The People and the Peat: Making a Living in the World’s Largest Swamp

Shona Jenkins, a PhD student at The University of Edinburgh and Research Fellow - Tropical peatland conservation in the Republic of Congo at the University of St Andrews, has studied human influence on the central Congo Basin peatlands, Democratic Republic of Congo, for the last four years. She first used satellite data to examine how the peatland forest may have been affected by local pressures. However, Shona felt that to prioritise local people's wellbeing in peatland conservation policies, this bird’s eye view needed to be complemented by understanding how peatland communities understand, value and manage the peatland forest. 

Elliot Convery Fisher (former Advanced Earth Fellow at Edinburgh Earth Initiative) sat down with Shona to learn more about her work and its importance. 

The Power of Peat

Peat plays a critical role in global climate regulation. It stores twice as much carbon as the world's forests despite covering only 3% of the Earth’s land surface. The peatlands of the Congo Basin are especially significant, holding carbon equivalent to 20 years of US carbon emissions. Peat has a deep history, starting life as trees, grasses and sedges that lived on the earth tens of thousands of years ago. Instead of decaying quickly, this plant material decomposes slowly in waterlogged areas due to the lack of oxygen. This leads to the slow build-up of semi-decomposed plant matter, creating a carbon-rich organic layer we call peat. 

Seeing the Peatland Forest Through Local Eyes 

Shona’s approach to her research was immersive, spending five months living with two communities. She employed participatory methods to identify valuable, culturally significant and useful peatland resources and habitats, from drawing exercises to walks in the forest with local community members. Sometimes, her research was more homely, spending time chatting with local women while baking banana bread in an exchange of ideas, stories and, eventually, something fresh to eat. 

Shona and her team travelled by plane, car and canoe to navigate the complex system of rivers that thread through the region to reach the small communities living on the edge of the peatland forest. Bringing all their supplies with them, the team slept in tents and hired local support to act as forest guides. Whilst fresh vegetables were in short supply, the peatland forest's regular fish diet satisfied them.

Understanding Local Community Resilience 

Community lives are entwined with the peatland. Living on the banks of the river, the people that Shona met described themselves as “River People”, with their houses built on stilts to deal with seasonal flooding. These communities experience life dictated by the flooding regime, which brings an influx of fresh fish and rains vital for planting food staples like cassava. Shona found a vast repertoire of local knowledge connecting communities to fishing and fish, focused on their kinds, their breeding habits, how, where and when to catch different species, and how to make the right tools. However, the wealth and breadth of local knowledge extends far beyond fishing by helping forge a local sense of identity and enabling local people to live and adapt to this dynamic and challenging environment. Shona felt humbled after her time spent in the Congo peatlands. 

Persisting Precarious Livelihoods

Despite their knowledge and resilience, these communities face significant hardships. Lack of access to high-quality and affordable clean water, healthcare and primary education undermines people’s ability to perform the demanding physical labour required to live in this environment. It sours aspirations that parents and the young have for a good life, and so, people seek alternative economic opportunities to educate their children and pay for healthcare and necessities.

Young men are pushed towards artisanal logging in the wet peatland forest. Currently, this is performed with an axe: large-scale tree extraction is not yet commercially viable because of flooding in the forest, lack of roads and the need to transport logs by the river. Nonetheless, more significant threats to the peatland forest loom on the horizon. Large-scale development of road building, agriculture and oil exploration enabled by draining the peatlands would radically transform this landscape. Not only would this devastate attempts to combat climate change due to the emissions released through land-use changes, but it would also not necessarily improve local livelihoods. Economic development based on transforming intact forests into other land uses has mainly benefited the already wealthy in other regions, such as Amazonia. 

As scientists and conservationists scramble to protect the vital ecosystem services the central Congo Basin peatland forest provides, Shona’s research exposes the connections between local people and the peat. It forces us in Scotland to take a moment to think: how can we develop creative strategies that support both humans and ecological well-being? Conducting social research which seeks to understand the activities that affect forests and their biodiversity, beyond simply naming livelihood activities, such as artisanal logging, is a start. Shona’s work elevates these local voices, their knowledge and their concerns to start creating new conservation approaches that serve local livelihoods and the forest. Without this support, one of the world’s most important carbon stores could turn into a ticking carbon time bomb. 

A special thanks to Elliot Convery Fisher (former Advanced Earth Fellow at Edinburgh Earth Initiative) for putting this article together and Shona Jenkins for sharing her work and experiences. 

Acknowledgements:

• Ed Mitchard, Space Intelligence
• Professor Simon Lewis, University of Leeds 
• NERC: Natural Environment Research Council