In Muara Manompas villagers had been involved in planning the peat restoration from the start
A group of women prepare seedlings as part of the peatland restoration work.
A flagship project of PeatRus has been the rehabilitation of the Orshinsky Bog, once a hub of peat extraction for fuel on the Volga floodplain in Tver, northwest of Moscow. So far its restoration has rewetted and restored biodiversity across some 22,000 hectares, as well as adding 320,000 tonnes of CO2 to its biomass each year. Elsewhere: - In Peru, we have triggered the integration of the extensive Amazon and Andean peatlands into the country’s NDC climate mitigation programme. - In Panama, we are helping exploit its Blue Carbon potential while also protecting its low-lying urban areas with mangroves. - In Mongolia, we have been conducting assessments of the carbon potential of the country’s extensive wetlands, and how the herders who occupy most of them can be involved in protecting them for inclusion in the country’s next NDC. - In India, we have initiated a climate vulnerability analysis of wetlands as part of a national communication to the UN on its climate policies. - In Guinea-Bissau, we have joined with the Dutch energy company Greenchoice to initiate large-scale mangrove restoration for climate, community and biodiversity benefits.
Silitonga said his fellow villagers had been involved in planning the peat restoration from the start, and would benefit from Wetlands International’s Bio-rights incentive mechanism that reconciles paludiculture and other peatland-friendly livelihoods with the restoration work. They felt they owned the programme, he said. But this is a global effort. If the world is to reach the 1.5-degree target set in the Paris Agreement, we need urgently to safeguard and restore wetland carbon stores. To that end, both public and private finance has to be mobilised. That is why we are collaborating both with governments on their NDCs and with companies to support best practice on responsible corporate climate action, as they seek to achieve net zero, through combining emissions reductions with Nature-based Solutions. Sometimes our work on NDCs is an ongoing development that builds on past efforts to restore wetlands. For example, in Russia, our work to rewet peatlands that burned during the infamous bush fires in Russia a decade ago, known as PeatRus, is now in its third phase, involving seven districts. Russia still ranks third in world emissions from drained peatlands, but thanks to our work in helping develop its capacity for reporting on carbon and peatlands, restoration is likely to be an important component in the country’s action plan for adapting to climate change.
Demonstration plots by the community group in Siak, Riau, Sumatra for integrated farming and peatland-friendly horticulture, where a lady has harvested luffa, or ridge gourd.
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2020
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