Teal Carbon

28 Oct 2024 15:11:48 pm

Tags : Teal Carbon

Topic: Wetlands

Why in the news?

India’s first study on ‘teal carbon’, undertaken at Keoladeo National Park (KNP) in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district, has highlighted the significance of wetland conservation to address the challenges of climate adaptation and resilience.
The pilot project sought to develop holistic nature-based solutions to address climate change.

Source: The Hindu

About Teal Carbon:

It refers to carbon stored in non-tidal freshwater wetlands, encompassing carbon sequestered in vegetation, microbial biomass, and dissolved and particulate organic matter.
- These ecosystems are considered to be more effective at carbon capture and storage than terrestrial forest ecosystems, and can store and sequester more carbon than any other type of terrestrial ecosystem.
It pertains to organic carbon in inland fresh wetlands.
It is a colour-based terminology that reflects the classification of the organic carbon based on its functions and location rather than its physical properties.
At the global level, the storage of teal carbon across the ecosystems is estimated to be 500.21 petagrams of carbon (PgC), which is a unit to measure carbon.
Major sources of Teal carbon include peatlands, freshwater swamps, and natural freshwater marshes account for a significant amount of this storage.
Though these wetlands play a crucial role in regulating greenhouse gases, they are vulnerable to degradation from pollution, land use changes, water extraction, and landscape modifications.

Keoladeo National Park:

It was formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.
It hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season.
It is Located in the eastern part of Rajasthan.
It attracts several migratory birds that make the region their breeding and wintering grounds.
It is strategically located in the middle of the Central Asian migratory flyway.
The Siberian crane is one of the rare species that was spotted here till about the turn of the century.
Sambar, Nilgai, wild cats, hyenas, wild boar, birds, including raptors and waterfowl, and Jackals are found here.
It is a Ramsar site and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.