Are you wondering why NGT talks a lot about peatlands? These fantastic new resources explain why…

In the past couple of weeks, I was sent some fantastic new international resources that help to explain the value of the world’s peatlands.

Firstly, the Peatland Atlas (which you can download as a pdf here or view at the bottom of this blog) was recently published online by Boell-Foundation, BUND Friends of the Earth and Michael Succow Foundation, Partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre supported by the Global Peatlands Initiative.

Although we have relatively modest amount of peatland in Australia by global standards due to the general dryness of our continent, they do occur around the temperate fringe and have been overlooked for far too long considering their vital role in the water and carbon cycle, and as hotspots for biodiversity. In short, despite their rarity, peatlands well and truly punch above their weight.

For example, peatlands cover only a small portion of the earth, but they store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem, as shown in the graphic below. Yes, you read that right, a lot more carbon is stored in peatlands than in the worlds forests, despite them only covering a fraction of the area!

There is also a fantastic short video, that sums up the key issues for peatlands and their importance in just a few minutes. If you don’t have time to do the reading referred to in this blog, please make sure you watch this!

By the way, if you are interested to learn about some of the peatlands that NGT has been working to rewet, restore and protect in southern Australia, then you might like come along for part or all of the NGT Grand Tour in October. We’ll be visiting restored peatlands on Day 1 (Fleurieu Peninsula), Day 4 (Mt Burr Swamp) and Day 5 (Long Swamp).

To book your place on any of these days, please click the links below.