Latest Tropical peat Stories
NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In September 2011 Wetlands International announced its Commitment to Action under the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 'Securing Wetland Carbon Stores for Climate'. The global NGO aims to achieve emission reductions of at least 100 megatons by 2015, through the conservation and rehabilitation of carbon-rich wetlands. Now, one year later, they are well on the way to achieving their commitment. Wetlands include many high carbon...
In 1997, a forest fire in Indonesia ignited an area of peatlands that smouldered for months. By the time it was over, the fire had released greenhouse gases equal to 20 to 40 percent of the total worldwide emissions that year from fossil fuels. But that could be a drop in the bucket compared to future emissions from peat fires. Indonesian peatlands are dwarfed by Canada's. The total area of all peatland in Canada is estimated to be about twice the size of Saskatchewan. At this week's...
University of Leicester research into greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations provides robust measures now being used to inform international policies on greenhouse gas emissions A new study on greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations has calculated a more than 50% increase in levels of CO2 emissions than previously thought – and warned that the demand for 'green' biofuels could be costing the earth. The study from the University of Leicester was conducted for the...
Concerns that global warming may have a domino effect —unleashing 600 billion tons of carbon in vast expanses of peat in the Northern hemisphere and accelerating warming to disastrous proportions — may be less justified than previously thought. That's the conclusion of a new study on the topic in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology. Christian Blodau and colleagues explain that peat bogs — wet deposits of partially decayed plants that are the source of gardeners' peat...
KUCHING, Sarawak, Malaysia, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The State Government of Sarawak's Agricultural Policy prioritises sustainable management of biodiversity as part of its strategy for the growth of palm oil plantation. Sarawak has a total land mass of 12.4 million hectares, of which 70% is under forest cover and 14% is secondary forest. 13% of the land is used for agriculture and the remaining 3% compromise settlements and water bodies. Currently the state has allocated 700,000...
University of Alberta researchers have determined that the influence of northern peatlands on the prehistorical record of climate change has been over estimated, but the vast northern wetlands must still be watched closely as the planet grapples with its current global warming trend.Northern peatlands, which are a boggy mixture of dead organic material and water, cover more than four million square kilometers. The largest northern peatlands occur in the subarctic regions of Canada and Russia....
Burning rainforests release huge amounts of greenhouse gasesPeatlands, especially those in tropical regions, sequester gigantic amounts of organic carbon. Human activities are now having a considerable impact on these wetlands. For example, drainage projects, in combination with the effects of periodic droughts, can lead to large-scale fires, which release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and thus contribute to global warming. Using laser-based measurements,...
Global warming is speeding the release of carbon dioxide, a chief greenhouse gas, from underground peat in subarctic wetlands, Dutch research indicates. The research suggests rising temperatures are adding to the magnitude and velocity of global warming, Free University plant ecologist Ellen Dorrepaal and colleagues write in the journal Nature. Their research shows that raising temperatures about 1 degree Celsius accelerates total ecosystem respiration rates by as much as 60 percent,...
A new European study finds that climate change is accelerating the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from sub-Arctic peatlands, stimulating a fierce cycle of global warming.Northern peatlands contain one-third of the Earth's soil-bound organic carbon, the equivalent of half the CO2 in the entire atmosphere. An increase of just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degree Celsius) over current average temperatures would more than double the amount of CO2 released from the peatlands, the study...
In the last decade, Asian farmers have cleared tens of thousands of square miles of forests to accommodate the world's growing demand for palm oil, an increasingly popular food ingredient. Ancient peatlands have been drained and lush tropical forests have been cut down. As a result, the landscape of equatorial Asia now lies vulnerable to fires, which are growing more frequent and having a serious impact on the air as well as the land.A team of NASA-sponsored researchers have used satellites...
