Building a European Peatlands Alliance

Peatlands are indispensable ecosystems in the fight against global warming. Healthy peatlands can be the most space-efficient long-term carbon store in our planet’s terrestrial biosphere with an ability to store twice as much carbon as all forests worldwide. However, peatlands in Europe are massively degrading, which is why the continent counts as one with the largest peatland losses. It is imperative to work collaboratively – on a European (EU) level and together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – to help them recover. This can only be achieved by incorporating an already formulated approach on EU level, that targets not only drained agriculturally used peatlands but also peatland areas used predominantly for forestry or peat extraction.

Joint field work for the conservation of peatlands (c)Hans von Sonntag

The project brought together representatives of national governments, scientists, environmentalists, private landowners, and farmers to exchange knowledge in workshops and networking events. It built up a network that spanned across Europe: the European Peatlands Initiative, which worked closely with the Global Peatlands Initiative by UNEP. On the one hand, the project assisted decision-makers with detailed up-to-date data as well as best practice approaches. On the other hand, it supported farmers and private landowners through customised workshops and tutorial videos in their own languages. As a result, peatland-rich countries – especially in Central and Eastern Europe – developed increased institutional capacities to tackle peatland loss, and on-site practitioners and land-users received the education to foster sustainable, drainage-free, and rewetted peatlands. Hence, each party played a concrete role, depending on their interests and responsibilities, in helping peatlands recover and become sustainably managed.

• Launch of the EPI Community Platform - The online European Peatlands Initiative Community platform is designed to bring together different stakeholders working on peatlands, such as peatland practitioners, researchers, policymakers, financiers, and innovators from across Europe. It serves as a space for exchanging knowledge, sharing best practices, and fostering collaboration to accelerate peatland restoration, sustainable use, and protection efforts. Take a look at the flyer and the Terms of Use.
  
• Establishment of the European Peatlands Initiative Preparatory Group — an institutional breakthrough – On 27 October 2025, the project established the Preparatory Group for the European Peatlands Initiative. Its members are national governments (Germany, Poland, Greatr Britain), UNEP-GPI and DG CLIMA. The group has concrete work plans for 2026 (six meetings, development of a governance structure, key areas of focus). This structure did not exist prior to the project; it was established through three years of intensive relationship-building involving over 16 network meetings at government level. 
• Updated European peatland map — data gaps in Central and Eastern Europe closed – For the first time since 2017, a comprehensive, updated European peatland map is available (36 country datasets, 2025). For Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, point data has been replaced by area data (polygons) — a qualitative leap forward for area estimation and policy planning. This has been supplemented by the first European map of agricultural peatland use and associated GHG emissions, which highlights drainage hotspots and serves as a basis for planning alternatives to peatland agriculture. This map was updated during the last reporting period as part of the creation of the ‘European Wetland Map’ – a collaboration between the EU projects ALFAwetlands and WET HORIZONS, as well as this EUKI project. 
• Peatland protection embedded in national climate agendas – By directly submitting five country-specific overviews to national authorities (Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany) and through active participation in the Hungarian climate legislative process (September 2025), the project has provided concrete support for ongoing political processes. The policy brief ‘New Developments in European Peatland Strategies’ was submitted directly to MEPs, DG CLIMA and national ministries, and has demonstrably been incorporated into the preparation of national restoration plans (due in September 2026 under the EU Nature Restoration Law). 
• Knowledge transfer on paludiculture — practice-oriented and scalable - Three sector-specific handbooks (agriculture, nature conservation, forestry) and 12 videos from the #PeatlandsMatter campaign have distilled paludiculture knowledge for landowners, foresters and farmers and made it accessible in several languages. Particularly effective: the on-farm collaboration between German farmers and Green Restoration Ireland, facilitated by the project, as well as the dissemination of the video on paludiculture practices.

Videos

In this video series, the project describes, from various perspectives, how the protection of European peatlands supports climate action.