On 22nd March, as part of the third meeting of the Global Peatland Initiative (GPI), IUCN Global Councillor and Co-Chair of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, Jonathan Hughes, will be showcasing progress and ongoing work relating to the management of peatlands in the UK.
The meeting is taking place in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo – a nation that along with the Democratic Republic of Congo was discovered in 2012 to have the largest known intact tropical peatland covering 145,500 sq. km – an area larger than England. The Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the three focal areas for the GPI, alongside Peru and Indonesia.
The GPI is a partnership between peatland experts and international institutions, and seeks to improve the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of global peatlands. IUCN is a formal partner and steering group committee member of the partnership, acting through the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. On behalf of the partnership, IUCN has led on the production of a Peatlands and Climate Change issues brief for the Bonn 2017 UN Climate Change Conference, and contributed to the second members meeting in Indonesia and the Global Landscapes Forum in Germany. Other partners involved in the GPI include World Conservation Centre, UNEP, UN FAO, GRID Arendal and Greifswald Mire Centre.
With peatlands increasingly recognised as one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth – critical for preserving global biodiversity, providing safe drinking water and helping to address climate change – the GPI is focusing its efforts on assessing their current state, and their importance in the global carbon cycles and to national economies. This essential work will enable the GPI and partners to emphasise the role of peatlands in achieving global commitments to mitigate climate change and their need for sustainable management.
The IUCN has been invited to highlight work already underway in the UK towards sustainable management of peatlands at this third meeting in the Republic of Congo. The UK is to soon publish its first UK Peatland Strategy, developed by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, with supporting country-level action plans in Scotland, Wales and England developed by the devolved UK government administrations. These plans include both targets and funding for the implementation of restoration and management, using monies from the public and private sector – and can provide a case study for other member governments looking to establish their own policies relating to peatland. The UK is also world-leading in its peatland restoration efforts, and with damaged peatlands contributing almost 6% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, these efforts are paramount to reducing emissions and it is therefore important that all peatland nations take action to restore the waterlogged conditions required for peat formation.
Finance is a major hurdle in the restoration and conservation of peatlands, a topic that will be addressed in a session chaired by Jonathan Hughes on Understanding Financial Instruments & Developing Investment Options for Peatlands. Existing examples of carbon finance such as the UK Peatland Code will be discussed and global institutions including the World Bank will be sharing their opinions as to what future funding structures might look like.
Many of the messages to come out of this third meeting are expected to support the conclusions of the recent UN Environment Rapid Response Assessment, Smoke on Water – to which the IUCN contributed. Key conclusions included the need for immediate action and support for local communities to sustainably manage peatlands through traditional non-destructive uses and the introduction of innovative management alternatives. It is hoped that the meeting in the Republic of Congo will empower peatland nations to make the progress required and help provide them with both the necessary support and advice in doing so.
