Peatlands are one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks. These naturally waterlogged boggy swamps can hold thousands of years’ worth of compressed, partially decomposed vegetation matter — despite covering just 3-4% of Earth’s land surface, they’re thought to store more carbon per area than the world’s forests combined.

In honor of World Peatland Day on June 2 we present three recent Mongabay stories that shed light on this critical ecosystem.

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