How to Conserve and Fund Peatlands in Dinaric Karst Mires in the long term
The EUKI project ‘Dinaric Karst Peatlands for Climate Resilience’ held its closing conference on 31 August in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Representatives from public institutions and non-governmental organisations were invited. The three-year project aimed to protect and restore peatlands as a valuable natural asset, whilst also raising local awareness of their importance – including for biodiversity, the water cycle and climate action.
Peatlands are important natural carbon sinks. Their protection and restoration therefore make a key contribution to climate action. In addition to knowledge transfer, the project team focused on the impacts of hydropower plants on peatlands and other ecosystems. It emphasised the necessity to improve the legal and regulatory framework conditions in order to make climate action more effective.
Another focus of the conference was the economic potential of natural ecosystems and the funding channels for their conservation and restoration. In five panel discussions, participants discussed the development of the carbon market as well as models and mechanisms for assessment and use of natural values. The European regulatory framework and the opportunities offered by nature-based solutions for long-term financing arrangements for ecosystem protection and restoration were also central topics.
The conference concluded with a call to continue cooperation between institutions, experts, civil society and other stakeholders in the protection and restoration of the Dinaric Karst Peatlands. Emphasis was also placed on the further development of legal, financial and institutional framework conditions that recognise and save the natural and climatic value of these ecosystems in the long term.
