Peatlands and the Carbon Cycle: From Local Processes to Global Implications

First International Symposium on Carbon in Peatlands, Wageningen, Netherlands, 15-18 April 2007 Boreal and subarctic peatlands cover about 3% of the Earth's land surface and store 15-30% of the world's soil carbon (200-400 petagrams) as peat. This large C pool, in addition to C in Arctic soils, lies at higher latitudes that are experiencing ongoing climate change. Tropical peatlands also contain large C reservoirs, the stability of which is threatened by ongoing land use change. In response to a call from PeatNet (a National Science Foundation-supported research coordination network), Juul Limpens and Gabriela Schaepman-Strub proposed a small workshop on peatland C cycling, an idea that morphed into a meeting with 180 participants from 18 countries.