: complex and different from other
ecosystems
Develop sophisticated MRV methodologies?
• Peatland emissions increase rapidly when
conversion and degradation proceeds
Stop radically NO GO!
Make rapidly a practical MRV system.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

14. Peatland MRV
• Monitoring a peat swamp moratorium is simple:
• In peatlands, the interdependency between
vegetation, peat and water is very tight
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

15. Peatland MRV
• Emissions increase by:
– removing (substantial) tree biomass
– increasing drainage and subsequent peat
oxidation
– fire
Monitor changes in crown structure/cover
and drainage infrastructure

16. Peatland MRV
• 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
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.

17. peat soil maps: high priority!!

18. wall-to-wall remote sensing

19. Peatland MRV
default emission factors for land use/cover types

20. Peatland MRV
• Refine on district/project level:
• use water level and subsidence to assess
emission reductions from rewetting/reforestation.
• Further knowledge will refine the monitoring

21. Further knowledge will refine the monitoring

22. Peatland MRV
Monitor all peatland as part of REDD+, because they
are intensively interlinked:
– primary peat swamp forests,
– degraded peat swamp forests,
– secondary peat swamp forests,
– deforested peatland areas,
– agricultural areas on peat,
– plantations on peat and
– abandoned agricultural areas on peat.

23. Damani, Panama, March 2011

24. Damani, Panama, May 2011

25. Damani, Panama, June 2011

26. Damani, Panama, Sept. 2011

27. PeatlandMRV
Peatlad MRV
• Peatland conversion is extremely rapid and largely
irreversible
• Peatland conversion leads to persistent and
increasing emissions
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!

28. THANK YOU More information:
www.wetlands.org/peatclimate
www.imcg.net
22 Oktober 1997
Reforestation in Indonesia Rewetting in Indonesia