Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R008531/1
Human impacts on Amazon peatlands
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr K H Roucoux, University of St Andrews, Geography and Sustainable Development
- Grant held at:
- University of St Andrews, Geography and Sustainable Development
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Quaternary Science
- Nat Resources, Env & Rural Dev
- Conservation Ecology
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Abstract:
- Our past research has helped to show that large peatlands cover at least 35,000 km2 of western Amazonia, storing globally significant quantities of carbon. By contrast with peat swamp forests in many parts of SE Asia, which have been extensively drained for agriculture, the Amazonian peatlands are considered to be hydrologically intact. However, they are not a pristine wilderness: they are used by local communities as a source of resources such as palm fruit, medicinal plants, building materials and wild game. The specific nature, intensity and distribution of these activities in peatlands is not yet well understood and their impact on peatland ecosystem function is largely unknown. Existing studies in the region, carried out mainly on non-peat substrates, suggest that widespread practices, such as felling palms to harvest fruit, have the potential to adversely affect the biodiversity and carbon storage function of peatlands. Knowledge of the economic and cultural value of peatlands to those who use them, and involvement of those people in decision-making, are essential to the success of conservation schemes if they are to benefit both local communities and the environment. This project aims to investigate the ways in which Peruvian peatlands are used by people, and to identify the impacts of these uses on peatland ecosystem functions. We will work with two contrasting communities living close to peatlands in the largest known peatland complex in Amazonia, the Pastaza-Maranon Foreland Basin in northern Peru. Through participatory research design, we will refine our choice of study sites and the types of question and research outputs that are most needed by these communities. We will use participatory mapping to document the ways in which these communities use and rely on the peatlands in their territories. We will then collect data on forest composition and demographic structure, litter production, and hydrology, along gradients running from highly utilized peatlands, to peatlands that are rarely (if ever) visited, controlling as far as possible for confounding environmental factors. This will allow us to explore the extent to which human use affects the key ecosystem properties that allow peatlands to sequester and maintain carbon. We will also study the peat itself to investigate the extent to which the ecosystems have changed in the recent past, including looking for indicators of past disturbance such as charcoal. The ultimate aim of this research project is to benefit society in two distinct ways. The first is to address the development goals of local communities, who stand to gain from investment in carbon conservation. A $9.1M project currently underway in part of our study region is using Green Climate Fund income to help local communities to develop their economy without degrading their peatlands. Understanding the ecosystem services provided by peatlands and the consequences of different activities for carbon stocks will inform and support future proposals for carbon conservation funding, and we will work with local communities and selected NGOs (with whom our CASE partner WCMC already has a track record) to contribute to that process. The second intended outcome of our research project is to contribute to climate change mitigation by informing policy development at national and global scales. Here we will again build on existing expertise within WCMC to contribute to helping Peru to implement its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to climate change mitigation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and its contribution through its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity. We also intend to contribute our findings to global carbon conservation efforts through the Global Peatlands Initiative, of which WCMC is a member.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R008531/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £92,822
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - RTSG | Total - Student Stipend |
|---|---|---|
| £17,480 | £11,000 | £64,344 |
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