Context: Recently, a study titled “Tropical peatlands and their conservation are important in the context of COVID-19 and potential future (zoonotic) disease pandemics” was released.

• Under which it found that Sustainably managing peatlands — peat-swamp forests found around the tropics — can protect humans from future pandemics.

About Peatlands

• Peat is the accumulation of organic material (plants or mosses) that has been formed on the spot and has not been transported after its formation.
• Peatlands are formed where the water level is stable near-surface, the remains of dead plants and mosses do not fully decompose due to the absence of oxygen (i.e. aerobic decomposition is limited), and therefore a layer of organic material accumulates over time.

Key points

• Peatlands are rich in biodiversity, including many potential vertebrate and invertebrate vectors.
• These included numerous vertebrates known to represent a risk of spreading zoonotic diseases, such as bats, rodents, pangolins and primates.
• Peatlands face high levels of habitat disruption such as wild or human-made fires and wildlife harvesting.
• Sustainably managing tropical peatlands and their wildlife is important for mitigating the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Distribution

• Peatlands are found in at least 175 countries and cover around 4 million km² or 3% of the world’s land area.
• The largest peat deposits are located in northern Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.
• Indonesia has more tropical peatland and mangrove forests than any other nation on earth.

Types of peatland
There are 6 principal global types:
Blanket mires

• Rain-fed, generally 1-3 m deep.
• Location: mainly in Ireland and the UK.
• They generally develop in cool climates with small seasonal temperature fluctuations and over one meter of rainfall and over 160 rain days each year.

Raised mires

• Rain-fed, potentially deep peatlands.
• Location: Northern Europe and North America, as well as in Russia and parts of the southern hemisphere.

String mires

• Flat or concave peatlands with a string-like pattern of hummocks.
• Location: Primarily northern Scandinavia but have been found in the western parts of Russia and North America.

Tundra mires

• Peatlands with a shallow peat layer, ~50 cm thick.
• They form in permafrost areas in Alaska, Canada, Russia etc.

Palsa mires

• A type of peatland typified by high mounds, each with a permanently frozen core, with wet depressions between the mounds.
• Location: Russia, Canada and parts of Scandinavia.

Peat swamps

• Forested peatlands (both rain- and groundwater-fed), are commonly found in high rainfall regions.
• This type of peatland covers ~350,000 km².
• Location: Southeast Asia, central Africa, the Amazon basin and the Everglades in Florida, USA.

Peatland Drainage

Why conserve peatlands?

• The protection and restoration of peatlands are vital in the transition towards a low-carbon and circular economy.
• Damaged peatlands contribute about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector.
• CO2 emissions from drained peatlands are estimated at 1.3 gigatonnes of CO2 annually.
• This is equivalent to 5.6% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
• Draining peatlands reduces the quality of drinking water due to pollution from dissolved compounds.