Peatlands Critical In Climate Change Fight | National Geographic
[Music] Nice. Yeah, really. PC, my name is Brett Azhagi, and I'm a postdoctoral researcher.
We're here to study the peatlands; you compare it to other soils. Peat is really carbon dense; it's made up of partially decomposed plant material. All the carbon that the plant accumulates is life; it doesn't fully break down. So, that carbon stays in the ground unless you were to disturb that ecosystem. Then, that carbon will very likely be released into the atmosphere, and that will contribute to rising greenhouse gas levels and climate change.
Peatlands only cover 3 percent of the Earth's land surface, but they account for more than a third of the carbon stock. I mean, I think that what we have here in the Congo is the largest tropical peatland complex in the world. This morning, we're going to head off into the forest. We're hoping we'll actually reach the start of the peatlands.
Ok, previously we've produced our first estimate of how much carbon these peatlands store, and we're onto a kind of second phase where we're trying to improve our mock with the peatlands. We'll stay dry today; see if I can make it. I think there's almost no hope; it's happened; it's too late.
Nice. We know this is peat; it's organic plant material that starts at the stake. If it was not peat, it would be with a gray color. We're going to clog it up, and that gets taken back to the lab to work out the density and carbon concentration.
I'm really relieved. I wasn't actually sure if we would find peat underneath this. Around the world, peatlands are undergoing quite high levels of degradation and destruction for the sake of oil palm plantations and rice projects. My fear is that something is financially more lucrative than protecting the peatlands will mean that these peatlands will be sacrificed for that.
My hope, though, is that the data we produce will give the people the information they need to make better-informed decisions about how to manage the ecosystem systems. [Music]