Mapping the Future of Nature-Based Climate Action

With support from the IKI, the Global Peatlands Initiative delivers vital strategies and maps for global peatland conservation. 

Peatlands are not only essential for climate change mitigation, they also play a vital role in regulating and purifying water for human consumption, wildlife habitats, and socio-economic development. These rich ecosystems act as safe havens for rare and threatened species of flora and fauna that provide regulating ecosystem services and support local livelihoods. Yet human-driven degradation is putting these ecosystems, and the vital services they provide, at risk.

The Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas

A major breakthrough in addressing these threats is the Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas: The State of the World’s Peatlands in Maps, developed under the Global Peatlands Initiative, which is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Hotspot Atlas offers the most comprehensive overview to date of the distribution, status, and threats to peatlands globally.

The Hotspot Atlas is a direct outcome of IKI’s sustained support to the Global Peatlands Initiative. This support not only enables the development of cutting-edge mapping and monitoring tools but also lays the groundwork for high-level policy action. One clear example of this impact is the pivotal role that the Global Peatlands Initiative played in catalysing the adoption of the UN Environment Assembly Resolution on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Peatlands in 2019.

The resolution called for enhanced global efforts to assess, monitor, and protect peatlands, which directly led to the development of the Global Peatlands Assessment, published in 2022. Building on this foundational work, the new Hotspot Atlas represents the next step: offering an evidence-based, visually compelling tool to guide nature-based climate action at scale.

Identification of threatened global peatland regions

The Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas identifies key global peatland regions under severe pressure from urbanisation, industrialisation, land use changes, and climate change, especially in tropical zones like Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin. An estimated 500,000 hectares of intact peatlands are lost each year, with the highest rates of degradation driven by drainage for oil palm plantations, livestock, and other land conversions.

That said, the Atlas also highlights areas of resilience. In Arctic, boreal, and some tropical zones, vast peatland areas remain relatively untouched — providing critical opportunities for conservation and restoration, especially where proactive policies and investments are implemented.

Powerful benefits through nature-based solutions

With IKI’s support, the Global Peatlands Initiative is demonstrating how nature-based solutions can deliver powerful climate, biodiversity, and livelihood benefits. In key pilot countries such as Peru, Indonesia, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Global Peatlands Initiative supports member states by providing science-based knowledge, effective policy guidance, and improved tools and methods. These efforts have helped raise awareness, improve coordination, and lay the foundation for climate action. The results and approaches developed can be scaled up and adapted to support peatland conservation and restoration in other countries.

The Global Peatlands Initiative and its support to partner countries exemplifies nature-based climate action: enhancing carbon storage, supporting ecosystem resilience, and strengthening local capacity to adapt to climate change.

“Peatlands, nature’s carbon vaults, can make or break global climate goals,” said Susan Gardner, Director of the UNEP Ecosystems Division. “Found in almost every country, peatlands do not just store vast amounts of carbon, they provide essential services that millions of people rely on daily. Their protection is a fundamental investment in human wellbeing.

Peatlands are also biodiversity strongholds, home to over 1,000 vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered species. They help regulate and purify water, reduce fire and flood risks, and sustain traditional and Indigenous livelihoods. Restoring and protecting peatlands therefore not only addresses climate mitigation and adaptation but directly supports biodiversity and human well-being. The Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas reinforces the message that peatland conservation, restoration, and sustainable management is one of the most cost-effective nature-based solutions available. It calls for increased investment in peatland science, restoration, and governance — particularly in areas most at risk.

Peatland protection – for the planet people and nature

By supporting the Global Peatlands Initiative, IKI has made possible a global movement grounded in evidence, driven by cooperation, and focused on results. As the climate crisis deepens, peatland protection offers one of the clearest paths forward — for the planet, people and nature.

Priority field of action: Strengthening nature-based climate action