Quantifying and understanding tropical peatland spatial distribution and carbon storage in Central Africa

Largely anecdotal evidence suggests that sub-Saharan Africa may contain large areas of peatlands, several times the extent of those in the UK, with peat thickness reports of 30-60 m in the Congo Basin. If correct, this indicates that these areas, on a per area basis, are some of the world's densest carbon stores. Discovering and quantifying the carbon stored in such peatlands, and the environmental controls on their extent and distribution, is therefore critical to (1) improving our understanding of carbon cycling in Africa, the least well-understood continent from this perspective, (2) modelling future climate change impacts and (3) managing this resource. In addition, the description of previously unknown and/or unquantified peat deposits may provide direct benefits for Central African governments and local people in the form of access to payments to reduce carbon emissions from land-use change. This has the potential to have a clear societal impact in terms of alleviating poverty in one of the world's most income-poor regions. Therefore the project will describe, map and quantify the peatlands and their carbon storage across the Republic of Congo. The project has been developed with the CASE partner Wildlife Conservation Society-Congo, the largest conservation NGO in Congo, who monitor and co-manage, with the Congolese government, 2.8 million ha of forest and wetland habitat in Congo, which is likely to include major peat deposits (storing 2.4 Pg C by one recent estimate). The project enables possibly policy-framing research - as belowground carbon stores are currently not considered in most discussions of payments for ecosystem services - that ordinarily WCS-Congo would not have the expertise to undertake alone. The student will (1) utilise remote sensing products and local on-the-ground knowledge to identify the most likely areas of peat accumulation, (2) visit some of these in the field to discover how much peat exists and characterise the overlying vegetation, (3) combine remotely sensed and field data to calculate the carbon stored in the visited sites, (4) utilise this data to prediction the local geographic conditions and environmental relationships that favour peat genesis and accumulation to then estimate the locations and total carbon stored in WCS-managed areas across Congo. The successful candidate will have some combination of a background in soil science, ecology, or earth observation, speak French and will be motivated to pursue a career in ecology or conservation. WCS-Congo will provide support of £2.5K p/a, office space and other facilities in Congo-Brazzaville. Additionally they will provide access to field sites, assistance in the assessment of remote sensing data, training in expedition management and execution, and will expose the student to practical science-based conservation management in Central Africa. The UK-based supervisors and WCS-Congo will ensure that the project outputs include not only world-class science but also have specific management relevance. The student will benefit from five supervisors, three at Leeds, specialising in African carbon dynamics (Lewis), peat ecology (Lawson, Baird), African landscape management (CASE Partner Telfer), and tropical peatlands (Page, University of Leicester), who collectively are the authors of over 150 papers, including seven in Science/Nature. The project provides an excellent package of student training, incorporating elements of field, laboratory and modelling work, enabling the development of a broad suite of technical skills in addition to practical conservation management experience in Central Africa. The interdisciplinary nature of this project will provide the student with skills that will be of great value to their future scientific career.