21 Jan, 2025
By: Purva Shah, Junior Climate Change Advisor and Avantika Bhaskar, Forestry and Biodiversity Advisor, Climate Action
As the world navigates through an escalating climate crisis, the importance of wetlands, especially peatlands, has never been more pronounced. Peatlands, often referred to as “the planet’s carbon sinks,” absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide and store it in their organic-rich soils. They are unique wetlands with organic soils that accumulate carbon over thousands of years. They are among earth’s most efficient carbon sinks, storing carbon at a rate far greater than forests or oceans. In fact, peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth's land area but store nearly 30% of land-based carboni.
However, their critical role in mitigating climate change remains largely underappreciated, particularly in regions like India, where peatlands are still under-researched. With vast biogeographic zones spanning the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas to the lush landscapes of the Western Ghats, India potentially holds an untapped wealth of peatlands - the ecosystems that play a crucial role in the global climate conversation.
In an era where the world is turning to its natural ecosystems for solutions and every action counts towards achieving national climate commitments, India has stepped up with an ambitious initiative to map, assess and manage its peatlands paving the way for sustainable climate action. This mapping and assessment initiative is a part of the Indo-German Support Project for Climate Action in India, commissioned by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the Federal German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and GIZ.
Location: Startsapuk Tso, Ladakh (Dhruv Verma/WISA)
As the world gears up to celebrate World Wetlands Day, there has never been a more critical time to spotlight the role of peatlands in India's environmental strategy.
Peatlands act as carbon stores, locking away carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change. However, when disturbed - by deforestation, land-use change, or hydrological modifications - they can release this carbon, exacerbating global warming. They also hold immense spiritual importance in some parts of the country. Hence, their conservation and restoration are not just essential for climate mitigation but also for enhancing biodiversity and cultural value.
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Cultural Significance at Khecheopalri Lake, Sikkim (Purva Shah/GIZ)
One of the most significant strides is the development of a nationwide peatland inventory. The goal is to comprehensively map India’s potential peatland distribution, determine their carbon storage potential and identify priority areas for restoration. This mapping initiative in India has used probabilistic models (programming based) based on soil, water, vegetation, topography, and climate to identify areas with medium to high peatland potential across various biogeographic zones. The process involved field validation from 70 locations across 10 states. The spatial data complexity makes identifying peatlands a challenge, but our findings have shed light on potential peatland areas that were previously unidentified.
Based on our work, the estimated probability of peatland areas varies across India’s different biogeographic zones mainly the North-East BGZ, Himalayan BGZ and Western Ghats. The total carbon stock was found to be the highest (median) in the Himalayan BGZ, around 92 tonnes/hectare and lowest being in the Western Ghats, around 19.28 tonnes/hectare. At site level, significant variations in soil organic carbon (SOC%) were observed across samples. Examples include Ladakh's Tso Kar Wetland, with carbon levels of 7% to 31% in peat up to 30 cm deep, and Jammu and Kashmir's Hokersar, where peat depths reach up to 4 metres with carbon levels of 19% to 42%. These results highlight the diverse carbon storage capacities of peatlands across different depths and organic carbon content in various biogeographic regionsii.
In India, the ongoing land-use changes - such as the expansion of agriculture, unsustainable grazing, construction of infrastructure, and other human activities - are threatening peatlands.
Our assessment also found areas where peat soil could be significantly below the soil, about 10 metres or further, and the top peat layer might have been degraded due to human activities over the years. Considering this, the next phase of the assessment will explore restoration methodologies, such as rewetting and revegetation strategies, which have been successful in other peatland regions around the world. However, restoration efforts must be carefully tailored to the local context, considering factors like soil organic carbon, salinity, soil texture, and climatic conditions.
The path forward includes the development of a national peatland management strategy that along with conservation, also address the need for policy integration, where peatlands are linked to broader environmental policies, such as biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and water security.
As India moves forward in its peatland conservation journey, it is evident that these ecosystems are integral to both climate action and biodiversity protection. By prioritising the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of peatlands, India can make substantial progress in meeting its climate targets, while enhancing the resilience of its ecosystems and communities.
The initiative is also pushing the envelope in terms of international collaboration as it was part of the Indo German Support Project for Climate Action in India, commissioned by IKI, in collaboration with MoEF&CC and supported by WISA and had experts from the Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC), which is a pioneer in peatland research in the world. By contributing data to global peatland conservation efforts and sharing best practices in restoration, India can position itself as a key contributor towards nature-based solutions.
The future of India’s peatlands is bright, and with continued research, restoration and collaboration efforts, these hidden climate guardians will continue to play a key role in shaping a greener, more sustainable world.
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i Global Peatlands Initiative - globalpeatlands.org
ii The highlighted results are part of the overall assessment conducted under the main project.
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