GRID-Arendal: 30 Years of Making a Difference

Environmental and social impacts of peatland drainage

GRID-Arendal highlighted blue carbon at the UN Oceans Conference held in New York City in June. We submitted four voluntary commitments during that event which were signed by hundreds of partners across the globe. One of these commitments was the Blue Carbon Code of Conduct which aims to advance socially just and equitable blue carbon projects. The others focused on the Blue Forests, Oceanic Blue Carbon, and on Blue Guardians projects. The blue forest project called Mikoko Pamoja that operates in Gazi Bay and Vanga Bay, Kenya, is a community-based mangrove conservation project which won the 2017 United Nations Equator Initiative Prize for an “outstanding community and indigenous initiatives that is advancing nature-based solutions for local sustainable development.” The British Broadcasting Corporation asked our in-house experts to provide scientific information on seagrasses and their role as one of the major global carbon sinks globally for its Blue Planet II production, a documentary series on marine life, released in autumn 2017. GRID-Arendal published Smoke onWater: Countering Global Threats from Peatland Loss and Degradation that was released at the November United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Bonn. The goal of this assessment is to raise awareness about the importance of the world’s peatlands and to encourage immediate action to preserve them. The assessment the first part of a Global Peatlands Initiative, in which GRID-Arendal is a partner. GRID-Arendal and partners published the Waste Outlook for Mountain Regions – An assessment of the global issue of waste in mountains and possible solutions . The recommendations in this report are also being turned into action. At the end of November, two leading global bodies of the mountaineering world signed a memorandum of understanding and committed to work together on environmental issues.

Kills animals and plants

G REENHOUSE G AS E MISSIONS

Increases GHG emissions

Generates haze and toxic substances

B IODIVERSITY L OSS

I NCREASES FIRE FREQUENCY

P EATLAND D RAINAGE

2017

Increases risk of flooding and droughts

L AND DEGRADATION

I NCREASES CARBON LOSS VIA WATER

Land loss/subsidence

Negatively affects aquatic species

Productivity loss

Transports contaminants and pollutants

Salt water intrusion

Worsens drinking water quality

L ÓPEZ , 2017

Based on FAO-Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) Programme, 2014, Peatlands and Climate Change.

GRID-Arendal