Overview of international & national policy framework
1. Clifton Bain, Dr Aletta Bonn, Dr Mark Reed
IUCN UK Peatland Programme
2. Peatland Carbon Policy Framework
• United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCC)
• “Protecting and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks and carbon stores
and promoting practices that reduce emissions from agriculture and
forestry”
• Kyoto Protocol Article 3.4 (from 2013)
• “A Party included in Annex I may choose to account for
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals
by sinks resulting from any or all of the following activities:
revegetation, cropland management, grazing land management, and
wetland drainage and rewetting”
3. Wetland drainage and rewetting - a system of practices for draining and
rewetting on land with organic soil that covers a minimum area of 1 hectare.
Applies to all lands that have been drained since 1990 and to all lands that
have been rewetted since 1990 ..
Drainage is the direct human-induced lowering of the soil water table and
rewetting is the direct human-induced partial or total reversal of drainage.
4. World leading expertise in peatland restoration
Monitoring and survey to inform :-
•IPCC revision of IPCC Guidance on wetlands
•UK Government National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
•UK and Scottish Government Climate Change targets
6. Carbon Markets
Formal carbon markets under Kyoto Protocol
Emissions Trading, Joint Implementation and Clean
Development Mechanism
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest
Degradation“. REDD Plus (includes peatlands)
Voluntary Carbon Markets
Need to consider payment for restoring function as
well as maintaining and conserving function
UK Government Corporate Greenhouse gas
reporting