Is Sphagnum moss the most important plant in the world?
Sphagnum moss has huge climate benefits, as it is known to be excellent at sequestering carbon, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Sphagnum has been around for millions of years, forming a key vegetation climate buffer. It plays the important role of absorbing carbon and storing it as deep layers of peat.
Damaged peatlands (including agricultural soils) expose this stored carbon, losing it back to the atmosphere.
Once peatlands are restored with vegetation including Sphagnum moss, their benefits include being excellent carbon stores and sinks. The living layer of vegetation (the acrotelm) can store up to 60 tonnes of carbon per hectare, when it is about 20 cm deep. This is in addition to stopping the carbon greenhouse gas emissions when damaged.
Our recent research has shown planting Sphagnum (BeadaHumok®) takes as little as one year to become a net carbon sink, once full coverage is established.
A little plant with massive potential!
