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Bogs around the world

Peatlands are very extensive world wide. Scientists have estimated that there is between 386 and 409 million hectares spread across five continents. They are not found in Antarctica (see Table 1).

How much Peat is left?

The area of peatlands represents some 5% - 8% of the world's land surface, but because peat formation is generally closely linked to climate, much of the world's resources lie in the northern temperate zone.

This concentration of peat in some of the most industrialised countries of the world has meant that between the 16th Century and the present day, vast tracts of peat landscape have vanished from Europe as technology and development have steadily advanced. These changes have undoubtedly helped to transform the economies of certain regions and sometimes whole nations.

However, the environmental cost of this progress now means that some western nations can foresee a date in the near future when, without direct conservation effort, the very last natural peatlands will have vanished forever.

For others it is already too late; all natural peatlands or bogs in the Netherlands and Poland have been lost; Switzerland and Germany each have only 500 hectares remaining. In the United Kingdom there has been a 90% loss of blanket bogs (only 125,000 ha remains), and a 98% loss of raised bogs (with only 1,170 ha remaining).

In eastern Europe a new threat facing many of the peatlands - including protected sites - is the eastwards expansion of western European peat mining companies. When survey information is made available, significant losses are expected to be reported in eastern European countries (Löfroth 1994).

The loss of peatland habitats has also been reflected in Ireland. Bogs once covered 16% of the land area of Ireland, an area of circa 1.3 million hectares.

Today, in the Republic of Ireland, due to drainage, peat extraction and commercial developments, only 19% of the original area remains intact. There has been a 92% loss of raised bogs and an 82% loss of blanket bogs. At current rates of exploitation it has been estimated that all unprotected raised bogs will be extinct by 1997, and all unprotected blanket bogs will be extinct early in the new century.

4% (50,000ha) of the original area of bogland in the Republic of Ireland is earmarked for conservation, and just over 30,000ha of the target is presently protected within National Parks and National Nature Reserves.

In Northern Ireland, there have also been extensive losses of raised bogs with 10% (2,664ha) of the original area remaining of conservation interest. 14% of the original area (18,387ha) of blanket bog is of conservation interest.

TABLE 1: The land area of each country in the world that is covered with peat Adapted from: Taylor, J. A. (1983) The Peatlands of Great Britain and Ireland. In Gore, A. J. P. Ed. Ecosystems of the World Volume 4B, Mires: Swamp, Bog, Fen & Moor.

Country	Peat area (ha)	Peat area (% of land area)
1 Finland	10,000,000	33.5
2 Canada	129,500,000	18.4
3 Republic of Ireland	1,178,798	17.2
4 Sweden	1,500,000	17.1
5 Indonesia	700,000	13.7
6 Northern Ireland	166,860	12.4
7 Scotland	821,381	10.4
8 Iceland	1,000,000	9.7
9 Norway	3,000,000	9.4
10 Wales	158,770	7.7
11 Malaysia	2,360,000	7.2
12 U.S.S.R.	71,500,000	6.7
13 The Netherlands	250,000	6.0
14 Germany	1,618,000	4.6
15 Poland	1,500,000	4.4
16 Cuba	200,000	3.9
17 U.S.A	7,510,000	3.3
18 England	361,690	2.8
19 Austria	22,000	2.8
20 Denmark	60,000	2.8
21 Switzerland	55,000	1.3
22 Hungary	100,000	1.1
23 New Zealand	166,000	0.6
24 Belgium	18,000	0.6
25 Uruguay	100,000	0.5
26 Japan	200,000	0.5
27 Yugoslavia (the former)	100,000	0.4
28 China	3,480,000	0.4
29 Italy	60,000	0.4
30 Israel	5,000	0.25
31 Czechoslovakia (the former)	33,000	0.2
32 France	120,000	0.2
33 Greece	5,000	0.04
34 Romania	6,000	0.03
35 Argentina	45,000	0.016
36 Spain	6,000	0.012
37 Australia	15,000	0.002
38 Bulgaria	>1,000	0.001