COMMENT | Fire prevention is key to protecting peatland swamps and surrounding communities should be at the frontline in such efforts.

They may look like unloved bogs nobody would take much notice of but peatlands play a crucial role in soaking up carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

While peatlands cover only three percent of the global land area, they store nearly 30 percent of the world’s soil organic carbon and contain twice as much carbon as the world’s forests and play a key role in nature-based climate change mitigation.

Keeping peat carbon in the ground, therefore, is...