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By Kate Evans, originally posted on Forests News Indonesia – New tools and new discoveries are drastically altering our existing knowledge of peatlands. Scientists have recently discovered the existence of huge, previously unknown areas of peatland in central Africa and South America – and the numbers are quite astonishing. A new map developed by the Center […]

By Catriona Croft-Cusworth, originally posted on Forests News. Underneath the swamp forests and palm trees of the Congo Basin lies a hidden wealth: more than 145,000 square kilometers of carbon-rich peat. The peatlands of the Congo Basin have formed over thousands of years, and are estimated to contain about 30 billion tons of carbon – […]

How old is old growth in Borneo? 130 million years. Almost 80 percent of the island of Borneo was covered with this old growth rainforest in 1973. Today, only 28 percent remains. Barely bigger than France, Borneo’s rainforests are packed with more rare and fascinating species than almost anywhere else in the world. However, Borneo […]

“This is the perfect land—flat, fertile—all we need to do is drain it,” a farmer thinks upon approaching a peat forest. Draining the area turns waterlogged, carbon-rich soil into arable land, but in the process releases tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Only 15% of peatlands worldwide have been drained, but this alone is responsible […]

By Gabrielle Lipton, originally posted on Forests News. Indonesia – It may seem counter-intuitive to put human interests first when tackling an environmental issue as complex and technical as peatlands. The Global Landscapes Forum: Peatlands Matter event, however, sought to prove that local experiences are a crucial component to paving the best way forward for […]

How the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could bring a recently-discovered peatland into its REDD process By Bill Hinchberger, originally posted on Forests News Congo Basin – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has long been known for the biodiversity and carbon storage capacity of its vast forests. Now, there is a need to explore the […]