Freshwater rewilding

3 Peatlands: an essential type of wetland

Peatlands are a type of wetland landscape characterised by waterlogged soils made up of dead and decaying plant material.

• Despite only covering around 3–4% of the planet’s land surface, peatlands contain up to one-third of the world’s soil carbon which is twice the amount of carbon found in the world’s forests.
• In addition to carbon storage, peatlands are unique and vital ecosystems with special flora and fauna that play a critical role in water regulation and biodiversity support.
• Peatlands occur in almost all European countries. More than half of these are degraded and used for agriculture, forestry and peat extraction. The EU alone is the world's second largest emitter of greenhouses gases (GHGs) from drained peatland.

Rewetted peat bogs and the Peene Rive, west of the city of Anklam, Rewilding Europe Oder Delta, Germany. Credit: Florian Möllers / Rewilding Europe.