The overlooked ecosystems that hold massive carbon stores » Yale Climate Connections

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Vast, squishy bogs in northern Canada and western Siberia and muddy, humid swamps in the Congo Basin will help shape the future of the world’s climate.

These waterlogged landscapes are types of peatlands, which form as plants break down slowly in watery, low-oxygen conditions. Over hundreds and thousands of years, this dead plant material builds up into thick layers of peat.