Logistics
Date: 8-12 May
Locations: Hybrid meeting with three hubs - Indonesia (Pontianak, West Kalimantan Province), Poland (Adam Mickiewicz University), USA (Houston, Texas A&M University). The three hybrid hubs will work face-to-face in different time zones, but come together too at specific times.
Description
This workshop will allow us to present global paleo data on recent carbon (C) accumulation and discuss different methods to quantify the recent past rate of peat formation and whether peatlands are expected to remain C sinks or are become C sources under current and projected climate and land-use (LU) changes. Modelers will present outputs directly comparable to our paleo data, as a way to jumpstart discussions across the community for model validation.
Partnering with the United Nations‘ Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI). They will advertise this workshop to their vast network of scientists and practitioners. GPI scientists will also take part in the workshop as invited guest speakers. Lastly, this workshop will provide training and networking opportunities for early-career scientists.
Overall, the workshop aims to be interdisciplinary and bring together the paleo community, modellers and stakeholders to learn lessons from the past and recent changes that could help us understand and manage the fate of peatlands in the future. This fits within the aims of developing a more integrative place for the C-PEAT working group within the PAGES’ science structure through consideration of the effect of humans on peatland functioning, in order to inform adaptation strategies and specific solutions for policy makers and resource managers.
Program
The agenda will be shared by all 3 hubs and there will be 1 daily session (2 hours) where the 3 hubs will be "live" together.
Day 1: Focus on tropical peatlands.
Days 2-3: Focus on recent (past ~100 years) of peat accumulation
Day 4: Recap of C-PEAT's work thus far (the group has been around for almost a decade already!) and we will also pick participants' brains about a strategy/research agenda for the years to come.
Day 5 : Field trip
During days 1-2-3, you can expect a mix of guest talks, group exercises, and focused work towards manuscript ideas, figures, and/or text.
The main topics of discussion will include:
- Tropical Peatlands (talks and discussions on key unknowns and challenges)
- Recent Peatland Dynamics (some key questions include how to compare recent vs. past C sequestration; how important is recent peat dynamics for land management)
- Peat Paleo Proxy Database (update)
- Future Directions (conclusion)
We intend to have experts from different fields (e.g., paleo, gas flux, remote sensing, modeling), from most peat-rich regions of the world, and present "fundamental science talks" as well as "applied talks".
Funding
Our funds will cover lodging and food, and we have limited funding for transportation (priority will be given to early-career and/or developing-country scientists). We are receiving funding from NSF, PAGES, INQUA, and IGCP.
Registration/ participation
If you want to take part in the workshop, either in person or remotely, please fill out this form before February 28, 2023: https://forms.gle/25Sg8ppxFZmb4joL9.
More information
We will soon send a formal invitation for you to sign up for in-person or remote participation.
Visit Carbon in Peat on Earth through Time (C-PEAT) working group website here.