Emission factors for managed peat soils - An analysis of IPCC default values

This paper evaluates IPCC approaches to greenhouse gas emissions from managed organic (peat) soils and notices that the IPCC Guidelines 2006. This report was produced for the UNFCCC Climate Change Talks in Bonn, June 2009. Peatland drainage leads to peat oxidation, resulting in large losses of carbon and nitrogen to theatmosphere with an estimated global magnitude of 2-3 Gt/CO2-eq per year. The conservation and restoration of peatlands can provide a major contribution to the mitigation of climate change. Improving guidance and capacity for reporting of peatland emissions will prove valuable to the current negotiations towards a post-2012 climate agreement.

This paper evaluates IPCC approaches to greenhouse gas emissions from managed organic (peat) soils and notices that the IPCC Guidelines 2006:
• use an organic soil definition that is not fully compatible with FAO definitions,
• use climate zones that are not fully comprehensible,
• present default CO2 values for peat mining and for tropical and boreal forestry that are substantially (often an order of magnitude) too low,
• present a default N2O value for tropical cropland that is an order of magnitude too low, and
• present default CO2 values for grasslands and for tropical cropland that are 100% too high.

The paper concludes with a summary table comparing IPCC default values with best estimates based on recent literature.