Via Climate Ark and Ecological Internet:

Southeast Asia’s Burning Rainforests and Peatland Threaten World’s Climate

On November 6th governments from all over the world will be meeting in Nairobi for the second meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 2) and the 12th Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 12) - the year’s most important United Nations climate change talks. To date international policy discussions have largely ignored the destruction and burning of Southeast Asia’s rainforest peatlands. These wet, swampy rainforests are drained to be cleared for agricultural plantations, and as they dry their peat filled soils are highly susceptible to long burning, carbon and methane rich fires. Peatland fires have for years been one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions - accounting for the equivalent of some 15% of all global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Hundreds of peat and forest fires are once again burning across Borneo, Sumatra and Java. Unless the international community acts quickly, Southeast Asia’s emissions of carbon and methane from burning peatlands alone may lead to dangerous climate change including massive sea level rises and mass extinctions. […]

Yet it is not too late to save and restore these vital rainforest peatland carbon stores. Remaining untouched peatlands must be protected from drainage and fires, and drained peat can be re-flooded and restored. At the Nairobi Conference, governments must address the crisis in Southeast Asia’s peatlands and forests as a top priority. […]

Please add your voice and tell national Nairobi conference delegates to act now to save Southeast Asia’s peatlands and rainforests, before it is too late not only for those precious ecosystems and the people who depend on them, but for the future of the global climate.