Management of Peatlands in China for Biodiversity and Climate Change

Grant Agreement nr. WGP1 21 GPI 8

Agreement holder: Wetlands International – Asia, China Programme

Country/region: China, North Asia

Activity period: 01/10/2001 – 30/06/2002

Objectives and results:

• The project aimed to provide recommendations on how Ruoergai peat could be managed in the future to maintain the role of peatlands as carbon stores or sinks, while at the same time conserving the biodiversity.

• Enhance information exchange and networking related to peatlands, biodiversity and climate change;

• Undertake an initial assessment of the impact to management on peat/climate /biodiversity at Ruoergai Marshes.

Achieved:

• This was achieved through stakeholder meetings, reports and the development of a proposal involving the stakeholders. Some recommendations took immediate effect, through decisions by local government not to allow further mining or draining of peatlands in Hongyuan and Ruoergai Counties.

• This was achieved through stakeholder meetings, reports and the development of a proposal involving the stakeholders. Some recommendations took immediate effect, through decisions by local government not to allow further mining or draining of peatlands in Hongyuan and Ruoergai Counties. The information flow provided by the project, contributed

• The technical reports were used for promotion of peat management issues to the local and national government, as well as other donors, resulting in a higher level of inclusion of peatland management issues in the UNDP-GEF project on Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in China.
  It increased the interest among the international peatlands community in contributing to the solution of peatland management problems in Ruoergai as evidenced by the number of contributions from different countries received following an egroup request. In November 2002, UNEP-GEF approved a global project on Peatlands and Climate Change, including a case study on the Ruoergai marshes.

The project was very successful, considering the size of the area and the difficult socio-economic setting. It has, just within one year, accomplished to put this peat area of international importance on the map, and has developed a sound basis, both in terms of science base as well as in terms of stakeholder involvement, for identification and development of solutions. As such it has also been successful in leveraging international cofinancing from the GEF (via UNEP), by having a Ruoergai case study incorporated in a global project on peatlands and climate change.