Major gaps remain in understanding global peatlands despite growing climate importance

File picture for illustration purposes only. Source: Evelin Magnus/Pexels via Canva

By Doreen Ling

KUCHING, May 29: Peatlands have become increasingly vital in today’s world due to their ability to store vast amounts of carbon, which is crucial for climate regulation, alongside biodiversity conservation and water security.

But despite their importance in climate regulation, biodiversity conservation and water security, peatlands have traditionally attracted less scientific research and policy focus and are deteriorating under pressures from climate change and human disturbance.

According to a study published in Nature Portfolio through the Communications Earth & Environment journal, peatlands cover only three to four per cent of the Earth’s land surface yet store nearly one-third of global soil carbon.

Peatlands help control water flow by reducing floods, maintaining river levels during dry periods, and filtering water. They also provide a habitat for unique plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else. In addition, peatlands are important to local communities for their cultural value and economic benefits.

However, when compared to ecosystems like forests of coral reefs, peatlands have historically received less scientific and policy attention.

“For instance, the impacts of climate change on peatland carbon dynamics were a new addition to the IPCC-AR6 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- Sixth Assessment Report). This historical lack partly reflects their often-limited visibility and remoteness and their historical perception as marginal lands of relatively low economic importance, even though their role in the global carbon cycle and climate regulation has been acknowledged by the scientific community for over 30 years.”

The study also noted that the uneven global distribution of peatlands, with vast areas concentrated in a relatively small number of countries, has likely contributed to inconsistent awareness, research efforts, and investment in their protection and management.

As climate change intensifies and pressure on land resources grows, particularly in tropical regions where peatland research remains relatively underdeveloped, the study said there is increasing interest among scientists, land managers, and policymakers to better coordinate peatland research and management efforts.

However, the study warned that peatlands can quickly shift from being carbon sinks to net carbon sources when disturbed or drained, releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases while also diminishing the ecosystem services they provide.

“Globally, peatland degradation—primarily through drainage for agriculture or forestry—accounts for an estimated five to 10 per cent of annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.

“Moreover, the peatland net carbon balance is sensitive to shifting environmental conditions, such as changes in surface moisture.”

The study highlighted significant knowledge gaps surrounding fundamental peatland characteristics, including their total global extent—particularly in tropical regions—peat depth, and the factors influencing carbon accumulation rates across different regions and landscapes.

According to the study, improved mapping and a better understanding of peat soil properties have resulted in upward revisions of global peatland area and carbon stock estimates. But despite this progress, around 13 per cent of peatlands globally are already degraded, with drainage identified as the primary cause.

The study noted that peatlands have demonstrated resilience to past climate fluctuations, but warned that rapid global warming, coupled with pressures such as land-use change and other human activities, could push some peatlands beyond critical thresholds and into alternative ecological states.

“Restoration of an estimated 500,000 km2 of drained peatlands worldwide is needed by mid-century to align with the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. Multiple lines of evidence from peatland types and locations globally show that raising water levels reverses some of the impacts of drainage, including reducing subsidence and carbon emissions, reducing fire incidence and enabling ecosystem recovery.

“However, the intricacies of rewetting can be crucial management variables that are not yet well understood for different peatland types, landscape settings, and timescales.

“Similarly, there remain questions surrounding the long-term trajectories and outcomes from restoration, with some studies highlighting that restored vegetation communities differ significantly from the original and certain aspects of the peatland system, including biodiversity, are not fully restored even after a decade.

“Creating an additional layer of complexity is the wide variety of peatland types, the inter-relations between restoration efforts, continued peatland activities, climate change, and the wider landscape or political context.”

The study highlighted that emerging technologies are opening new frontiers in peatland research, including low-cost sensors, aerial technologies, modelling approaches, and artificial intelligence (AI). But despite these advances, gaps remain where ground-truth data are sparse, and integrating satellite, aerial technologies, and in situ observations continues to be essential for reliable, repeated monitoring and robust greenhouse gas accounting.

The study emphasised that effective peatland conservation and restoration require strong governance, meaningful involvement of local communities, and supportive policies and economic frameworks.

However, managing peatlands can be challenging because responsibilities often span multiple sectors and jurisdictions, leading to fragmented policies, overlapping authorities, land rights issues, and competing interests.

“Strategic, globally coordinated research is urgently needed to protect, restore, and manage peatlands so they can continue to deliver essential ecosystem services.” — DayakDaily