Amazon peatlands are 'most carbon-dense ecosystem' (BBC)

By Mark Kinver
Environment reporter, BBC News

The most dense store of carbon in Amazonia is not above ground in trees but below ground in peatlands, a study has calculated.

An international team of researchers said their work, which uses satellite data and field measurements, provides the "most accurate estimates to date".

Protecting these landscapes is vital if efforts to curb climate change are to be successful, they added.

The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Writing in the paper, the scientists observed: "This investigation provides the most accurate estimates to date of the carbon stock of an area that is the largest peatland complex in the Neotropics."
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30448519