Hi John, indeed, it is a lot of carbon. For the amount of area they take up, peatlands are extremely carbon-dense environments, storing over 600 Gt of carbon worldwide.Here is the concept note from which the 15% number came, prepared by CIFOR.
With strong variation around the world, peat-wetland soils store almost double the amount of carbon content per square meter. Estimates actually suggest that peatlands contain twice as much carbon as found in all the worlds forests. That being said, peatlands cover a much smaller area on the earth's surface than temperate forests do-- about 3-5% of the earth's surface. A fantastic infographic made by the Global Landscapes Forum and led by CIFOR can provide you with more stats and the citations.
Hi John, indeed, it is a lot of carbon. For the amount of area they take up, peatlands are extremely carbon-dense environments, storing over 600 Gt of carbon worldwide. Here is the concept note from which the 15% number came, prepared by CIFOR.
With strong variation around the world, peat-wetland soils store almost double the amount of carbon content per square meter. Estimates actually suggest that peatlands contain twice as much carbon as found in all the worlds forests. That being said, peatlands cover a much smaller area on the earth's surface than temperate forests do-- about 3-5% of the earth's surface. A fantastic infographic made by the Global Landscapes Forum and led by CIFOR can provide you with more stats and the citations.