{"id":847038,"date":"2025-05-09T19:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T00:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T19:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T00:12:15","slug":"new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/09\/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon\/","title":{"rendered":"New research finds substantial peat deposits in Colombia\u2019s conflicted Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<article id=\"post-298059\">\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>A new study of Colombia\u2019s lowland forests and savannas finds that the nation may have extensive peatlands \u2014 organic wetland soils formed over thousands of years \u2014 holding as much as 70 years\u2019 worth of Colombia\u2019s carbon emissions. Protecting them from agricultural development is essential to preventing greenhouse gas releases.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Researchers made peatland estimates by taking sediment cores in 100 wetlands, quantifying peat content, then building a model to predict locales for other peat-forming wetlands using satellite imaging. Peat was found in unexpected ecosystems, such as nutrient-poor white-sand forests, widespread in northern South America.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sampling in many locations was only possible due to the ongoing but fragile peace process between the Colombian government and armed rebel groups. In some places, security has already deteriorated and further sampling is unsafe, making this study\u2019s scientific estimate a unique snapshot for now.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Most Colombian peatlands are remote, but deforestation is intensifying along the base of the Andes, putting some wetlands at risk. Colombia\u2019s existing REDD+ projects have been controversial, but opportunities may exist to combine payments for ecosystem services with peacebuilding if governance and security can be improved.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the heart of the Colombian Amazon, the towering mountains of the Serran\u00eda del Chiribiquete harbor secrets including South America\u2019s oldest rock art. The remote site was off-limits and poorly known for decades, as Chiribiquete National Park was also a stronghold for the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).<\/p>\n<p>Now, in the wake of a shaky peace process that has provided greater security and access to some regions, the park is revealing another secret: In the shadow of the mountains lie some of the densest peat deposits in South America.<\/p>\n<p>Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed organic matter in wetlands, compressed by time into dense soils that store more carbon per hectare than any other type of landscape. When left undisturbed, peatlands grow slowly every year, locking away carbon in low-oxygen water that prevents full decomposition.<\/p>\n<p>But when people drain and dry peatlands for agriculture, they can become \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/forestsnews.cifor.org\/26254\/indonesia-peatland-forest-carbon-emissions-model?fnl=en#:~:text=It%20found%20that%20of%20the,years%20worth%20of%20accumulated%20carbon.\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">carbon bombs<\/a>,\u201d rapidly releasing massive amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2021\/12\/2019-fires-in-indonesia-were-twice-as-bad-as-the-government-claimed-study-shows\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">burning of huge peat areas in Indonesia<\/a> in recent years has covered the country in smoke and made it one of the world\u2019s worst carbon emitters from land use change.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1748-9326\/adbc03\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">new study<\/a>, published in <em>Environmental Research Letters<\/em>, reveals that peatlands in Colombia \u2014 poorly known before now \u2014 are widespread and carbon-dense, making the country the site of South America\u2019s largest known reserves, after Peru.<\/p>\n<p>Carried out with painstaking ground-truthing amid a fluctuating security situation, the study highlights the need to understand and conserve these vast wild landscapes to avoid potentially devastating greenhouse gas emissions and protect the unique biodiversity and local communities that call them home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298066\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114247\/Wetlands-sampled-for-peat-in-the-new-study.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114247\/Wetlands-sampled-for-peat-in-the-new-study.jpg\" alt=\"Wetlands sampled for peat in the new study across the Colombian lowlands, laid over prior estimates of peatland extent.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\"  ><\/a><figcaption>Wetlands sampled for peat in the new study across the Colombian lowlands, laid over prior estimates of peatland extent. Image courtesy of Winton et al. 2025 (\u201cWidespread carbon-dense peatlands in the Colombian lowlands\u201d) with authors\u2019 permission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Mapping hidden carbon<\/h2>\n<p>Conserving carbon-intense peatlands is viewed as vital to curbing climate change. However, peatlands are relatively poorly mapped in the tropics. The Pastaza-Mara\u00f1\u00f3n Foreland Basin in Peru was only recognized as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2009.01920.x\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">largest peatland in the Amazon<\/a> in 2009, while the Congo Basin\u2019s even vaster peatlands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nature21048\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">weren\u2019t mapped until 2017<\/a>. Any effort to protect peatlands relies first on finding them.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s a problem because peat soils cannot be delimited solely based on satellite imagery \u2014 their identification requires boots on the ground. Researchers need to take multiple soil cores from across a wetland to determine whether peat exists, and if so, how far down it goes. Analysis of these soil cores can determine carbon density and the length of time peat has been accumulating.<\/p>\n<p>Colombia has long been a blank spot on the map of tropical peatlands, with estimates based only on satellite imagery or primitive soil maps differing by orders of magnitude. The expansion of Colombia\u2019s internal conflict and the growth of armed groups from the mid-1990s onward has made on-the-ground sampling nearly impossible in most of its rainforest regions. But the peace efforts that Colombia\u2019s government initiated with armed groups in 2016 provided an opening.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in 2020, an international team led by University of California Santa Cruz assistant professor Scott Winton and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana professor Juan Carlos Benavides began to fill in those blank spots. They traveled to remote wetlands in the Amazon Rainforest and in Colombia\u2019s vast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wildllanos.com\/los-llanos.html\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">Llanos savanna<\/a>, searching for peat where it was most likely to occur and also where it was unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>They then combined their below-ground observations with satellite imagery and built a model based on the spectral signals found in the imagery to predict where peat would occur and how much would be there. The researchers estimate that Colombia\u2019s peatlands hold 1.9 petagrams of carbon, or 1.9 million million kilograms \u2014 the equivalent of 70 years of the nation\u2019s average annual emissions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298067\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114448\/image2-1.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114448\/image2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Members of the international study team pull a peat core from a wetland in the Colombian Amazon. \" width=\"1532\" height=\"1149\"  ><\/a><figcaption>Members of the international study team pull a peat core from a wetland in the Colombian Amazon. Many newly discovered peatlands in Colombia are remote and\/or in areas that have been rife with conflict in recent decades. Image courtesy of Scott Winton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298068\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114903\/Members-of-the-international-study-team-pull-a-peat-core.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23114903\/Members-of-the-international-study-team-pull-a-peat-core.jpg\" alt=\"Members of the international study team pull a peat core from a wetland in the Colombian Amazon. \" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\"  ><\/a><figcaption>Access to peat-forming wetlands is often challenging, due to year-round waterlogged conditions. Image courtesy of Juan Carlos Benavides.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThere is very little boots-on-the-ground work that has been conducted across Central and South America (particularly in the tropical region) because the forests are so large, access is very limited and there are challenges to working in these environments,\u201d said Julie Loisel, a physical geographer at the University of Nevada, Reno, who was not involved in the study. She stressed that the team\u2019s combination of ground-truthing and remote sensing is the best way to produce these estimates.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers found important peat deposits in several unexpected places. Peat was not predicted for the seasonally dry Llanos, for example, because constant flooding is required for peat to form. But the team found important deposits in the gallery forests and swamps along the rivers that run through the Llanos, raising the possibility that peat might have been underestimated in other seasonal wetlands, including Brazil\u2019s Pantanal.<\/p>\n<p>The team also documented the first peat deposits found in white-sand forests. These poorly known ecosystems occur on extremely nutrient-poor soils eroded from the ancient Guiana Shield and <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2016\/01\/special-issue-of-biotropica-makes-the-case-for-protecting-south-americas-white-sand-forests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">harbor a unique stunted forest type<\/a> along with several endemic bird species.<\/p>\n<p>Sand isn\u2019t expected to hold water and form peat, but the team suspects that a bedrock layer underlies these sandy deposits, locking water in. White-sand forests cover massive areas of northern South America, suggesting substantial unmapped peat deposits in Venezuela, Brazil and the Guianas.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298069\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115126\/Access-to-peat-forming-wetlands.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115126\/Access-to-peat-forming-wetlands.jpg\" alt=\"The primary types of peat-forming wetlands in Colombia encountered by researchers: Palm swamps are more common and widespread, while white-sand forests occur only on nutrient-poor soils. Both habitat types can assume a closed-canopy forest form or a more open, savanna-like form. \" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\"  ><\/a><figcaption>The primary types of peat-forming wetlands in Colombia encountered by researchers: Palm swamps are more common and widespread, while white-sand forests occur only on nutrient-poor soils. Both habitat types can assume a closed-canopy forest form or a more open, savanna-like form. Image courtesy of Winton et al. 2025 (\u201cWidespread carbon-dense peatlands in the Colombian lowlands\u201d) with authors\u2019 permission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Navigating insecurity<\/h2>\n<p>The study team took advantage of the Colombian peace process, ongoing since 2016, to sample wetlands in areas previously controlled by FARC and other rebels. However, many parts of the country remain too dangerous for scientists to work in, contributing to uncertainty in their peatland estimates. In other places, including the team\u2019s northernmost research sites, armed activity has resumed, so revisiting those sites is an impossibility for now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to read the landscape around you; when people tell you, \u201cDon\u2019t go,\u201d you just don\u2019t go,\u201d says co-author Benavides. \u201cEverything that is in the site can be lost at any moment, so you plan for that.\u2026 You never know if you are coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sporadic conflict makes this study a unique snapshot of the region that will likely be difficult to replicate in the near future. \u201cNow it would be unwise to go to some of the places they went,\u201d says Dolors Armenteras, a professor at the National University of Colombia who studies deforestation and landscape ecology. \u201cThat would be really dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For many Colombians, the peace process has been disappointing. After a decrease in violence, conflict has increased across the country in recent years. While FARC largely demobilized, a breakaway holdout group, the Central Armed Command (EMC), now controls much of Colombia\u2019s Caquet\u00e1, Meta and Guaviare departments. These provinces hold substantial forest tracts that may be underlain by peat-forming wetlands, but these areas are also on the frontier of deforestation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298070\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115644\/image5.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115644\/image5.jpg\" alt=\"A palm-swamp forest, dominated by Mauritia flexuosa, an economically important palm that produces edible fruits.\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\"  ><\/a><figcaption>A palm-swamp forest, dominated by Mauritia flexuosa, an economically important palm that produces edible fruits. About 50% of the palm swamps that the team surveyed had peat-forming soils. Image by Scott Winton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThere has always been a debate about whether the conflict in Colombia preserves biodiversity or enhances forest loss,\u201d Armenteras says. The answer, she says, depends on the time and place, with armed groups alternately protecting forests to shield their movements and selling logging concessions to raise revenue.<\/p>\n<p>But since the implementation of the peace process, deforestation rates have been rising rather than decreasing, as <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2020\/06\/the-fire-prophet-dolors-armenteras-on-saving-the-amazon-and-fighting-misogyny-in-science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Armenteras predicted<\/a>. The collapse of the FARC-dominated security order has left many areas ungoverned, leading to an expansion of the illegal drug trade and ranching. That poses a threat to some of Colombia\u2019s newly mapped peatlands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Caquet\u00e1, especially, we saw a lot of clearance of the riparian corridors and even <em>Mauritia <\/em>palms that had been chainsawed and burned, which is explicitly illegal,\u201d says Winton, lead author of the study. \u201cIf you look at time series of satellite imagery there, you can see how there\u2019s clearance of forest cover on headwater streams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The current Colombian government under President Gustavo Petro is vocally committed to environmentalism and lowering Colombia\u2019s deforestation rate. In response, armed groups like the EMC have facilitated some deforestation to apply pressure in peace negotiations, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2024\/10\/in-colombia-guerilla-groups-decide-the-fate-of-the-amazon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">using the Amazon as a bargaining chip<\/a> to secure a better deal.<\/p>\n<h2>Missing the forest for the trees<\/h2>\n<p>In recent years, major peatland discoveries in Peru and the Congo Basin have attracted international attention and proposals to protect them via <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2017\/10\/cash-for-conservation-do-payments-for-ecosystem-services-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">payment-for-ecosystem-services<\/a> (PES) initiatives. The idea would be to pay countries or local communities for emissions avoided when they preserve peatlands, rather than converting them to agricultural production.<\/p>\n<p>Now that vast stores of carbon have been discovered in peatlands across Colombia as well, the question becomes how to save them \u2014 especially in a country still rife with conflict and lawlessness.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un-redd.org\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">REDD+ program<\/a> offers a potential PES model for valuing forests and wetlands and protecting them. But these initiatives are difficult to implement where good governance is lacking.<\/p>\n<p>Most Colombian projects would need to occur in extremely remote areas, with weak or no control by the government, which would make monitoring and enforcement extremely difficult. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1389934121000563\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">2021 study<\/a> found that REDD+ programs are struggling to show success in Guaviare after the transition from FARC to EMC control.<\/p>\n<p>Many researchers have been exploring <a href=\"https:\/\/alliancebioversityciat.org\/stories\/redd-peacebuilding-strategy-what-are-opportunities-sustainable-food-production\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">synergies between REDD+ and development<\/a> in the Colombian context, hoping that PES can go hand in hand with peacebuilding efforts in post-conflict areas.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s another problem: Existing REDD+ programs of all kinds have been coming under increasing scrutiny in Colombia, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FpBH7RGmIZk\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">recent hearing<\/a> in the legislature highlighting multiple abuses. In one example, carbon credits were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elclip.org\/resguardo-indigena-cumbal-bonos-de-carbono\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">sold to Chevron without the knowledge<\/a> of the Andean Indigenous community living on the land.<\/p>\n<p>The more than 70 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccap.org\/post\/analyzing-deforestation-trends-in-colombian-redd-projects\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">REDD+ projects active in Colombia<\/a> are also limited in scope, with almost all focused only on conserving above-ground carbon. Benavides says he believes this is a shortsighted approach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Amazon is more than trees,\u201d he says. \u201cThe national level [of government] is dominated by forestry engineers who only see trees; they don\u2019t care about soil processes. But soil has more carbon than trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298073\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115914\/image6.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23115914\/image6.jpg\" alt=\"A white-sand forest interior, composed of small, twiggy trees growing on nutrient-poor soils. \" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\"  ><\/a><figcaption>A white-sand forest interior, composed of small, twiggy trees growing on nutrient-poor soils. The team found that these unique Amazonian forests often harbor peat-forming soils. Image by Scott Winton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Existing peatland PES models, like <a href=\"https:\/\/gambutkita.org\/the-role-of-indonesias-peatlands-in-prabowos-green-economy-fund\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">those in Indonesia<\/a>, typically pay for peatland restoration, reflooding drained degraded wetlands to prevent their burning and decay. But programs that could protect the vast, intact deposits found in the Congo, Peru and now Colombia would need to operate under a more challenging model: paying to head off more distant threats \u2014 a hard sell <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2021\/12\/carbon-and-communities-the-future-of-the-congo-basin-peatlands\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">before destruction is imminent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince these ecosystems are not recognized at the national level, the country doesn\u2019t use them in their [carbon accounting] reports,\u201d Benavides says. \u201cBut if the country doesn\u2019t use them in their reports, then you\u2019re not allowed to access the [country-level carbon] markets. You end up in something called the \u2018voluntary market,\u2019\u201d where, Benavides says, the carbon payments available to credit-sellers are valued much lower.<\/p>\n<p>If these PES programs can be retooled, they could potentially provide a financial incentive to local communities that might <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccap.org\/post\/analyzing-deforestation-trends-in-colombian-redd-projects\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">work in tandem with peace efforts<\/a> to help smooth the transition from rebel to government control in the Amazon \u2014 conserving forests and peatlands while promoting sustainable development<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_298074\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23120014\/Access-to-many-peatland-sites-was-by-boat.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2025\/04\/23120014\/Access-to-many-peatland-sites-was-by-boat.jpg\" alt=\"Access to many peatland sites was by boat. The study team relied on local expertise to guide them to where peat-forming soils might be present and how to access them. \" width=\"1536\" height=\"1024\"  ><\/a><figcaption>Access to many peatland sites was by boat. The study team relied on local expertise to guide them to where peat-forming soils might be present and how to access them. Image by Juan Carlos Benavides.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But in the more remote areas of the Colombian Amazon, where peatlands and forests are currently seeing little developmental pressure, incorporating these landscapes into carbon schemes \u2014 if local communities are not involved in decision-making \u2014 could constrain the sovereignty of Indigenous people who have contributed nothing to global carbon emissions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are huge barriers, some political, some technical, and then there\u2019s access to the sites,\u201d says Benavides when asked about the prospect of REDD+ programs as a means of conserving Colombia\u2019s peatlands. \u201cBut I think that there\u2019s an invisible barrier that is ethical, that is, \u2018Can we do this? Do we need to do this? Do we have a right to bring some land use control so that people can no longer use these lands in their natural, organic or traditional ways, because there is some interest that will pay them some money in the future?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Banner image<\/em><\/strong><em>: Members of the international research team pull a peat core out of a wetland in the Colombian Amazon. Image by Scott Winton.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote data-secret=\"oK1XiWFqb5\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2025\/01\/indigenous-communities-come-together-to-protect-the-colombian-amazon\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Indigenous communities come together to protect the Colombian Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Citations:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Winton, R. S., Benavides, J. C., Mendoza, E., Uhde, A., Hastie, A., Honorio Coronado, E. N., \u2026 Hoyt, A. M. (2025). Widespread carbon-dense peatlands in the Colombian lowlands. <em>Environmental Research Letters<\/em>, <em>20<\/em>(5), 054025. doi:<a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1748-9326\/adbc03\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">10.1088\/1748-9326\/adbc03<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dargie, G. C., Lewis, S. L., Lawson, I. T., Mitchard, E. T., Page, S. E., Bocko, Y. E., &#038; Ifo, S. A. (2017). Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo basin peatland complex. <em>Nature<\/em>, <em>542<\/em>(7639), 86-90. doi:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nature21048\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">10.1038\/nature21048<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rodr\u00edguez-de-Francisco, J. C., Del Cairo, C., Ortiz-Gallego, D., Velez-Triana, J. S., Vergara-Guti\u00e9rrez, T., &#038; Hein, J. (2021). Post-conflict transition and REDD+ in Colombia: Challenges to reducing deforestation in the Amazon. <em>Forest Policy and Economics<\/em>, <em>127<\/em>, 102450. doi:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1389934121000563\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">10.1016\/j.forpol.2021.102450<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>FEEDBACK: <a href=\"https:\/\/form.jotform.com\/70284580836159\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external\">Use this form<\/a> to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.<\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"single-article-footer\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<h4>Credits  <\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img alt src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a761caa8aa75efa915309d0d03449d04?s=32&#038;d=identicon&#038;r=g\"  height=\"32\" width=\"32\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"single-article-tags\">\n<h4>Topics<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>                            <span><a href data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><\/a><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p> Augustine Kucera<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2025\/04\/new-research-finds-substantial-peat-deposits-in-colombias-conflicted-amazon\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study of Colombia\u2019s lowland forests and savannas finds that the nation may have extensive peatlands \u2014 organic wetland soils formed over thousands of years \u2014 holding as much as 70 years\u2019 worth of Colombia\u2019s carbon emissions. Protecting them from agricultural development is essential to preventing greenhouse gas releases. Researchers made peatland estimates by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":847039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2915,3801],"tags":[10753,10176],"class_list":{"0":"post-847038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finds","8":"category-research","9":"tag-finds","10":"tag-research"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}