Study suggests peat CO2 credits more valuable

By Sunanda Creagh

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesia-based study is showing carbon-rich tropical peat lands trap more greenhouse gases than first thought, driving up their potential value on the carbon market and strengthening the case for their protection.

Huge amounts of greenhouse gases are released when peat lands are logged or drained for agriculture, and even more when the dried bogs catch fire and release toxic haze into the air.

But while most scientists agree preserving peat is key to slowing global warming, a team of 11 of the world's best peat scientists have found it might be more important than first thought.

"We are finding that the emissions from peat are very, very large, much larger than people expected," said John Raison, chair of the 11-member Peat and Greenhouse Gases Group, a joint project between the Indonesian and Australian governments formed late last year to develop a method to measure peat emissions.

"We are also finding that all of the assumptions to date have been too rough, far too rough for something that is to be sold on the (carbon) market."

Peat is created when layers of organic material break down over thousands of years and is particularly abundant in the Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian half of Borneo island, where huge tracts have been cleared for palm oil plantations.

Accurate calculations on carbon lost through deforestation or locked away by saving and replanting forests and peatlands is crucial to a fledgling U.N. forest carbon offset scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).

REDD aims to reward developing nations for preserving and protecting forests via the use of an expanded carbon market. The United Nations hopes the scheme will become part of a broader climate pact from 2013 that might be agreed next month in Copenhagen or some time next year.