STORY HIGHLIGHTS Wetlands are the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sinks, holding the greatest potential of all ecosystems
CARBON PARTNERSHIPS TO SAVE WETLANDS AND THE CLIMATE
for delivering Nature-based Solutions to climate change.
While more than a hundred countries have mangrove forests, fewer than 30 initially included them in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for climate mitigation. Countries can review their NDCs every five years and include the “low hanging fruit” that tackling Blue Carbon offers. We are ready to support Ireland to turn its knowledge into action, restoring its amazing peatlands to benefit people and nature for the long term.
By Fred Pearce
“After living in Muara Manompas village for almost fifty years, this is the first time we have a programme where the community is really involved.” The words came from Waldemart Silitonga, a leader in one of twenty villages signing up to a Wetlands International project in late 2020 to rewet peatlands in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. The words signified community buy-in for a key pilot project recruiting villagers to block drainage canals and reinstate cultivation of wetland-adapted crops, known as paludiculture, across hundreds of hectares. The hope was that it could also kick-start a revival of peatlands in Sumatra and across Indonesia, as part of a wider engagement of government and communities in incorporating carbon-rich wetlands into the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to fighting climate change.
Wetlands like the tropical peatlands of Sumatra, Indonesia are the planet’s biggest terrestrial “carbon sinks”, holding the greatest potential of all ecosystems for delivering Nature-based Solutions to climate change.
46
47
Wetlands International Annual Review 2020
Wetlands International Annual Review 2020
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online