Although peatlands contain more carbon worldwide than all forest biomass combined, their importance has long been overlooked. Drained primarily for agriculture and forestry, peatlands emit over two gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. This means that 0.3% of the Earth's land area is responsible for a disproportionate 5% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Possibly even more important globally is peatland subsidence: while sea levels are rising due to global warming, peatlands are literally bogged down through drainage-based land use, losing between a few millimetres to several centimetres of height per year, depending on climate and land use. Globally, we may lose 10–20 million hectares of productive land to uncontrolled flooding in the coming decades as a result. To meet the Paris climate targets, all still-natural peatlands must remain wet, those that have been drained must be rewetted and agricultural use should only take place under wet conditions.

The highest priority and the greatest challenges in rewetting lie with the agriculturally used peatlands. Until now, these have mostly been taken out of production after rewetting. However, we will no longer be able to afford this comprehensively. The development and implementation of wet production methods ("paludiculture") is urgently needed. They can avoid the environmental damage of conventional peatland use and at the same time allow peatlands to be used productively.

The advantages of wet use of peatlands are so great in economic terms that one may ask why such "paludiculture" is not implemented quickly and across the board. However, paludiculture is contrary to the historical heritage of 10,000 years of "dry" agriculture. It usually involves a redesign of the entire production chain: from training, crop selection, technology, infrastructure and logistics, products, promotion, research to integrative value chain concepts. Payments for ecosystem services – especially carbon credits – can serve as a transitional strategy for the full implementation of paludiculture.

Peatlands must be wet: For the peatland, for the land, for the climate, forever!

Peatlands must be wet: For the peatland, for the land, for the climate, forever!

Photo: Tobias Dahms

Prof. Hans Joostens is an internationally renowned peatland scientist, conservationist and educator. Throughout his career, he has made extraordinary efforts to raise awareness for the role of peatlands in the Earth system. He has acted as general Secretary (since 2000) of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) and has been co-founder and Coordinating Committee member (since 2015) of the Greifswald Mire Centre. In 2021, he was awarded the prestigious German Environmental Award established by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU).

The Bert Bolin Climate Lecture can be seen in this video

The Bert Bolin Lecture on Climate Research is given annually in May to commemorate professor Bert Bolin and his pioneering work for climate research at Stockholm University and internationally. The speaker is selected among prominent scientists within climate research by the Faculty of Science.