When I saw the word peatlands I didn’t know the meaning or anything about it but little did I know that peatlands are what i actually saw very often. But as I went more into researching what it was I learnt that it’s very critical for preventing climate and that it cleans the air by absorbing most of the harmful gasses caused by humans, which gives off the greenhouse effects.And in my opinion I think peatlands should be looked after very carefully we need to preserve our peatlands because if we destroy it we won’t be able to regulatiate our water flow which in the long run will increase floods or air quality will be affected negatively which anyone one can imagine will be very bad that’s why I think countries should work together to preserve peatlands. Although peatlands are not as common in South Africa as it is in Germany we have wetlands which I learnt is very very similar to peatlands it will have the same negative effects if destroyed, wetlands are where soil is found that is rich in carbon.South africa is actually trying to preserve our wetlands through a program called working wetlands the country gave 63 million us dollars to be used towards preserving such important wetlands/peatlands. The places where peatlands can be found in South Africa is usually more wet provinces in the country which receives much more rain then Cape Town namely Kwa Zulu natal and this is where 60% of South Africas peatlands are found but sometimes some of these peatlands are drained to grow bananas and KZN is definitely known as South Africa’s largest producer of bananas but some good news back in 2019 peatlands were discovered in the province of Mpumalanga and it is amazing to know that more then 4.23 million km² or 2.48% of the global land area is covered in peatlands and if we destroy peatlands it can cause biodiversity loss and in some parts for the world peatlands can supply food that’s why it is important to preserve peatlands.
Raven
Cape Town
South africa