Peatlands

Our solutions

• We are leading a new national initiative with multiple partners to develop a shared vision and strategic framework for peatlands that identifies policy options, procedures, and tools for peatland protection and management at different governance levels across Canada. The goal of this initiative is to draw on the collective experience to identify workable solutions to the challenges in implementing effective policy for peatlands across Canada. Part of this work is an ongoing full review and analysis of science and policy issues for peatlands across Canada, including quantifying the threat of increased mining for critical minerals to these large carbon stores.

• Identifying tools and actions to support climate-smart decisions for critical minerals development across the carbon-rich boreal region of Canada. The goal of this initiative is to address the challenge of how to maintain and manage the integrity and carbon storage and sink capacity of peatlands and forests across the boreal region of Canada with increased critical mineral development and associated infrastructure.

• Developing and implementing a government engagement and communications strategy for peatlands. We have been successful in building awareness among government decision-makers and influencers about the importance of protecting high-integrity peatlands across Canada for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the risk continued loss and degradation of peatlands (including from extraction of critical minerals) poses to Canada’s GHG targets. We continue to engage in key policy initiatives, including the Regional Assessment for the proposed Ring of Fire mining development in northern Ontario, Canada’s emerging Critical Minerals Strategy, the draft National Climate Adaptation Strategy, and oil sands expansion in peatlands in northern Alberta.

• Conducting scientific research on peatlands across Canada, in collaboration and partnership with First Nations and other groups, with a particular focus on field-based research in the Hudson Bay Lowland in northern Ontario, and the Yukon. The science we generate will inform proposals for IPCAs and other protected areas, along with providing the data needed for the inclusion of peatlands in Canada’s national GHG inventory and climate and land-use planning policies. Our ongoing and new research projects include:
  • A regional synthesis of existing data on peatland carbon stocks and fluxes for the Hudson Bay Lowland, including supporting environmental data (hydrology, vegetation, temperatures etc.)
  • Understanding ecohydrological controls on methane emissions from undisturbed and drained peatlands (due to mining) in the Hudson Bay Lowland.
  • Linking small-scale controls and feedback on peatland GHG fluxes to site level and landscape scale change (e.g., mining and roads, drainage, permafrost thaw, fire), including with the use of drones.
  • Quantifying the effects of placer mining and reclamation activities on peatland GHG emissions and removals in the Yukon.