UC Santa Cruz-led researchers have discovered extensive peatlands in Colombia that could play a crucial role in combating climate change. These ecosystems store up to 70 years worth of the nation’s carbon emissions, highlighting the need for urgent conservation efforts.
Hidden among Colombia’s eastern lowlands lie vast swathes of peatlands, recently revealed through research led by Scott Winton, an assistant professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz. This discovery, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, highlights the immense potential of these ecosystems to fight climate change by storing significant amounts of carbon.
Peatlands are not just another type of wetland; they are extraordinary carbon sinks.
“On a global scale, peatlands cover only 3% of land surface but store more carbon than all of the world’s trees,” Winton said in a news release.
Their soggy soils inhibit the decomposition of plant material, leading to the accumulation of carbon-rich peat. This makes their conservation a crucial element in international climate strategies.
Winton’s team, along with collaborators from ETH Zurich, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and Stanford University, mapped newly identified and predicted peatland zones across Colombia, estimating an area of 7,370 to 36,200 square kilometers.
These findings suggest that conserving these peatlands could drastically reduce Colombia’s carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, Colombia’s peatlands face significant threats.
The lack of current knowledge about their locations, coupled with rapid agricultural and infrastructural development, puts them at risk of being drained and destroyed. This would not only release stored carbon but also halt the peatlands’ ability to act as carbon sinks.
Winton acknowledges the urgency of the situation, noting that Indonesia’s peatland destruction due to agriculture has led to massive CO2 emissions, demonstrating the global importance of conserving these ecosystems.
The team’s process was far from easy.
“We visited a lot of wetlands without finding any peat, and we kind of had to stumble around and struggle a bit before we figured out how to find what we were looking for,” Winton added.
Persistence paid off when they finally identified peat soils at 51 out of more than 100 sites, leading to the discovery of two distinct types of peatlands: palm swamps and white-sand peatlands, the latter previously undocumented in South America.
Their rigorous research, examining soil samples and employing satellite imagery, led to a refined predictive model for identifying peatlands, signaling potential areas for future exploration and conservation. These Colombian peatlands alone might sequester an amount of carbon equivalent to 70 years of the country’s emissions from fossil fuels and industry.
Winton emphasizes that the battle is just beginning.
“There are many places across Colombia and around the world where we could still find large peatlands that we didn’t know existed that would totally upend current assumptions,” he added.
As Colombia continues to rebuild and develop, prioritizing the identification and protection of these peatlands can both preserve a critical natural resource and solidify the nation’s role in combating global climate change. Additional research and proactive conservation efforts can ensure peatlands remain effective carbon sinks and turn these hidden heroes into frontline defenders against climate change.