Carbon storage in peatlands how do we realise the potential

1
Carbon storage in peatlands how do we realise
the potential?
Fred Worrall

• Dept. of Earth Sciences
• University of Durham

2
Why should I care about peatlands?

• Peat soils are the largest soil store of carbon
  in the World
• Northern peats contain 450000 Mt C, 30 of the
  Worlds terrestrial carbon
• The UK has 8 of the Worlds peat
• UK peat is the countrys largest terrestrial
  carbon store
• More carbon stored than the forests of Britain
  and France combined
• The amount of carbon is equivalent to 35 years of
  total UK output of CO2
• UK peat is a major water source in Northern
  Britain
• Water colour is major water quality limitation

3
Restore
Net source
Pristine
Net sink
Net sink
Avoided loss
Transitionary sink
Peat grows mineral soils dont
Perpetual sink
4
So what do we need to do?

• Survey the state of peat soils
• How much peat is there?
• What state is it in?
• Burnt area
• Grips and gully blocks
• Bare area
• Grazing
• Heather cutting
• wildfire

5
So what do we need to do?

• 2. Model the present carbon budget of the peat
  area
• 3. Model the possible optimum carbon budget
• Run the model under a range of management
  interventions
• Map the sequestration
• Optimum present
• Target action
• Not all changes in management show carbon benefit

6
(No Transcript)
7
So what do we need to do?

• Transitionary sinks
• Can lead to high carbon but low equivalent CO2
  storage
• 5. Assurance
• Uncertainty and risk analysis
• How much carbon will be stored under future
  climate change given uncertainty in prediction?
• We dont know what is the appropriate window of
  assurance

8
Future carbon budget
9
So what do we need to do?

• 4. Economics
• Identified what are the best actions to provide
  an assured amount of carbon benefit
• But what is the restoration cost per tonne CO2
  stored?
• 5. Validation
• Works have been done?
• Carbon has been stored?
• e.g. accumulation pins

10
The profit from peatland restoration?

• In the Peaks 281 out of 725 km2 showed there
  could be carbon benefit from intervention
• Assuming
• Restoration cost of 2250/ha
• Shadow price of carbon between 13 and 39 /tonne
  CO2
• Restoration rates of upto 39 years

11
Identify actions by magnitude and cost and time
R lt ½DCO2Tp(TP1)/TR
Where R restoration cost (/km2) shadow
price of carbon (/tonne) DCO2 carbon benefit
(tonnes CO2/km2/yr) Tp assessment window
(years) TR restoration time (years)

• This approach would allow you to identify what
  actions could be taken on what ground and over
  what timescales

12
Can we go further?

• Easy schemes
• Grip/gully-blocking
• Burn management
• Revegetation
• Grazing management
• Soon be able to consider
• Heather-cutting
• Can we beat forestry at its own game?
• Forestry only achieves big savings by product
  substitution
• Moorlands are a productive landscape
• Cut mature heather use it for bales, brash or
  biochar