Towards climate-responsible Towards peatlands management 9 MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE SERIES MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE SERIES 9 Towards climate-responsible peatlands management Riccardo Biancalani and Armine Avagyan (Editors) Food and Agiculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Rome, 2014 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. 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Cover photo: Peatland restoration FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/ by application of Sphagnum capitula publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. ©Bas Van de Riet Contents Acronyms and glossary of key terms ............................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vi Executive summary ....................................................................................................................... vii Definitions ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 Section 1 Peatlands characterization and consequences of utilization 5 1. Peatland characterization .......................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Peat definition ...........................................................................................................................6 1.2 Peatland definition ...................................................................................................................8 1.3 Ecological context .....................................................................................................................9 1.4 Characteristics of peatland geochemistry ...............................................................................10 1.5 Characteristics of peatland hydrology .....................................................................................11 2. Contribution of drained organic soils to GHG emissions .......................................................... 12 3. Overview of types of peatlands ............................................................................................... 15 3.1 Tropical peatlands ...................................................................................................................15 3.2 Boreal and temperate peatlands.............................................................................................16 4. Mapping of Peatlands .............................................................................................................. 19 4.1 State of the art of peatlands mapping ...................................................................................19 4.2 Comparison of different available maps .................................................................................19 4.3 Priority actions orf improved peatlands mapping ...................................................................21 5. Utilization of peatlands and peat ............................................................................................. 22 5.1 Low-intensity use of peatlands ...............................................................................................22 5.2 Intensive use of peatlands ......................................................................................................23 6. Environmental impacts and consequences of utilizing peatlands ............................................. 27 6.1 GHG emissions from drainage .................................................................................................27 6.2 Subsidence and flooding .........................................................................................................30 6.3 Vegetation removal and deforestation ...................................................................................31 6.4 Main hazards related to the utilization and management of peatlands .................................32 Section 2 Improved management practices 37 7. Rewetting of drained peatlands ............................................................................................... 38 8. Croplands and paludicultures .................................................................................................. 41 9. Restoring degraded pastures ................................................................................................... 45 10. Forestry practices on peatlands ............................................................................................... 48 10.1 Northern peatlands .................................................................................................................50 10.2 Possibilities for responsible peatlands management ..............................................................51 11. Plantations in Southeast Asia ................................................................................................... 53 11.1 Plantations expansion and peatlands conversion ..................................................................53 11.2 Urgent need for conservation and responsible use of peatlands ...........................................54 11.3 A paradigm shift in the use of peatlands ................................................................................55 12. Aquaculture and tropical peatland fishery .............................................................................. 58 13. Participatory and negotiated approach to responsible peatland management ......................... 61 13.1 Participatory identification and mapping of stakeholders ......................................................62 13.2 Promoting efforts to secure stakeholder natural resource tenure ............................................ 62 13.3 Supporting sustainable natural resource governance through negotiation ............................62 iii Section 3 Case studies of management practices 67 14. Smallholder sago farming on largely undrained peatland ........................................................ 68 15. Illipe nut plantation on undrained peatland ............................................................................. 72 16. Biomass from reeds as a substitute for peat in energy production ........................................... 76 17. Sphagnum farming for replacing peat in horticultural substrates ............................................. 80 18. Peatland restoration and sustainable grazing in China ............................................................. 84 19. Rewetting drained forest in Southern Sweden ......................................................................... 88 References .................................................................................................................................... 92 Annex .......................................................................................................................................... 102 Boxes Box 1.1 GHG emissions and waterborne carbon loss from peatlands ..................................................10 Box 3.1 Mire formation ......................................................................................................................... 18 Box 6.1 Methods to measure peatland GHG emissions and DOC loss .................................................34 Box 7.1 The Bord na Mona Bog restoration programme ......................................................................40 Box 8.1 Paludiculture plants for the temperate and boreal zones of the northern hemisphere ..........42 Box 8.2 Research and development for biomass use from rewetted peatlands - Vorpommern Paludiculture Initiative ....................................................................................44 Box 9.1 Rewetting alkaline fens with support of sustainable