Tropical peat bogs stoke global warming-report

OSLO, Nov 3 (Reuters) Drainage of tropical peat bogs is a vast uncharted source of greenhouse gases that may be doing more to stoke global warming than fossil fuels, a conservation group and a Dutch research institute said today.

''The figures are alarming... This issue has been overlooked,'' said Marcel Silvius, senior programme manager at Wetlands International, a non-profit group whose backers include 60 governments and 15 conservation groups.

Silvius told Reuters that a study with Dutch water research institute Delft Hydraulics estimated that ''annual peatland emissions from South-East Asia far exceed fossil fuel contributions from major polluting countries.'' Indonesia, which is now in 21st place in a world ranking of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, would move to third place behind the United States and China if peat were taken into account, it said.

Wetlands International estimated that emissions from Indonesian peatlands alone, when drained or burnt, total 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year -- almost a tenth of world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities led by burning coal, oil and natural gas.

Similar figures would apply to Malaysia, it said.

Peat is created by dead plant matter compressed over thousands of years in wet conditions that prevent decay. Peat can hold about 30 times as much carbon, a non-toxic gas absorbed by plants as they grow, as in forests above ground.

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