http://www.fao.org/in-action/micca/
This presentation by Julian Fox, FAO, was prepared for the side event ”Global Peatlands Initiative: Advancing global efforts to protect peat from degradation, loss & fire” held on 9 May 2017, at SBSTA in Bonn.
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
Peatlands as part of landscapes and national climate action
1. 1
Julian Fox, Martial Bernoux, Maria Nuutinen, Adam Gerrand,
Armine Avagyan, Simon Funge Smith, Ronald Vargas & Liesl Wiese.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Side event ”Global Peatlands Initiative: Advancing global efforts to
protect peat from degradation, loss & fire”
Bonn SBSTA 46, May 2017
Peatlands as part of landscapes and national climate action
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Holistic landscape approach
Management of
natural resources
and ecosystems,
such as peatlands,
considering
development
aspects,
livelihoods,
gender.
Contributing to Sustainable Development Goals.
Helping countries to fulfill commitments: climate, land and forest degradation, land restoration (NDCs, CBD, Bonn challenge).
3. 3
Soils matter!
Global Soil Partnership
& Global Soil Organic Carbon Symposium
1. Priority: Maintaining Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in carbon-rich
soils, especially peatlands, permafrost areas & numerous high
SOC soils
2. Developing national capacity for:
a) Sustainable management of carbon-rich soils – International
Network for Black Soils launched.
3. Addressing deforestation to preserve SOC.
4. Preserving and enhancing SOC storage is essential also for food
and water security & climate resilience.
www.fao.org/about/meetings/soil-organic-carbon-symposium/key-messages
4. 4
Role of NAMAs, NAPs & REDD+
• Peatlands provide multiple ecosystem services:
• Store carbon, help in adapting to climate change (e.g. water
security; flood control), host biodiversity, provide livelihoods
Recommendations:
Integrating peatlands into climate-related planning &
implementation processes
Harmonizing policies: land tenure, water management, land
use planning…
Consider international goals and standards: transparency
framework and greenhouse gas emission reporting
Sustainable management of peatlands as part of the
wider climate action
5. 5
Measuring and monitoring peatlands
FAO supports countries on development of National
Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS) and capacity
development for MRV.
Measuring and monitoring peatlands should be
included in NFMS
Collect Earth
monitoring
tool
6. 6
FAO's technical assistance
1. EX-ACT for estimating GHG emissions from
activities
2. FAOSTAT GHG emission database: peatlands
considered
3. biomass cultivation in wet conditions
(paludiculture)
4. Examples of management: case studies
5. Policy and governance guidance
6. Peat & climate learning community online
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Where to next?
1. Know your soil!
2. Manage the water!
3. Take a harmonized approach:
– Address peatland issues within larger land use plans, policies,
climate action
– Invest in good coordination
1. Develop capacity:
– Peatland maps; MRV
– Livelihood development
1. FAO Infographic on peatlands and climate change
2. Join the Global Peatlands Initiative!
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Thank you!
Contact us: micca@fao.org
Julian.Fox@fao.org
www.fao.org/in-action/micca/knowledge/peatlands-and-organic-soils
www.globalpeatlands.org
Join tomorrow:
Technical Expert Meeting on climate change
mitigation
•Agriculture thematic event
Date: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Time: 11:30–13:00
Room: Wien 1-2
•Forestry and other land use thematic event
Date: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Time: 15:00–16:30
Room: Wien 1-2
Join online community:
https://dgroups.org/fao/peatlands/join
Notes de l'éditeur
Dear all, My name is Julian Fox, and I am presenting on behalf of a diverse cross section of FAO technical divisions across Headquarters in Rome, to regional and country offices who work on Peatlands. My expertise is on National Forest Monitoring Monitoring and MRV, and I hope I can contribute on these topics beyond my presentation.
I should mention that FAO is very pleased to be a member of the Global Peat Initiative, we will contribute our technical expertise, and have high expectations that GPI can raise awareness of the importance of Peatlands, as well facilitate meaningful activities in member countries.
To reiterate the basic importance of Peat: Peatland drainage - mainly for agriculture, grazing and forestry - and peat fires are responsible for almost one quarter of carbon emissions from the land use sector. Peatlands and organic soils contain 30 percent of the world’s soil carbon but only cover 3 percent of the Earth’s land area.
Peatlands provide many important ecosystem services, including water regulation, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration and storage. Through conservation, restoration and better management, organic soils and peatlands can make a substantial contribution to reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
FAO advocates a holistic landscape approach to land management that addressing several issues at the same time – centred on management of natural resources and ecosystems, such as peatlands, considering development aspects, social factors, livelihoods, and gender – hitting several sustainable development goals in one action such as SDG 13 – climate action, SDG 15 – life on the land, and SDG 6 – clean water and sanitation, and SDG 2 – zero hunger.
This helps bring together the pieces of the puzzle for creating long-lasting, sustainable impact. The landscape approach to land management can also service several international commitments or contributions simultaneously such as Nationally Determined Contributions in Climate Action; the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the Bonn challenge on restoration
We need to always consider the soil in land use planning; if it’s peat, this is especially important.
Basically – Soils matter! On that theme here are some recent developments of the Global Soil Partnership
The minimum action is to prevent SOC losses by maintaining current SOC stocks (especially in carbon-rich soils such as peatlands, permafrost, and other high SOC soils.
The International Network for Black Soils was launched during Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon 17 to foster technical collaboration to maintain the high SOC stocks of these productive soils across the globe.
1) The first meter of soil across the globe holds an estimated 1,417 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon – almost double the amount in our atmosphere and dozens of times the levels of man-made emissions each year. At greater depths, soil holds three times as much carbon as in the atmosphere.
2) Soil organic carbon is sensitive to how the soil is managed; poor land management practices cause soils to lose organic matter/carbon and release greenhouse gases.
3) Degradation of one third of the world’s soils has released up to 78 Gt of carbon into the atmosphere, and deforestation causes about 25 per cent of soil organic carbon loss.
4) Finally, preserving and enhancing SOC storage is essential also for food and water security & climate resilience.
We need to apply holistic landscape approaches to land use planning, and include peatlands in national climate actions, be it for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions, National Adaptation Plans, or REDD+.
Peatlands should be integrated into climate planning, budgeting and implementation.
Also policy harmonization would be essential as good management depends of several policies, those concerning e.g. water use, land use planning, tenure of natural resources.
Peatland management also needs to be represented in greenhouse gas emission reporting and emerging transparency frameworks of the Paris Agreement.
Peatlands under forests, their preservation or restoration, can be included in a countries REDD+ actions.
FAO supports countries on the development of National Forest Monitoring Systems for monitoring the status of land use and land use change, including peatlands, and reporting this information internationally. Measuring and monitoring peatlands should be included as much as possible in NFMS.
Here’s an example of a monitoring tool tested now with Indonesian partners for monitoring forest cover which could also have applications for peatland monitoring and management. Under the Open Foris suite of free open source tools for forest data analysis we have the Collect-Earth tool as well as SEPAL.
Collect Earth uses Google Earth samples for fast, easy visual classification of land cover & uses, while SEPAL links to cloud computing data storage and processing for rapid monitoring of land cover changes (e.g. peatland). Both tools are being successfully applied in many countries for forest monitoring, and have application for monitoring of peatlands.
In order to realize actual climate action on peatlands, there are several tools and options that countries may want to consider: [ Here are some tools that FAO offers: ]
1. EX-ACT tool: EX-Ante Carbon Appraisal Tool for estimating greenhouse gas emission impact already before activities have started, be it for restoration or drainage of peat soils.
2. You can also see the previous estimates of the emissions from peat soil in FAO’s FAOSTAT greenhouse gas emission database (see under ‘cultivation of organic soils’ as well as ‘land use’)
3. Biomass cultivation in wet conditions (paludiculture)
4 FAO has also compiled case studies that share experience of different peatland management practices
5. We have also knowledge products and ongoing work to guide countries with policies and governance of natural resources such as peatlands
6. And last but not least, FAO is facilitating an active online community of practice of 410 climate and peatland experts from 45 countries.
FAO’s strength is on country support – and we hope through our collaboration with GPI that we can expand this important work
To sum up:
Know where you’re standing: and if it’s peat… manage the water. Not only for peat’s sake, but also for adaptation benefits.
Take a holistic landscape approach addressing several concerns in national climate and land use planning simultaneously. To make this possible, invest in good cross-sectoral coordination.
To realize all this: invest in capacity development:
Recognize peat
Map it
Develop capacity for MRV of Peat
Ensure also socio-economic sustainability through alternative livelihoods.
FAO has also developed an infographic on peatlands and climate change: now available in in French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Bahasa (Indonesian).
Finally - I am sure GPI would also welcome more countries to join the Global Peatlands Initiative
Finally, I would like to warmly welcome all participants to the Technical Expert Meetings on Mitigation in Agriculture as well as forestry and other land use – coordinated jointly by FAO and the UNFCCC – there are presentations on peatlands in both sessions.
I would also like to introduce Martial Bernoux my counterpart in the department of Climate and Biodiversity who oversees a work programs on Peatlands, and I may defer questions on the presentation to Martial.
The links will lead you to more information.
Thank you very much!