The humble plant that could save the world — or destroy it

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1. The Hudson Bay peatlands in northern Canada, a 90-million-acre area stretching from northern Manitoba to Quebec, are a haven for biodiversity, home to more than 1,000 species of plants and 175 species of birds. But the secret of this unique ecosystem lies below the surface, in a buildup of water-saturated mosses called peat.

   Though it looks like little more than fibrous dirt, peat has near-magical properties.

   Acidic and anaerobic, it can preserve artifacts, food, and even human remains for centuries or more. And because the process of decomposition slows down in such environments, they trap carbon dioxide and keep it out of the atmosphere, slowing the process of climate change.

   “It’s the world’s temperature regulator,” said Valérie Courtois, executive director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, which works on Indigenous-led conservation efforts in Canada. “It’s like we have a big fridge on top of the planet that is helping keep everything the way that it should be.”

   But now, the fridge is hanging open.

   Though they cover only 3 percent of the earth’s surface, peatlands store nearly one-third of the world’s carbon. And these ecosystems around the world are vulnerable to development and destruction. Today, only 17 percent of the world’s peatlands fall within a protected area, according to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

   The world’s peatlands are increasingly at the center of conflicts over resource extraction, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

2. Is the plant toxic specifically to the super rich?

3. 3 percent of Earth’s surface…. 33% of the Carbon…. THAT is the lead statement! Wow….

4. Who is the smart and interesting person that posted this? I want to add you to whatever list of people I want to associate with.

5. [Wikipedia Article says this as well:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peatland)

   >Peatlands are under threat by commercial peat harvesting, drainage and conversion for agriculture (notably palm oil in the tropics) and fires, which are predicted to become more frequent with climate change. The destruction of peatlands results in release of stored greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, further exacerbating climate change.

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   >The tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia only cover 0.2% of Earth’s land area but CO2 emissions are estimated to be 2 Gt per year, equal to 7% of global fossil fuel emissions.[30] These emissions get bigger with drainage and burning of peatlands and a severe fire can release up to 4,000 t of CO2/ha. Burning events in tropical peatlands are becoming more frequent due to large-scale drainage and land clearance and in the past ten years, more than 2 million hectares was burnt in Southeast Asia alone. These fires last typically for 1–3 months and release large amounts of CO2.

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   >In recent years, the occurrence of wildfires in peatlands has increased significantly worldwide particularly in the tropical regions. This can be attributed to a combination of drier weather and changes in land use which involve the drainage of water from the landscape.[1] This resulting loss of biomass through combustion has led to significant emissions of greenhouse gasses both in tropical and boreal/temperate peatlands.[63] Fire events are predicted to become more frequent with the warming and drying of the global climate

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