Vital peatlands neglected in climate fight-study

* Peatlands account for about 5.5 pct global CO2 emissions

* More than fossil fuels in some countries, but not reported

* Indonesia biggest peatland carbon emitter

By Gerard Wynn

BARCELONA, Spain, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Draining and burning of the world's peat bogs accounts for about 5.5 percent of global carbon emissions but are currently excluded from governments' climate targets and U.N. talks, a study found on Wednesday.

Peat stores around twice as much carbon as all the world's trees, but compared with the well-publicised issues of fossil fuels and forests, the sector was the "Cinderella" of climate change policies, said Hans Joosten at Germany's Greifswald University, co-author of the report.

"We call for mandatory accounting of emissions from peatlands," said Susanna Tol of the environment group Wetlands International, presenting the findings on the sidelines of Nov. 2-6 U.N. climate talks in Barcelona. Reporting was only voluntary now, she said.

"So far these emissions have not been addressed" in U.N. talks meant to agree a global climate deal in Copenhagen in December, Tol added. The 175-nation meeting in Barcelona is the final session of preparatory talks before Copenhagen.