Angola’s peatlands highly underestimated, new study suggests

A study in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society finds far more peatland in Angola's Highlands Water Tower than previously known, estimating 8,662 to 11,167 square kilometers depending on certainty level, across a region that feeds freshwater systems throughout southern Africa including the Okavango Delta. Researchers combined satellite imagery with five field expeditions to 51 sites, work complicated by landmines left from the Angolan civil war and made possible partly through mine-clearing group the Halo Trust. Angola designated 53,000 square kilometers of the area as its first Wetland of International Importance in October 2025.

Scientists found the peat stores carbon dating back 11,000 years, threatened by farming practices like ditching and draining, and by unregulated fire clearing. Researchers are now working with the Angolan government and local communities on conservation strategies, though they note the newly mapped area likely represents only a fraction of the country's total peatland, since major floodplain systems remain unexamined.

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