A new study has shown that the area of peatland in the heart of the Congo Basin is 15% larger than previously thought.
A partnership of scientists from the UK and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has found that the peatlands span over 13 million hectares.
Three years ago, researchers from the University of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo traveled to the swamp forests of the UK and France.
For the first time, the researchers have seen extensive peatlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The peatlands in the central Congo Basin store between 26 and 32 billion metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of three years of global fossil fuel emissions, according to their findings.
32% of the world's tropical carbon is stored in the central Congo Basin, according to a new study.
The vulnerability to future changes in land use is shown by the fact that only 8% of the carbon is within a national protected area.
The findings show the importance of the Congolese peatlands as a globally important store of carbon.
As much carbon is stored in this small area of peatland as is found in all the trees of the entire rainforest. In the battle to tackle climate change, the safe storage of carbon in tropical peatlands is of paramount importance.
It is possible to map the peatlands.
A UK-Congolese team conducted a study on the central Congolese peatlands. The scientists estimated that the peatlands in the RoC covered an area larger than England.
The vast majority of the estimated area of peatland was located in the DR.
The study provided us with a great foundation for this next phase of research, but we needed to trek into remote peatlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to sample and assess if Central Africa really hosted the world's largest tropical peatland. The peatland complex is larger than we thought at the time.
The first ever maps of how deep the peat is, how much carbon they store, and an accurate map of the largest tropical peatland in the world were created after years of work.
The world needs to know where the carbon is stored so that it can be protected.
More than 100 field assistants and local guides were involved in the work done by the researchers. The scientists were able to estimate how much carbon is held in the central Congolese peatlands with the help of this collective effort.
Satellite data was used by the researchers to make predictions. They were able to calculate the total amount of carbon stored across the region with the help of the depth estimates.
In comparison to the wide expanses of peat found between rivers in the RoC, the scientists found that many of the peatlands in the DR are located in narrow river valleys.
According to Mr Crezee, the narrow river valleys of theDRC are at least as deep as the larger basins. There is a five meter deep layer of peat just four or five kilometers into the swamp. You have to trek over 20 kilometers into the swamp to find a layer of five meters.
The peatlands need to be protected.
Peat is not completely decomposing. The year-round waterlogging in the swamp prevents the soil from decomposing. When trees, leaves and roots die, they don't rot completely and form a layer of peat.
The carbon is removed from the atmosphere through the growth of plants.
Peat decomposition can release carbon into the atmosphere if peatlands dry out.
An average of 1,712 metric tons of carbon is stored in the centralCongo peat swamp forests.
The peatlands in the Congo Basin have been kept dry because they are relatively undisturbed. The impact of development on the peatlands could be disastrous.
The future of the area is at risk due to planned oil exploration, industrial logging, and palm oil development.
A quarter of the carbon stock is threatened by industrial logging, mining or palm oil development according to the researchers.
Corneille Ewango is a professor at the University of Kisangani. Some of the plants we counted are new to science.
Oil drilling, logging and palm oil plantations are threatening people living near the peatlands. The global climate commitments would be out of reach if these developments were to go ahead.
Plans are needed to increase the incomes of local people while enhancing their abilities to protect the centralCongo peatlands, and I hope our work will help secure a better future for the peatlands and its people.
The author of the paper is Professor Simon Lewis. He says that "this research is a huge collaborative effort involving scientists from universities in theDRC and UK, and is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when we work together to tackle global issues."
While much of the focus is on carbon, we can't forget that the Congolese peatlands are also home for a lot of plant and animal species. Oil spills in this area could affect the health of local people and the wildlife that depend on the water from the peatlands.
We are only beginning to understand the peatlands. It's more important than ever to put the scientific study and protection of the peatlands high on the international agenda.
More information: Bart Crezee et al, Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data, Nature Geoscience (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7 Journal information: Nature Geoscience
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