CLIMATE CHANGE: Wetlands Loss Fuelling CO2 Feedback Loop

"Wetlands hold massive stores of carbon -- about 20 percent of all terrestrial carbon stocks," said Eugene Turner, a leading wetlands expert at Louisiana State University's Coastal Ecology Institute.

However, wetlands, including peatlands, continue to be converted to other uses around the world, resulting in large emissions of carbon and methane, a potent greenhouse gas that has 21 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide.

By itself, climate change is already degrading wetlands, especially in the Arctic and near Arctic regions where the once permanently frozen peatlands are thawing, Turner told IPS prior to the opening of the Eighth INTECOL International Wetlands Conference in Cuiaba, Brazil on Monday.

"Researchers have been measuring huge releases of carbon and methane up there," he said. "It's crazy to add to that by draining or mismanaging other wetlands."

While birds and bird lovers value wetlands, hardly anyone else does. Besides capturing and holding carbon, wetlands are hotspots of biodiversity, crucial components in flood control and in providing clean water. The recent disastrous floods in the U.S. Midwest would have been far less damaging if wetlands in the region hadn't been drained decades ago, Turner said.

"Humanity in many parts of the world needs a wake-up call to fully appreciate the vital environmental, social and economic services wetlands provide," said conference co-chair Paulo Teixeira, coordinator of the Cuiaba-based Pantanal Regional Environmental Programme, a joint effort of the United Nations University (UNU) and Brazil's Federal University of Mato Grasso (UFMT).

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