Peatland resilience: Knowledge exchange for the conservation and sustainable management of forested tropical peatlands

热带泥炭地是地球上最重要、最脆弱的陆地碳库之一，储存了超过1000亿吨的碳。它们为当地社区提供生态系统服务和生计。然而，其巨大的碳储存和独特的生物多样性受到人类压力的威胁。在东南亚，泥炭地遭到大规模破坏的原因是排水以及被改造成油棕和林业种植园，而亚马逊和刚果盆地较为完整的泥炭地目前正受到商业农业扩张和新基础设施开发的威胁。生态和社会研究表明，避免泥炭地的排水和土地使用变化可以保护碳储存，减少潜在的大量温室气体排放，同时，保护和可持续管理可以帮助确保向在文化和社会经济上依赖泥炭地的当地居民提供产品和服务。然而，科学家和政策制定者之间需要更有效的对话和长期关系，以确保在公共政策中使用科学知识，并制定创新的资助战略，以保护和减少泥炭地退化和森林砍伐造成的碳排放。在过去十年中，NERC资助的研究基于英国，亚马逊和刚果盆地的机构之间的合作，它提供了关于热带泥炭地分布、其独特的生物多样性以及地表和地下储存的碳量的科学证据。亚马逊最广泛的泥炭地在秘鲁;这些森林泥炭地的碳储量是英国泥炭地的两倍多。根据标准国际议定书建立了永久性森林普查地块，以监测面对气候变化的森林动态和泥炭地复原力。这些数据还提供了关于资源丰富程度和天然林“健康状况”的信息，可用于改进资源采伐的管理计划（例如采伐强度）。然而，这些高质量的泥炭地库存和监测数据在政策制定中的整合性很差。因此，该KE奖学金旨在利用申请人与秘鲁的利益攸关方和用户建立的独特伙伴关系网络，将英国大学产生的关于热带泥炭地的生态和社会科学知识转化为可持续保护和管理泥炭地的政策和战略，并将影响范围扩大到整个热带地区。与包括秘鲁环境部和国家保护区服务局在内的一系列组织合作，该项目将开展旨在将现有科学数据纳入政府决策和政策制定的活动;制定和测试新的协议，以便利政府和私营公司监测泥炭地生态系统;与其他泥炭丰富的热带国家的利益攸关方和最终用户交流知识和理解。

Tropical peatlands are one of our planet's most important, and most vulnerable, terrestrial carbon pools, storing over 100 billion tonnes of carbon. They provide ecosystem services and livelihoods for local communities. However, their large carbon stores and unique biodiversity are threatened by human pressures. In Southeast Asia, peatland destruction on a very large scale has been driven by drainage and conversion into oil palm and forestry plantations, while more intact peatlands in the Amazon and Congo basins are currently threatened by the expansion of commercial agriculture and new infrastructure development. Ecological and social studies have demonstrated that avoiding drainage and land use change in peatlands can conserve carbon stocks and mitigate the potentially significant releases of greenhouse gases, while, simultaneously, conservation and sustainable management can help to ensure the provision of products and services to local inhabitants who depend culturally and socioeconomically on peatlands. However, more effective dialogue and long-term relationships are needed between scientists and policymakers to ensure the use of scientific knowledge in public policy and to develop innovative funding strategies for conservation and reduction of carbon emissions due to peatland degradation and deforestation.Over the last decade, NERC-funded research based on collaborations among institutions in the UK, Amazonia and the Congo basin, has provided scientific evidence on the distribution of tropical peatlands, their unique biodiversity, and the quantity of carbon stored above and below ground. The most extensive peatlands of Amazonia are in Peru; these forested peatlands contain more than twice the carbon stocks of UK peatlands. Permanent forest census plots have been established following standard international protocols to monitor the forest dynamics and peatland resilience in the face of climate change. These data also provide information on the abundance of resources and 'health status' of natural forests that can be used to improve management plans for resource harvesting (e.g. harvest intensity). However, these high-quality peatland inventory and monitoring data are poorly integrated within policy making. Therefore, this KE fellowship aims to build on the unique network of partnerships developed by the applicant with stakeholders and users in Peru to translate ecological and social scientific knowledge on tropical peatlands generated by UK universities into policies and strategies to conserve and manage peatlands sustainably, and expand the reach of the impact across the tropics.Working with a range of organisations including Peru's Ministry of Environment and National Service of Protected Areas, the project will undertake activities designed to integrate existing scientific data into governmental decision-taking and policy development; develop and test new protocols to facilitate monitoring of peatland ecosystems by government and private companies; and exchange knowledge and understanding with stakeholders and end-users in other peat-rich tropical countries.