The Power of Virginia's Peatlands
- Editor OGN Daily
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
In fact, all of the world's peatlands.
Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp, once a thriving wetland, is now being revived as an essential carbon sink to help combat climate change. Peatlands, like those in the swamp, cover only 3 percent of the Earth’s surface but store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined - which cover 30 percent of global land area. By restoring these unique ecosystems, researchers and conservationists aim to reverse centuries of damage caused by human activity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Peat is a spongy layer of partially decomposed plant material found in waterlogged, acidic environments like the Great Dismal Swamp. This natural carbon storage system has been severely degraded over time.
Since 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy have been rewetting parts of the swamp to protect and rebuild its peat layers. This involves constructing dams and plugging drainage ditches to retain water, which slows peat decay and allows new organic material to accumulate.
Restoration efforts have already rehydrated 60,000 acres of the swamp. Over the next few years, The Nature Conservancy plans to restore an additional 33,000 acres and protect 10,500 acres in Virginia and North Carolina. These projects are funded by over $200 million from the Inflation Reduction Act.
The impact of Virginia’s peatlands will be environmentally significant: restoring them could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of removing up to 1.4 million cars from the road each year.
The secondary benefit is that wetlands like these are home to a diverse range of species, many of which are adapted to the unique, waterlogged environment. Restoring their habitat will enable both plants and wildlife to thrive once more.
Mike Waddington, a peat researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, says: “When we think about storing carbon in ecosystems, it’s almost always about planting trees. There’s often tremendous pressure to plant trees in drained peatlands," he said, "but that’s the wrong choice given the carbon-storing ability of an intact bog." Adding: “In a way it’s the low-hanging fruit.”
The world's largest peatlands are in the central Congo Basin, covering 16.7 million hectares - more than five times the size of Belgium. Researchers reveal that these peatlands store between 26 and 32 billion tonnes of carbon - roughly the equivalent to three years’ worth of global fossil fuel emissions.