How peatlands on the Prairies are at risk from climate change

The Prairies Climate Change Project is a joint initiative between CBC Edmonton and CBC Saskatchewan that focuses on weather and our changing climate. Meteorologist Christy Climenhaga brings her expert voice to the conversation to help explain weather phenomena and climate change and how they impact everyday life.

As we work to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a part of that picture is how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by the landscape. 

Carbon is taken in by plants, old growth forests, even the stretches of grasslands that dominate the prairies. 

But there is another natural ecosystem that is less picturesque, but critical to the carbon cycle. 

We're talking about peatland. It may look like nothing more than swamps, or bogs – a wet and mushy mess of partially decomposed plants that have accumulated for thousands of years. 

But it's important not only for the ecosystem it provides for plants and animals, but because of what lies below the surface – carbon. 

"They are challenging environments, but they've never been valued for their biodiversity, for their carbon," said Lorna Harris, an ecosystem scientist and forest, peatlands and climate change program lead for the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada.

Peatlands cover around three per cent of the global land mass, but store 30 per cent of the world's total soil carbon – or carbon stored by dead plants, insects and other organic materials beneath the surface.

Canada is home to a quarter of the world's peatland – we often call it muskeg. It covers around 1.1 million square kilometres, and spans every province and territory. 

"Peatlands are one of the world's largest terrestrial carbon stores because they've been taking in carbon for thousands and thousands of years and storing it there," said Harris.

"They are hugely important carbon stores. They're also active carbon sinks across most of Canada."

Carbon sinks remove carbon from the atmosphere, a critical process to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

But our peatlands have not remained intact. 

So what is happening in our peatlands and what does that mean for all of that carbon?