The distribution

Data from the Global Environment Centre & Wetlands International shows that in 2008, the total area of peatlands globally is 400 million hectares, which is spread across North America (45.3% of the total global peatland area), Asia (36.7%), Europe (12.4%), South America (4.0%), Africa (1.4%), and Australasia (0.2%). Countries with the largest peatlands in the world are Russia, Canada, the United States, and Indonesia. The peatlands in these countries combined account for 60% of the total global peatland area.

Meanwhile, according to FAO, tropical peatlands comprise around 8 percent of the total peatlands in the world. As many as 60 percent of tropical peatlands are in Southeast Asia. Indonesia, with13.43 million hectares of tropical peat, is the country with the largest tropical peatland area in the world. Indonesia’s peatlands are spread across three major islands: Sumatra with 5.8 million hectares of peat, Kalimantan with 4.5 million hectares of peat and Papua with 3 million hectares of peat.