Chapter 3:  A Global Perspective on Bogs

 by

Neil Davis and Lori Bartley

3.1 The Global Issue 

The global issue facing bogs is their destruction or alteration through development. Over 50% of the earth’s wetlands are bog ecosystems and they are threatened (International Mire Conservation Group, 1984). Peatlands comprise nearly 8% of the world’s land surface amounting to some 400 million hectares across the five continents (Irish Peatland Conservation Council, 2002). They are the targets of development for agriculture, forestry, horticulture, fuel and other commercial ventures around the world. On a global scale, all natural bogs have been eliminated in the Netherlands and Poland. Switzerland and Germany each have only 500 hectares of remaining bogs. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, nearly 90% of the peatlands have been destroyed (Irish Peatland Conservation Council, 2002).

Agriculture has greatly affected peatlands. Millions of hectares have been drained and converted into farms around the world. Much of the land in the United Kingdom that is currently used for agriculture was once peatland. In other parts of the world peatlands have been converted to pastures for grazing animals or fields for rice paddies. Canada alone has altered thousands of hectares of peatland to produce market gardens as well as blueberry and cranberry farms. British Columbia is the world’s third largest producer of cranberries, after Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Berries are grown in Richmond, Pitt Meadows and Langley. Growers produce about 17 million kilograms of berries a year, valued at nearly 25 million dollars (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, 2003). Most berries are grown for the American Co-operative Ocean Spray. The environmental cost of creating a cranberry farm is enormous. It begins with the artificial dyking of peatland, filling in the peat with soil, planting a monoculture of domestic cranberries and spraying them with pesticides. Once a crop is ready for harvest, water is diverted from the Fraser River to flood the fields, altering the hydrology of the bog. Berries are beaten off of the vines enabling them to float to the surface. Then they are gathered with booms and scooped onto a conveyor belt into crates destined for the juice market down south. One of the common complaints that people living in Richmond make is that there are no fresh berries available at Thanksgiving. This is because most of the berries have been sent south of the border to be made into juice.

Commercial forestry operations have also resulted in peatland destruction. Over one third of Finland’s peatlands have been drained to facilitate tree harvesting (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 2001). In Malaysia, large tracts of peatlands are being burned in order to plant trees for the forest industry. In Canada, nearly 25,000 hectares of peatlands have been partially drained to facilitate forest operations (Daigle & Gautreau-Daigle, 2001).

The use of peat for horticulture is of worldwide concern. It is used as a soil supplement to enhance water retention and plant growth and as a soil base for greenhouse production. To harvest a bog for peat moss, it must first be drained, dried and then cut. The resulting fields can be too dry for Sphagnum to regenerate and even if the water level returns to normal, it can take years for bogs to return to their former state. Technically peat moss could be referred to as a renewable resource if one is willing to wait thousands of years for the resource to be renewed. Canada ranks second in the global production of horticultural peat after Germany. Canada currently produces 22% of the world’s horticultural peat with a market value of 170 million dollars. Of Canada’s 113 million hectares of peatlands, 17,000 hectares are being used for peat harvesting, employing about 1600 rural workers (Daigle and Gautreau-Daigle, 2001). Mining peat for fuel is another issue facing bogs. Ireland has depleted nearly 90% of its peatland as a result of peat mining for fuel in addition to draining for agriculture (Irish Peatland Conservation Council, 2001). In the United Kingdom the statistics are equally grim and Eastern Europe is aggressively mining peat to provide a source of home heating, as well as fuel for power plants. In addition to these threats, peat is being used in alcoholic drinks, environmental improvements and purification systems, oil spill clean ups, spa therapies, medicines and pads (Statement on the Wise Use of Peatlands, 2002).

Loss of biodiversity is a direct result of the destruction or alteration of bogs. Populations of plants and animals can disappear. Rare and endangered species in Canada that use peatlands include Whooping Cranes, Piping Plovers, Trumpeter Swans and Wood Bison. Many plants are specialized to live only in bogs and will not be found anywhere else on earth. These include insect-eating plants such as sundew, pitcher plants and bladderworts. They occupy a niche to which few other species are suited.

3.2 International bog conservation efforts

The values of wetlands were formally recognized at the international level in 1971 at the Ramsar Convention. An intergovernmental treaty signed by 144 countries provides a framework for national action on the conservation and wise use of wetlands. At a broad level, the Ramsar Convention has contributed to increasing global awareness of the importance of wetlands and acted as an impetus for conservation. At the 6th Ramsar Convention in Australia in March 1996, attention was drawn to the issue of mire conservation. While peatlands represent more than 50% of all terrestrial and freshwater wetlands, only 6% of the land area protected under the Ramsar Convention was set aside because it was a mire ecosystem. As a result, a resolution was drawn up making peatlands a higher priority for Ramsar. 

The International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) was established in 1984 to promote the conservation of mires and their complete range of natural diversity throughout the world by ensuring their wise and sustainable use (IMCG, 1984). They identify the global diversity of mire features, functions and values, reduce the most significant threats to mires and explore mechanisms to further their aims and sustain their achievements. IMCG is a partner in the Global Peatland Initiative, a platform programme which promotes, facilitates and finances projects for the wise use and conservation of peatlands. They publish newsletters, handbooks, organize international conferences and training sessions and inventory peatlands around the world.

The Southeast Asia Peatland Action Plan and Management Initiative (SEA-PEAT) are members of the International Mire Conservation Group. SEA-PEAT is an information network that links individuals working on peat related areas. Its objective is to develop a comprehensive action plan for the conservation and sustainable use of peatlands in Southeast Asia and share that information with interested parties. The 35-40 million hectares of peatland in Southeast Asia account for 60% of the world’s tropical peatlands and roughly one tenth of the entire extent of global peatland resources (SEA-PEAT, 2002).

3.3 Bogs and Global Warming

The Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiated in 1997, bound signatories (including Canada) to, among other things, the “protection and enhancement of sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases” (UNFCCC 1997). This has indirectly highlighted the importance of wetlands, and more specifically, peatlands (including bogs), which play a significant role in reducing the amount and rate of carbon emitted into the atmosphere (Kusler 1999a). Peatlands act as significant carbon reservoirs (Armentano and Menges 1986). Peatlands cover approximately 400-500 million hectares of the earth’s surface (Gorham 1990 as cited in Keddy 2000) (Ramsar 2005), which is approximately 4% of the world’s ice free land area (Keddy 2000). However, they are estimated to contain between one quarter and one third of the world’s pool of soil carbon (Armentano and Menges 1986) (Gorham 1991) (Ramsar 2005).  Carbon is sequestered from the atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants and remains largely unreleased due to the very slow rates of organic matter decomposition characteristic of peatlands’ cold, waterlogged and acidic soils (Gorham 1991). The accumulation of this undecayed organic matter has built up for thousands of years in many peatlands around the world. The carbon would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, one of the gases principally responsible for global warming.

Peatlands are not only reservoirs of carbon stored in dead, undecayed organic matter, they can also be active carbon sinks if the rate of carbon sequestration via photosynthesis exceeds the rate of carbon release. Past studies have shown that peatlands can act as sources or sinks of carbon depending on a number of factors (Worrall et al. 2003). Development or alteration of peatlands can have a significant impact on their carbon storage capacity, and can change them from sinks to sources of carbon. For example, drainage leads to the oxidation of the peat layer and the accelerated release of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (Kusler 1999b). Drainage water outflow can also increase carbon dioxide release from bogs in the forms of dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon and dissolved carbon dioxide (Worrall et al. 2003).

Proposed strategies to meet the Kyoto stipulation of protecting and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs have included blocking drainage in bogs. This can serve to reduce carbon release and preserve their function as carbon sinks and reservoirs. It has been suggested that this strategy may be a cheaper method of carbon storage than other strategies such as afforestation. Moreover, blocking drainage in bogs can have other positive outcomes such as improved ecological health.

Richmond is a participant in the “Partners for Climate Protection” program, a group of Canadian municipalities and regional governments working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their communities (City of Richmond 2005). Richmond is currently completing an emissions inventory and must develop a local action plan to reduce emissions and monitor progress. The existence of remnant boglands in Richmond presents municipal government with an opportunity to preserve a significant carbon reservoir and active sink on Lulu Island while simultaneously conserving greenspace and biodiversity. Blocking drainage around the bog remnants may reduce the carbon dioxide emissions in water outflows and prevent further oxidation of the peat layer. It may also serve to sustain the bog ecosystem by maintaining a higher water table that would help preserve its function as a carbon sink. At a longer time scale, this can help ensure continued accumulation of peat and thus, growth of the carbon reservoir.