Daniel Murdiyarso,
Center for International Forestry Research and Boone Kauffman, Oregon State
University
High Carbon ecosystems
such as peatlands and mangroves are increasingly attracting the attention they
deserve for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Scientists and climate
change policymakers gathered at a workshop in Bonn late
last month to discuss the state of knowledge on ‘ecosystems with high-carbon
reservoirs not covered by other agenda items under the Convention (UNFCCC)’.
Behind that technical
workshop title lies an important development: high-carbon ecosystems such as
peatlands and mangroves are increasingly — and finally — attracting the
attention they deserve in the international arena. More importantly, they are
on the way to assuming their rightful place in countries’ climate change
mitigation and adaptation strategies.
This sharpening focus on
tropical peatlands and mangroves could enrich the debate on the Kyoto Part-2,
in which developing nations housing the ecosystems could participate. Moreover,
this low-hanging fruit seems attractive for dual or even multiple objectives in
climate change mitigation and adaptation. So will COP 19 turn its attention to
these high carbon ecosystems?
The Bonn workshop was
organized by the UNFCCC/SBSTA (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change / Subsidiary
Body for Scientific and Technological Advice), in response to a request by
the Parties at last year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC in
Doha, Qatar.
