Index Home Join IPCC

Welcome to the Irish Peatland Conservation Council tour of Peatlands Around the World.

Worldwide peatlands cover about 500 million hectares of land, some 5-8% of the world's surface. The global area is equivalent to the area of India and Pakistan combined. The occurrence, extent and type of peatland depends on the climate. Therefore they are most extensive in North America, Asia and Europe. The remainder are found in tropical areas the most extensive in south-east Asia. Peatlands are important wetland areas helping to maintain reliable supplies of clean water to rivers and acting as a carbon sink. Peatlands may well contain 3-3.5 times the amount of carbon stored in tropical rain forests. Peatlands are an ancient habitat which contain many rare and threatened species and an unparalleled record of our past. Exploitation of peatlands is widespread. Impacts range from drainage to create farmland, to mining of peat for fuel or horticultural products. In total approximately 5 million hectares has been exploited for fuel and horticulture and a further 30 million hectares for forestry and agriculture.

To visit the peatlands of the world just click on the continent you want to visit on the map above or select from the list on the left hand side.