A First Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Agricultural Peatlands in Canada
Evaluation of Climate Change Mitigation Potential
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12929539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Strack (0000-0002-8996-7271, University of Waterloo, corresponding author), Kelly Ann Bona (0000-0003-3016-077X, Environment and Climate Change Canada), Chang Liang (0000-0001-5772-9191, Environment and Climate Change Canada) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1757-7780 • E-ISSN: 1757-7799 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/wcc.925 |
| OpenAlex | W4404454638 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 92 |
Canada has a quarter of the world's peatlands accounting for an estimated 150 Gt of stored carbon. While over 98% of Canadian peatlands are intact, agriculture has been estimated as accounting for the greatest peatland disturbance by area. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from peatland agriculture can contribute a large proportion of national anthropogenic emissions for some countries. In Canada, estimates of GHG emissions from cultivated peat soils are incomplete. Improved accounting of these GHG emissions is required to inform decisions about where to deploy ecological restoration projects and where to allow future agricultural expansion as climate warms. Compiled studies that measured GHG fluxes from agricultural peat fields in Canada resulted in mean emissions factors of 5.1 t CO 2 e ha −1 year −1 , −0.12 kg CH 4 ha −1 year −1 , and 14.3 kg N 2 O‐N ha −1 year −1 for carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, respectively. Combining these values with a compilation of estimates of agricultural peatland disturbance area in Canada, GHG emissions estimates in Canada arising from peatland converted to agriculture remain highly uncertain, ranging from 1.4 to 35 Mt CO 2 e year −1 , with a median value near 18 Mt CO 2 e year −1 . The largest contributor to this wide range of estimates is uncertainty peatland area affected, indicating an urgent need to improving mapping of organic soils under agriculture in Canada. To help guide decision‐making in Canada, we recommend a network of research stations across a range of agricultural management intensities and climate regions for monitoring hydrological conditions and GHG exchange on organic soils affected by agriculture
Agriculture · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Biology · Climate change · Climate change mitigation · Environmental protection · Geography · Greenhouse gas · Land use, land-use change and forestry · Peat · Botany and Plant Ecology Studies · Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics · Environmental Science · Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology · Ecology
The underappreciated potential of peatlands in global climate change mitigation strategies
Global and regional importance of the tropical peatland carbon pool
Global importance of methane emissions from drainage ditches and canals
Soil degradation determines release of nitrous oxide and dissolved organic carbon from peatlands
Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions in the context of nitrogen loss reduction from agroecosystems
Scaling up forest landscape restoration in Canada in an era of cumulative effects and climate change
Estimating carbon accumulation rates of undrained mires in Finland–application to boreal and subarctic regions
Peatlands and environmental change
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |