Action is urgently needed to halt the destruction of peatlands and to restore degraded peatlands, so as to prevent and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and protect wildlife habitats, but such action can only be taken when decision-makers have sufficient sound evidence on which to base their decisions.

Peatlands are unique and rare ecosystems that, despite only covering around 3-4% of the planet’s land surface, they contain up to one-third of the world’s soil carbon, which is twice the amount of carbon as found in the world’s forests.