The GPD collates and integrates data on location, extent and drainage status of peatlands and organic soils worldwide and for 268 individual countries and regions. The database contains analogue and GIS maps, reports, observations, pictures, and is supported by the Peatland and Nature Conservation International Library PeNCIL. The GPD regularly produces integrative analyses including biennial worldwide overviews on peatland status and emissions and provides science-based, policy-relevant spatial information for: 

• climate change mitigation and adaptation;
• biodiversity conservation and restoration;
• and sustainable land use planning.

Contact

General issues:

Dr. Alexandra Barthelmes Senior researcher, coordinator of the GPD - working group coordination, project development - data search and integration for peatland mapping and assessment - maintenance of the country-specific Global Peatland emission Database (‘GPemD’) for greenhouse gas emissions from drained organic soils - evaluation of national UNFCCC reporting on GHG emissions from drained organic soils - supervision (internship, BSc, MSc, PhD) focus: global, Germany focus: global

Regional issues:

Dr. Cosima Tegetmeyer Senior researcher - coordination of geo-spatial data for the ‘Global Peatland Map’ - GIS, maps design, remote sensing - archive work, data search and integration for peatland mapping and assessment focus: global, Europe
Dr. Franziska Tanneberger Senior researcher & Director of the GMC - archive work, data search and integration for peatland mapping and assessment focus:  Europe
Dr. Samer Elshehawi Senior researcher - eco-hydrology of peatlands - project development focus: Eastern and southern Africa, Indonesia
Karen-Doreen Barthelmes Junior researcher - GIS, manually integration of peatland data and high-resolution mapping - peatland degradation, drivers and impact focus: global
Felix Beer Junior researcher - peatland mapping, remote sensing, peatland restoration - training and support for students (internship, BSc, MSc) focus: SE Asia, Eastern and Central Africa, Latin America
Cristina Malpica Junior researcher - developing GIS based peatland probability maps - archive work, data search and integration for peatland mapping and assessment focus: South America
Farina de Waard Junior researcher - peatland degradation and fire - big data and machine learning focus: global, N-Germany

History

The Global Peatland Database started in the 1990s as a project of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) with the aim to elaborate a worldwide overview of the occurrence of peatlands, with references and background information. The necessity of such overview emerged from the development of IMCG/IPS Wise Use guidelines, in which the first global overview was published. 

Methods

No globally accepted definition for ‘peatland’ exists. Various English terms (mire, marsh, swamp, fen, bog …) are used for naming different mire and wetland types (Joosten et al. 2017). To elaborate a global overview on peatlands the GPD includes all soils that fit into the broad IPCC concept of ‘organic soils’ with 12 percent or more organic soil carbon without a depth criterion (Hiraishi et al. 2014). This automatically includes almost all peatlands, histosols and other organic soils, and allows the use of diverse, historically grown national or regional datasets. 

Common terms and definitions for ‘peat’ and ‘organic soil’

Peatlands belong to the organic soils (histosols), which also include soils with shallower organic layers, less organic matter, and a sedimentary origin (FAO 2015). (Undrained) organic soils again belong to the ‘hydric soils’ (wetland soils; USDA, NRCS 2003). 

Varying with country and scientific discipline, peatlands have been defined as having a peat layer from 20 to 100 cm, whereas also the minimum content of organic matter of the ‘peat’ varies similarly across definitions (Joosten et al. 2017). However, many national approaches require “peatland”’ to have a minimum peat depth of 30 cm and ‘peat’ to have >30% (by dry mass) of sedentarily (=on the spot) produced organic material (Joosten & Clarke 2002, Parish et al. 2008, Rydin & Jeglum 2013).  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) considers ‘organic soils’ to be soil with at least 12 to 18 percent of organic carbon, depending on the clay content (IPCC 2014). This definition encompasses all peatland and other organic soils, but has no criterion for the minimum thickness of the organic layer to allow countries to use their country-specific definitions, often historically determined.  

Proxy data for the indication of peatlands and organic soils

Detailed geospatial data on location, extent and drainage status of peatlands are rare and highly variable with respect to concepts, terms, completeness and accuracy. The Global Peatland Database (GPD) aims to fill knowledge gaps and to speed up peatland mapping and inventory. 

Gaps in the coverage of geospatial peatland data can partially be filled by using ‘proxy data’, i.e. (mainly abiotic) features which indicate the possible occurrence of peatlands.  

Integration and evaluation of geospatial peatland data

The first product using this approach was “Peatlands and climate in a Ramsar context”. The GPD collects geospatial peatland data, analyses terms and concepts used, and evaluates their completeness and accuracy, using expertise of GMC members and international partners. The collated data are integrated in GIS to a hybrid, ‘bottom up’ peatland map with global coverage.   

High resolution mapping of peatlands and organic soils

Despite rapidly developing remote sensing technology, peatland mapping still faces major problems: 

• All remote sensing approaches need sufficient ground data for calibration and validation, but geo-referenced soil profiles from peatlands with adequate carbon content analysis are scarce. 

• Major proxies for identifying peatlands by remote sensing are lost when peatlands are deforested or drained. Assessment of peatland occurrence in landscapes altered by humans therefore often requires the use of historical satellite imagery, that only goes back to the early 1970s with resolution decreasing the further back one goes in time.  
• Peatlands are diverse and used in very different ways. This hampers simple extrapolation of results and requires high resolution mapping.  

We therefore developed an expert-based, manual, rapid, high resolution peatland mapping approach which delivers ‘peatland probability maps’, using available field data, specialized knowledge, and modern techniques (see the scheme of the mapping process below). The approach links various science networks, methodologies and databases, including those of peatland/landscape ecology for understanding where and how peatlands may occur, those of remote sensing or identifying possible locations, and those of soil science (legacy soil maps) and (palaeo-)ecology for ground truthing.  

References

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) (2015). World reference base for soil resources 2014: International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. Update 2015. World Soil Resources Report 106, 203 p. 

Hiraishi T., Krug T., Tanabe K., Srivastava N., Baasansuren J., Fukuda M. & TG. Troxler (eds.) (2014). 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands, published by IPCC, Switzerland. 

Joosten H. & D. Clarke (2002). Wise use of mires and peatlands. Background and principles including a framework for decision-making. International Mire Conservation Group and International Peat Society, 304 p.  

Joosten H., Tanneberger F. & A. Moen (eds.) (2017). Mires and peatlands of Europe: Status, distribution and conservation. Stuttgart: Schweizerbart Science Publishers, 780 p.  

Rydin H. & J.K. Jeglum (2013). The biology of peatlands. 2. Edition, Oxford University Press, 382 p.  

USDA, NRCS (2003) Field Indicators of hydric soils in the United States, Version 5.01. G.W. Hurt, P.M. Whited, and R.F. Pringle (eds.). 

Ongoing and completed projects

“The Global Peatlands Initiative: Assessing, Measuring and Preserving Peat Carbon” (ICI) 

“Path to sustainable management of peatlands in North Kalimantan” (GIZ) 

“Update of the GMC Global Peatland Map”

“Update of the GMC country-wise emission database and assessment of GHG emissions from peatlands”

 “Developing a pantropical peatland map based on eco-zones with substantial peat occurrences” 

Current and completed degree theses

PhD: 

“Developing a tentative peatland map for the Amazon region” (Cristina Malpica)
„Analyse von Moordegradation und -trajektorien mit raum-zeitlich hoch aufgelösten Satellitendaten“ (Farina de Waard)