By Pete Whittington, PhD (Associate Professor at Brandon University, Dept. of Geography and Environment) and Maria Strack, PhD (Professor at University of Waterloo and Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate Geography and Environmental Management)
Peatlands are important global stores of carbon. They store more carbon than the world’s forests combined, despite covering only 3% of the Earth’s surface. Peatlands also occupy about a third of Manitoba’s land area. Despite these impressive facts, most people don’t even know what a peatland is!