There is some debate as to whether this thawing of permafrost in peatland ecosystems is “a long freight train moving slowly as it unloads its greenhouse gases" or a carbon bomb about to blow as the train careens off the tracks.
Over 860,000ha of wetlands preserved in natural state in Belarus
MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) - More than 860,000 hectares of wetlands have been preserved in natural or close to natural state in Belarus, said Vitaly Korenchuk, a consultant with the Biological Diversity Department at the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry of Belarus, BelTA has learned.
“In December 2020, Belarus enforced the law on the protection and use of peatlands, one of the main goals of which is to preserve natural wetlands. To date, 863,000 hectares of wetlands in our country have been preserved in natural or close to natural state. This is about a third of the total area of wetlands we had in the country before the drain campaign, Vitaly Korenchuk said.