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Massive peat burn is speeding climate change

07-11-2004 12:16am

#1

Capt'n Midnight

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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996613

The peat bogs of Borneo and the neighbouring territories of Sumatra and Irian Jaya are up to 20 metres deep and cover more than 200,000 square kilometres. They contain 50 billion tonnes or more of carbon – far more than the forests above. As farmers clear the forests by burning, the bogs catch fire and release carbon for months afterwards.

In 2002, Rieley and his colleagues estimated that during 1997 and 1998 smouldering peat beneath the Borneo forests released between 0.8 and 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. That is equivalent to 13 to 40 per cent of all emissions from burning fossil fuels, and contributed to the CO2 peak in 1998.

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