Extent and degradation of peatlands on the Ruoergai Plateau (Tibet, China) assessed by remote sensing
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Summary:
Remote sensing reveals that peatlands of the Ruoergai Plateau (Tibet, China) cover an area of 473,348 ha, i.e. 17.2 % of the Plateau. 109,612 ha (23 % of the peatland area) is still in good condition, the remainder (77 %) is in various stages of degradation. Comparison with older satellite images indicates that degraded peatlands were widespread before 1977, but that the area of degraded peatland has almost doubled in the last 30 years. 28,543 ha appear in better condition in 2007 than in 1977. This may be ascribed to classification fuzziness, but to some extent also to recent restoration measures.
