Introduction

A bog is a natural environment poor in oxygen, made up of peat and water. Peat is a soil characterized by its high organic matter content, little or no decomposed. It covers only 3% of the earth’s surface but stores around 550 billion tonnes of carbon. That’s twice as much as all the forests in the world combined. On an equal surface area, they store two times more carbon than forests. The Congo Basin is home to one of the largest tropical peatlands in the world, storing approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon each year.

The Importance of Bogs

• Bogs are the memory of our environment because they preserve organic matter, pollens, seeds, and some extinct animals for thousands of years.
•  They are a natural refuge with a rich and varied biodiversity and are home to threatened and endangered animals.
• Additionally, local communities depend on the enormous services (food, cultural, therapeutic, hydrological) they provide.
• Bogs store nearly 1.5 billion tons of carbon each year. The bogs of the Congo Basin alone contain more than 30 billion tons of carbon. That’s equivalent to the carbon the United States emits by burning fossil fuels for 20 years.
• Similarly, they help to fight against floods by slowing down the overflow of rivers and behaving like a sponge which absorbs excess water to not only supply groundwater but also other natural environments.

Threats to Bogs

Bogs are vital for millions of people because they store 30% of the world’s carbon and twice as much carbon per area as forests. Yet, they are in danger mainly due to human activities and climate change. These areas are drained for agro-pastoral activities and monoculture of oil palms. Also, peat is used as an alternative to firewood, while forestry, oil, and agricultural companies overexploit this extremely rich wetland. This is the case in Cameroon. The Lainde Massa bog, a particular ecosystem (wetland located in the Sahelian environment) has lost 98% of its area due to the demographic boom and agro-pastoral activities.

Consequences of Bogs’ Destruction

Contrary to bogs’ primary functions, they have unfortunately become a significant source of carbon emissions. Current greenhouse gas emissions from the drying or burning of bogs represent up to 5% of all human-influenced emissions. This is equivalent to nearly 2 billion tonnes of CO2. The repetitive drain of this environment and the use of fires to develop it for agriculture leads to a release into the atmosphere of toxic substances and carbon, which promotes the propensity of respiratory diseases. All this further contributes to global warming and in turn to climate change.

Solutions to Bogs’ Destruction 

There is an urgent need to take action to ensure that the carbon-locked in bogs stay there. Therefore, on the importance, fragility, and consequences of the loss of this ecosystem. Strict laws and regulations, sustainable, management practices and restoration should be taken. Integrate local communities in the conservation and restoration of this environment, by relying on their traditional environmental knowledge.

Conclusion

Through its services such as producing drinking water, ecological archive, and leading ecosystem in terms of carbon stock, bogs are one of our best allies and potentially one of our quickest victories in the fight against climate change. Therefore, it is urgent to preserve these extremely precious environments, by establishing these zones as Protected Areas.