{"id":40278,"date":"2025-08-11T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/?p=40278"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:29:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:29:01","slug":"congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Congo peatlands are over 40,000 years old, researchers find"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>An international study reveals Congo peatlands are much older than expected. The discover provide new insights to the studies on the global carbon cycle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">by Matteo Cavallito<\/p>\n<p>The peatlands in the <strong>Congo Basin<\/strong> region\u2014one of the world\u2019s largest carbon sinks\u2014are much older than previously thought. According to new calculations by an international team of researchers, the formation of this tropical ecosystem <strong>may date back more than 20,000 years earlier<\/strong> than previously assumed. This revision has important implications for estimating the total carbon stored in the area and its role in addressing climate change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese peat swamp forests are a globally important carbon store, holding the equivalent of three years of global fossil fuel emissions,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leeds.ac.uk\/main-index\/news\/article\/5829\/world-s-largest-tropical-peatlands-revealed-to-be-more-than-40-000-years-old\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> <strong>Greta Dargie<\/strong>, a researcher at the <strong>University of Leeds<\/strong> and co-author of the study, which involved several international academic institutions. \u201cWe now know that they are among the most ancient tropical peatlands on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class='avia-iframe-wrap'>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"2oYLqvRGna\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/articles\/congo-river-forest-carbon\/\">Analysis of a river in Congo reveals carbon dynamics<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Analysis of a river in Congo reveals carbon dynamics&#8221; &#8212; Re Soil Foundation\" src=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/articles\/congo-river-forest-carbon\/embed\/#?secret=j7AR3Wctsq#?secret=2oYLqvRGna\" data-secret=\"2oYLqvRGna\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h5><strong>29 billion tons of carbon stored in Congo\u2019s peatlands<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>\u201cThe central Congo Basin straddles the equator, containing \u223c360 000 km2 of wetland that is shared between the Republic of the Congo (ROC) and the DRC,\u201d says the <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1748-9326\/ade905#erlade905s4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a> published in <em>Environmental Research Letters<\/em>. &#8220;According to estimates, <strong>167,600 km\u00b2<\/strong> of this wetland area are forested with <strong>underlying peat deposits<\/strong> that have an average depth of 170 centimeters.&#8221; This figure is based on previous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41561-022-00966-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a> by the same British university, published in 2022, which revised earlier estimates upward.<\/p>\n<p>That study highlighted that these peatlands account for <strong>36% of the global tropical peatland<\/strong> area while holding <a href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/peatlands-congo-climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">28% of carbon<\/a> stored in such ecosystems\u2014about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-08-03\/congo-peatlands-which-slow-climate-change-bigger-than-thought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">29 billion tons<\/a>. Over the past decade, research has underscored the critical importance of these environments and this region for the <strong>global carbon cycle<\/strong>. The latest findings on the actual age of the peatlands further emphasize this point.<\/p>\n<div class='avia-iframe-wrap'>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"RhlsMhpfTh\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/articles\/ireland-ai-peat-soil\/\">Ireland has mapped its peat soils (through AI and gamma rays)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Ireland has mapped its peat soils (through AI and gamma rays)&#8221; &#8212; Re Soil Foundation\" src=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/articles\/ireland-ai-peat-soil\/embed\/#?secret=zHWED9cL8B#?secret=RhlsMhpfTh\" data-secret=\"RhlsMhpfTh\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h5><strong>Ecosystems are 42,000 years old<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The investigation began with field collection of peat samples, at depths reaching up to 6 meters. The material\u2014obtained through over 50 core samples from across the central Congo Basin\u2014was dated using radiocarbon analysis. This allowed scientists to determine when peat began to form at various sites. To their surprise, they discovered that some of the oldest peatlands originated during a period that, according to researchers, had a significantly drier regional climate than today.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cSome of the new basal dates are <strong>much older than any previous dates<\/strong>, indicating that peat initiated in the central Congo Basin at multiple locations in the Late Pleistocene,\u201d the authors explain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOur oldest basal date is <strong>42 300<\/strong> (41 200\u201343 800) calibrated years before present, making this one of the world\u2019s oldest extant tropical peatlands, and <strong>twice as old<\/strong> as previously believed.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Questions for the present<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The findings have immediate implications for today. \u201cOur previous working hypothesis was that the peat began forming in response to a wetter climate at the start of the Holocene epoch, around 12,000 years ago,\u201d explained <strong>Ifo Suspense<\/strong>, professor of tropical forest ecology at the <strong>University of Marien Ngouabi in Brazzaville<\/strong>, Republic of the Congo. \u201cBut we now know that factors other than climate must have made the soils wet and waterlogged enough for peat to form.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The discovery \u201craises questions about how the peatland landscape, and the large amount of carbon it stores, will respond to <strong>21st\u202fcentury climate change<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class='avia-iframe-wrap'>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ZtwFfh4ofa\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/news\/deforestazione-bacino-congo\/\">La deforestazione nel bacino del Congo cresce a ritmi preoccupanti<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;La deforestazione nel bacino del Congo cresce a ritmi preoccupanti&#8221; &#8212; Re Soil Foundation\" src=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/news\/deforestazione-bacino-congo\/embed\/#?secret=MJgYSMbLTV#?secret=ZtwFfh4ofa\" data-secret=\"ZtwFfh4ofa\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Oil Exploration: the latest threat<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The revised age of the peatlands suggests these ecosystems have shown <strong>remarkable resilience to climate shifts<\/strong> over millennia, preserving vast amounts of carbon for thousands of years. \u201cThe great age of the peatlands drives home how valuable they are,\u201d said <strong>Pauline Gulliver<\/strong>, a researcher at the <strong>University of Glasgow<\/strong>. \u201cThere has been peat here, quietly drawing carbon out of the atmosphere, and safely storing it for at least forty millennia. The peat can\u2019t be replaced on any timescale that\u2019s meaningful to society.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The message is clear: if disturbed by <strong>human activity<\/strong>, these areas could release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This doesn\u2019t even account for the <strong>damage to local communities<\/strong>\u2014who rely on peatlands for essential resources\u2014and the loss of <strong>biodiversity<\/strong>. Until now, these ecosystems have largely escaped threats like deforestation and <a href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/articles\/peatlands-drainage-emissions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drainage<\/a>. But that may be changing. According to the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.takeshape.io\/17e2848c-4275-4761-9bf5-62611d9650ae\/dev\/5cb41ef1-7bc4-433a-a6c4-381b0d667d4b\/Forests%20to%20Frontlines%20DRC%20Report_English.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> by the NGO<strong> Earth Insight<\/strong>, in 2025 the Democratic Republic of the Congo launched an unprecedented <strong>oil exploration<\/strong> campaign, auctioning off 52 new blocks and bringing the total area under concession to 124 million hectares\u201453% of the nation\u2019s entire territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An international study reveals Congo peatlands are much older than expected. The discover provide new insights to the studies on the global carbon cycle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":40280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,134],"tags":[176,200,220,187,165,188],"class_list":["post-40278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-articles","tag-africa-en","tag-biodiversity","tag-carbon","tag-climate","tag-forests","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Re Soil Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/resoilfoundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"532\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matteo Cavallito\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@re_soil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@re_soil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matteo Cavallito\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matteo Cavallito\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe\"},\"headline\":\"Congo peatlands are over 40,000 years old, researchers find\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":752,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/congo-torbiere.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"biodiversity\",\"carbon\",\"climate\",\"forests\",\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/\",\"name\":\"Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/congo-torbiere.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe\"},\"description\":\"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/congo-torbiere.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/congo-torbiere.jpg\",\"width\":799,\"height\":532,\"caption\":\"Nearly 30 billion tons of carbon have been stored for millennia in the Congo peatlands. Photo: Ricky Martin\\\/CIFOR\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/environment\\\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Congo peatlands are over 40,000 years old, researchers find\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Re Soil Foundation\",\"description\":\"Regeneration for a clean and healthy soil.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe\",\"name\":\"Matteo Cavallito\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matteo Cavallito\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/resoilfoundation.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/matteo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed","description":"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed","og_description":"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock","og_url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/","og_site_name":"Re Soil Foundation","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/resoilfoundation\/","article_published_time":"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":799,"height":532,"url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matteo Cavallito","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@re_soil","twitter_site":"@re_soil","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matteo Cavallito","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/"},"author":{"name":"Matteo Cavallito","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe"},"headline":"Congo peatlands are over 40,000 years old, researchers find","datePublished":"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/"},"wordCount":752,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg","keywords":["Africa","biodiversity","carbon","climate","forests","research"],"articleSection":["Environment","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/","url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/","name":"Congo peatlands are twice as old as previously believed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-11T09:00:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe"},"description":"The Congolese peatlands account for over one-third of the world\u2019s tropical peatland area and hold 28% of its total carbon stock","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/congo-torbiere.jpg","width":799,"height":532,"caption":"Nearly 30 billion tons of carbon have been stored for millennia in the Congo peatlands. Photo: Ricky Martin\/CIFOR"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/environment\/congo-tropical-peatlands-40k-years\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Congo peatlands are over 40,000 years old, researchers find"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/","name":"Re Soil Foundation","description":"Regeneration for a clean and healthy soil.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9deaff5320c99714a3a7944e4b7c8fbe","name":"Matteo Cavallito","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7ad3564d1d468ebc05c214ebb7daa3896f03a92bba6c6d1a4125e390739f725?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matteo Cavallito"},"url":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/author\/matteo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40292,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40278\/revisions\/40292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resoilfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}