Project Title: Establishing a global database of peatlands and mires

Grant Agreement Nr. WGP2 - 37 GPI 58

Agreement holder:
International Mire Conservation Group
Dr. Hans Joosten
Botanical Institute
Grimmer Str. 88
D-17487 Greifswald Germany

Country/region:global

Activity period: 01/09/2002 - 31/12/2003

Documentation and products available:

  • Final report and Finance Report
  • Technical outputs:
    1. An extensive database
    2. freely available on the internet

  • Web-site based outputs:

    • The full Database including information on backgrounds, methods and references is placed on the internet (www.imcg.net/gpd/gpd.htm) and downloadable (in pdf-format) per country.

Background:
The Ramsar Convention (CoP8, Valencia November 2002) identified the urgent need to establish a global database of peatlands and mires to provide the baseline information necessary to assist Contracting Parties and others in their delivery of Global Action for Peatlands. The Database should be made widely accessible to Contracting Parties and others and should be compiled in the first instance from sources of existing information, brought into line with the standardized terminology and classification systems, and should include baseline information on the distribution, size, quality, ecological characteristics and biological diversity of the resource.

Brief project description:
The project aimed at

Partners:
Information has been supplied by a wide range of governmental, NGO, and private sector agencies. The results will be feed back to the Ramsar focal points in each country to check and complement the information.

Results:

Expected
Outputs and Results achieved
Objectives and results:
  1. To compile a database on the distribution, extent, quality, threats, and ecological characteristics of peatlands for all countries of the world.
  2. To point out differences in classification and inventory approaches of the various countries and to develop instruments to make the data mutually compatible.
  3. To make all this information available to all interested parties.
  4. To identify gaps in information of global peatland distribution.
  5. To strengthen a global-wide network of peatland stakeholders.
Planned actions:
  1. Collection of all available information on the distribution, extent, status and threat, and ecological characteristics of
    2. peatlands for all countries of the world
  2. Analysis and critical discussion of classification and inventory approaches of the various countries.
  3. Development of models for extrapolation between different types of data
  4. Feedback within the worldwide IMCG network to verify collected and interpolated data
  5. Evaluation of the data with respect to gaps and identification of priorities for further national or regional inventories
  6. Development of a standardised numerical database of global peatland distribution.
  7. Publication of the information on the IMCG website
Achieved:
  1. A database was compiled for 263 countries and regions, representing the best global overview currently available.
  2. Differences in classification and inventory approaches have been pointed out and instruments to make the data mutually compatible have been developed.
  3. The information is (being) made available to all interested parties via the IMCG website
  4. The 263 country/region chapters clearly show the information coverage and the gaps.
  5. Many peatland stakeholders have participated in compiling the data.
Achieved actions:
  1. Information was gathered from over 800 publications, many websites, and personal communications for 263 counties/regions covering the entire world.
  2. The classification and inventory approaches have been analysed in general and for every country individually.
  3. Models have been developed. There is a need to further enhance these and to apply them.v
  4. Much feedback was received. Fu5ther feed back is expected â also from national Ramsar focal points. This will be greatly facilitated by now having the data easily available on the web.
  5. National and regional gaps have been made clearly visible, facilitating the further identification of priorities that needs to take place on a global scale.
  6. Because of incompatibility of data, a simple standardised numerical database could not yet be established. Country/region chapters present a critical discussion on available data and their international compatibility.
  7. All information is (being) made available on the IMCG website in an easily accessible way. The information will be continually updated, dependent on capacity.
Evaluation
The project has created the best and most complete overview of peatland occurrences and status currently available in the world. For many countries and regions information is made internationally available for the first time in history. Informational gaps have been made clearly visible. Models have been developed for making different types of data mutually compatible. Application of these models is still awaiting further verification of the models with additional calibration data. The full information gathered is freely and easily (as pdf-files) obtainable via the IMCG website www.imcg.net/gpd/gpd.htm.

The database forms a good starting point for further work of the Ramsar partners and will be actively used by the Coordinating Committee of Global Action on Peatlands of the Ramsar Convention and various other peatland stakeholder organisations (IMCG, IPS, Wetlands International) for prioritising their work. Because of the abundance of data gathered, the material has not yet been fully analysed.

Management of the database will be continued by IMCG, dependent on capacities.
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last update: 20/07/04