Patagonian peatlands, a natural carbon sink that absorbs and stores great amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, are the focus of a new cross-border conservation and restoration effort led by environmental organisations, universities, and public agencies in Argentina and Chile.

The initiative seeks to establish a shared governance framework to ensure the long-term preservation of Patagonia's fragile peatland ecosystems, which are at risk from drainage, land-use changes, invasive species, and unsustainable harvesting.

Plans in these wetlands, considered a shared ecosystem between Argentina and Chile, include promoting restoration, enhancing binational collaboration, advancing scientific research, advocating for public policy coordination, and engaging the public in protection efforts.

A draft proposal detailing structural components, decision-making processes, and organisational plans is set to be discussed by participants in the coming months.

"Peatlands as carbon reservoirs are truly fundamental, and that's why today they are included in the Climate Change Convention and in all recent COP meetings, there has been specifically a peatland pavilion," said Adriana Urciuolo, an engineer and professor at the University of Tierra del Fuego.

Chile has already introduced legislation to manage peatlands sustainably, which Urciuolo described as essential to their preservation. "They are so fragile that with improper management, they quickly disappear, and when a 10-metre peatland disappears, we lose 10,000 years of biological history," she warned.

On March 26, 2024, Chile enacted Law 21.660, known as the Law on Environmental Protection of Peatlands. This law aims to preserve and conserve peatlands as strategic reserves for climate change mitigation and adaptation; water balance and regulation; biodiversity conservation; and the multiple ecosystem services they provide.

Roy Mackenzie, a researcher at the Cape Horn International Center and the Millennium Institute for Biodiversity of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems, underscored the ecological importance of what he called "pristine" peatlands saying that if disrupted, peatlands turn from carbon sinks to carbon emitters. "That is what we must avoid at all costs," he added.

Under the joint initiative, scientists and conservationists aim to address imminent threats and secure the ecological and climate-related benefits provided by Patagonia's peatlands.

-Nicolas Cortes/Reuters