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‘Peatlands and Climate in a Ramsar context’
Report on Nordic Baltic wetlands
Recently published, the report ‘Peatlands and Climate in a Ramsar context - A Nordic-Baltic Perspective’ summarizes available information on extent, distribution and status of peatlands in the countries of the The Nordic Baltic Wetlands Initiative (NorBalWet, RAMSAR). Besides a country by country assessment, this report discusses the challenges and opportunities to improve the management of peatlands in the NorBalWet countries for climate change mitigation. A key finding of the report: Almost half (46%) of the peatland area of the studied NorBalWet countries has been drained and is now emitting over 75 Mt of CO2 annually. This constitutes a substantial part of the total CO2 budgets of the NorBalWet countries, given that peatland CO2-emissions equal 34% of total CO2-emissions from all other sources combined (excl. land use). The report is a collaboration of the Greifswald Mire Centre, Greifswald University and Risager Consult (Denmark). It has been funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.