Building the European Peatlands Initiative: A Strong Alliance for Peatland Climate Protection in Europe
The project aims to enhance climate mitigation and reduction of GHG emissions through an improved pan-European collaboration for the conservation and restoration of peatlands, sustainable agricultural use of peatlands and regeneration of healthy soils. It supports the pressing of European climate protection efforts through socio-economically and ecologically sustainable conservation and restoration of peatlands. It will build up a strong and sustainable European network of national governments and stakeholders exchanging knowledge on national peatland policies and strategies.
Via international workshops and high-level networking events, the objective is to create a European Peatlands Initiative in close cooperation with the Global Peatlands Initiative from the United Nations Environment Programme. This project will foster decision-makers to base national strategies and policies on up-to-date peatlands data and best practice management and will improve pan-European cooperation between scientists, conservationists, private landowners and farmers networks.
Through knowledge exchange and publications of maps, institutional capacity in peatland-rich countries will be developed, with a special focus on Central and Eastern European countries. Guidance on emission reduction pathways will be provided for national peatland strategies. Farmers, private landowners and site practitioners who want to contribute to sustainable drainage-free peatlands will be supported through sectoral workshops and tutorial videos.
The project aims to contribute to the implementation of LULUCF, CAP and Nature Restoration Law targets.
Background
Peatlands are indispensable ecosystems in the fight against climate warming. Healthy peatlands can be the most space-efficient long-term carbon store and sink in our planet’s terrestrial biosphere — twice as much as in all the world’s forests. Improved collaboration on a European (and worldwide) scale is crucial to conserving and restoring peatlands.
Despite their importance, about 15 % of the world’s peatlands have been drained for agricultural use, extracted for horticultural use, or burned and mined for fuel. Europe is among the continents with the largest peatland losses. In Europe, the overall area of peatland is ~10 % of the total surface area. The total proportion of degraded peatlands in Europe is 25 %. Drained peatlands emit substantial amounts of greenhouse gases — in the EU, ~220 Mt CO2eq per year (~5% of total EU emissions), mainly from conventional agriculture on drained peat soils. The need to reconsider peat extraction and start restoring peatlands becomes undeniable.
Goals & Objectives
The project contributes to several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing GHG emissions, maintaining ecosystem services and securing lives/livelihoods through improved adaptive capacity.
National governments and project partners work together to:
- know where peatlands are and how they are changing;
- identify uses and drainage-free livelihoods that help to protect peatlands and move toward their sustainable management;
- develop and implement policies and institutional frameworks that take account of the uniqueness of peatlands and the need for action to avoid threats, keeping them wet and stopping their drainage; and
- to identify financial solutions to develop ways that both private and public sectors can invest in healthy peatlands now and in the future.
Activities
- Building a European Network
- Mapping and data analysis (using the best available peatland distribution data and new maps tailored to national strategies)
- Supporting national peatland strategies
- Dissemination of knowledge and awareness raising
Types of services
- Policymaking
- Advocacy
- Awareness raising
- Knowledge sharing
- Data collection