Land-use change causes rapid carbon losses in Congo Basin peatlands across climate scenarios, whereas the effects of climate change alone are uncertain

One of Earth's most extensive tropical peatland complexes is in the central Congo Basin. Past climatic drying caused the widespread loss of a large proportion of the peat carbon stock, indicating its vulnerability to climate change. However, the additional effect caused by the interaction of climate change with land-use change—particularly drainage—on peat carbon stores has not been assessed. Here, we simulate the effects of climate and land-use change on Congo Basin peatlands. Our model is driven by an ensemble of 10 climate models to assess changes in peat carbon stocks at global warming levels 1.5, 2, 3 and 4°C. We find that the fate of the peatland carbon store is highly uncertain when we simulate climate change alone (warming level 3°C gives a median change in peat thickness of 0.04 m; range of approx. −5.0 to +0.3 m). By contrast, simulations that couple land-use change with twenty-first-century climate change are unequivocal: the Congo Basin peatlands will become significant emitters of carbon. When the warming level is 3°C, the change in peat thickness of a drained peatland is projected to be –2.6 m; a range of approximately –5.0 to –2.1 m. Our results emphasize the need to protect Congo Basin peatlands from widespread land-use change. A French translation of this abstract is available in the supplementary material.

This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘African tropical peatlands: function, value and vulnerability’.