Melting wetlands - How can nature slow down climate change?

The bogs and the swamps contain more carbon than all other ground vegetation and that's normal considering how the very wet soil interacts with the plants and their carbon. As the permafrost melts the greenhouse gases are released, which in turn accelerate global warming melting more and more ice and permafrost.

Peatlands and wetlands play an important role in global warming because they influence the greenhouse gas cycle, but not all bogs are the same. Some of them bind carbon while others release it into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

The Deutsche Welle (DW) film follows the work of two research teams investigating the influence of moors and swamps on the climate. Greenhouse gases escape when permafrost moors melt, but swamp and mire areas that have been thrown out of balance, for example by plantation farming for the production of palm oil, can actually accelerate climate change.

The documentary explains what happens when carbon escapes from swamp and moorland areas into the atmosphere and how nature's potential can be used to slow down climate change, so watch it and learn from it.