The True Lungs of this Planet

Many may not know this but peatlands are one of the most important entity for the health of this planet and biodiversity. Forrest's are provided with the spotlight as major carbon converters. This is simply not the case as peatlands are capable of storing up to 30% of all the world's soil carbon despite covering just 3% of the earth's surface. To put into perspective, forests makes up 30% of the earth's surface and can store just half the amount that peatlands can. Peatlands also prevent many nations from flooding over as it can store up to 30 times it's dry weight in water and is associated with 70% of all of the United Kingdom's drinking water filteration (It's actually cheaper to restore an entire peatland compared to simply running the maintenance of a water treatment plant). Ireland makes up 17% (3rd highest cover in the world despite it's small size) of the world's peatland cover. All of these peatlands in Ireland that are protected under the Annexe habitats directive had been assessed as bad due to the constant draining, degradation etc. There is a significant correlation between  peatland's effectiveness of carbon sequestration and the degree of fragmentation of these peats. It is common for these degraded habitats to release methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses accounting for 10% of greenhouse gasses emitted annually.  In the midst of an environmental pandemic, which may spell out disaster for all species sharing this planet, we must look to these nations (Ireland, Finland and Canada) to look after their most prized asset for mankind.

https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/resources/commission-inquiry/work-commission-2011/impacts-burning-management-peatlands

How Peatlands store so much carbon?

Carbon is absorbed by peatlands through the living plants unique to this habitat. Sphagnum can store more carbon than any other plant genus. Sphagnum is known as an ecosystem engineer and thrives in waterlogged conditions. Raised bogs are made up of almost entirely of sphagnum which contain a phenolic compound embedded within it's cell wall which is the main constituent responsible for carbon storage. When these plants die and turn into peat the carbon is contained within the soil and doesn't emmit back into the environment due to the low degradation rates. This is due to a host of factors mainly including the waterlogged state of the soil, pH and oxygen availability. Wet soils typically exhibit low decomposition rates of organic compounds as it fills the spaces within the soil which restricts the level of oxygen available to the bacteria involved with degradation. These soils absorb significantly more carbon than they release back into the atmosphere in comparison to other soils, however, this also means that when an area of peatland is cut(which is very common in Ireland) it will release significantly more carbon constituents in comparison to deforestation. Once these soil's burnt it creates the most significant biochemical imbalancement man could ever perform as the rate at which the carbon is released (fast flux) is so much greater than the rate at which it's being  absorbed (peat formation is a slow flux process).  

Research Issues

There have been many studies performed on the better understanding the role these wetland habitats play in helping cease global warming, however, despite the already known importance of peatlands most of these studies have gone incomplete. Accomplished studies are rare mainly due to the complexity of these soil types. Other issues which restricts a sufficient examination is the distance of these habitats from settlements ie. Finland, Russia etc and so it is more difficult to transport their resources and to maintain repeated  surveys in testing the peatland's response.