It鈥檚 no secret what unchecked greenhouse gas emissions are leading to: a much hotter planet. The recent LA fires are just one example of how this trend is manifesting itself. The Earth鈥檚 carbon system is out of balance: there鈥檚 too many carbon sources, and not enough ways to draw it out of the atmosphere.
Nature already provides numerous ways to store carbon, often referred to as sinks. There are obvious sinks, like forests, which consume CO2 for photosynthesis, and there are less obvious ones like oceans and wetlands. Canada is home to a , with billions of tonnes stored in Quebec alone.
Left undisturbed, carbon can remain stored in the ground for thousands of years. Unfortunately, through land conversion, drainage and resource extraction, often for mining in Canada. Protecting and conserving wetlands is a crucial strategy to keep carbon in the ground, while also enabling these areas to provide other ecosystem services.
To celebrate and remind readers of the key role wetlands can play in the health of our planet, Sara Knox, a Professor in the Department of Geography, has answered some pertinent questions about wetlands, as well as explained the importance of studying and protecting them. Prof. Knox focuses on understanding the role of wetlands as nature-based climate solutions, as well as the co-benefits they provide.
What is a wetland, and how do they work to sequester CO2?
Wetlands have a small global coverage (roughly 5-8%), but store 20-50% of soil carbon, and therefore are very important for regulating the global carbon cycle. The ability of wetlands to store carbon comes from the fact they are water-logged environments. Their vegetation draws CO2 from the atmosphere for photosynthesis, but because the plants are partly submerged in water, respiration is lower, meaning they don鈥檛 release as much CO2. This lower rate of decomposition means that overtime carbon accumulates, allowing wetlands to be a net sink of CO2.
Besides CO2 sequestration, what else do wetlands do?
In addition to drawing down CO2 emissions, wetlands supply additional ecosystem services to us. An ecosystem service is a direct or indirect benefit an ecosystem provides to humans - and wetlands offer many. Wetlands provide regional cooling, water quality improvement and flood protection, all crucial services especially in the face of climate change as temperatures warm and storm surges increase in frequency and strength. Wetlands help buffer nutrients, reducing runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural areas. The cooling impact of wetlands is not only beneficial for urban areas located near wetlands (mitigating the urban heat island impact) but also for reducing plant stress on farms.
Wow 鈥� wetlands do so much! Why is it important to protect them?
Nature based solutions, such as wetlands, leverage natural ecosystems to address societal challenges of regulating climate. The latest IPCC report declared that nature-based solutions such as reducing the destruction of ecosystems and restoring them are among the for mitigating carbon emissions by 2030.
鈥淲hen you drain a wetland, it exposes the stored carbon to oxygen, which accelerates the decomposition of organic matter鈥�, Knox explained. 鈥淭his process reverses the wetland's role as a carbon sink and contributes to increased CO2 emissions. Avoiding wetland drainage and restoring them is equivalent to taking . 鈥淣ature-based solutions make up ~30% of the reductions in emissions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius, and wetland conservation is another tool in the toolbox we can utilize to move the needle towards net zero.鈥�
There is much work to be done to understand the intricacies of wetlands, what is the new funding you have received, and how will it be utilized?
$12.1 million has been allocated to study and improve the knowledge on the sequestration potential of wetlands and support their management, conservation and rehabilitation. Led by Michelle Garneau from UQAM, the funding is shared across five universities in Quebec, with Prof. Knox leading the charge here at 9I制作厂免费. As the largest investment of this type in Canada, Quebec is a leader in understanding the climatic role of wetlands and the importance of studying their potential for carbon sequestration.
What role does Canada play in wetland research, restoration and protection?
鈥淐anada is in a unique position to study and conserve wetlands, as it is home to a significant portion of the world's remaining intact wetlands and there is considerable potential for wetland restoration鈥�, Knox explained. This situates Canada well to quantify the impacts of wetlands and has led to a growing awareness and interest in wetlands and their impact on the green economy. Specifically in Quebec, there has been increasing attention given to understanding carbon stocks, habitat conservation, and the role of these unique ecosystems to mitigate against climate change, with the new funding advancing the ability of researchers to find these answers.
How is the protection and management of wetlands evolving, and what do you envision are the next steps for wetland conservation and restoration?
鈥淲e need to understand the key areas to protect, as some wetlands store more carbon than others鈥�, Knox explained. 鈥淧rioritizing high storage wetlands will help us better target and manage where and how we conserve in the short and long term.鈥� Wetlands provide unparalleled ecosystem services, and it is crucial we conserve, restore and protect them. We need to quantify the exchange of greenhouse gasses between wetlands and the atmosphere so we can understand their wider role in the global carbon cycle, and in turn utilize this knowledge to mitigate against the impacts of climate change.