New European Peatland Map

now available online

23/09/2025 

The European Peatland Map (EPM2025) is now available for free download on our website. It is a product of the Global Peatland Database (GPD), which is hosted at the Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC). It contributes to a consistent and regularly updated knowledge base on peatlands worldwide.

The dataset provides the most up-to-date overview of European peatlands. The EPM2025 integrates current national, regional and local datasets on peatlands and organic soils to represent peatland areas as comprehensively as possible, including degraded and drained peatlands, i.e. those used for agriculture. By providing the data in vector format, the map offers high spatial resolution, making it an indispensable resource for research, policy and nature conservation.

The EPM2025 is based on the peatland layer of the European Wetland Map (2024) but is directly accessible without the need for extraction from the more comprehensive wetland layer. It updates the ‘Peatland Map of Europe’ (Tanneberger et al. 2017), with all national datasets having been reviewed and replaced by more comprehensive or better quality GIS data According to the geodata, the total area of peatland in the countries covered is 38.4 million hectares (384,220 km²).

The EPM2025 was created as part of two EU-funded Horizon projects (ALFAwetlands and WET HORIZONS) and the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) and represents the best available knowledge at European level. More importantly, it is designed as a shared and evolving knowledge base and represents a warm invitation to the scientific and conservation community to further verify, refine, and continuously improve the data at national and regional scales across Europe.

Agriculture on Europe's peatlands?

New map shows where

1/09/2025  Across Europe many wetlands are drained for agriculture, releasing vast amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Identifying where these drainage “hot spots” occur—whether for arable crops or grassland—is critical to promoting wet alternatives such as paludiculture.
As part of the project Building the European Peatlands Initiative: A Strong Alliance for Peatland Climate Protection in Europe, researchers have combined the latest European Wetland Map with land cover data to produce a new map showing the agricultural use of peatlands in the European Union and several neighboring countries (Verlinkung von GMC). This map offers valuable insights for policymakers, conservationists, and the interested public seeking sustainable solutions. The map is based on data from the Global Peatland Database (GPD), which collates and integrates data on location, extent and drainage status of peatlands and organic soils worldwide and for 268 individual countries and regions.
The project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Project partners include Eurosite, CEEweb and the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO).

Capturing the value of wetlands – digitally

The Paludiculture Interview

25/08/2025  What is the value of peatlands? How can the ecosystem values of rewetted areas in particular be captured and quantified? With the Moormonitor, product designer and peatland enthusiast Milan Bergheim and his colleagues in the Valpeats project are developing an economical and practical monitoring system for this purpose. The aim is to enable peatland areas to be rewetted more quickly and over a larger area and used for paludiculture. Read the full interview here.

RRR2025 - Programme & Highlights

Check it out now!

24/07/2025  From hands-on workshops to eye-opening excursions, the 4th International Conference on Renewable Resources from Wet and Rewetted Peatlands (RRR2025) promises a rich and diverse experience. Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from around the world will come together to discover paludiculture from all perspectives: in 2 key notes, 82 oral and 66 poster presentations.

Programme highlights include:

• Workshops – In-depth sessions for collaboration, training, and knowledge exchange
• Excursions – Visits to innovative peatland sites with Eddy towers, solar panels, and more
• Paludiculture Exhibition – Latest products made from wetland biomass
• Paludishow and conference dinner – A joyful and interactive evening of learning and entertainment great for networking
• Creative side events – Including a zombie fire documentary and immersive peatland soundscapes

Register by 15 August 2025 to secure your place in this unique international gathering.
Details and registration: rrr2025.com
Questions? Contact us at: info@rrr2025.com

Please feel free to share this information with colleagues or partners who might be interested.

Paludi Product Catalogue

Be part of it!

11/07/2025  The catalogue aims to provide an overview of products, prototypes, and services related to the use of wet or rewetted peatlands. The focus is on highlighting the diversity and innovative strength of the companies involved. The Paludi Product Catalogue is a joint initiative by the partners of the PaludiNetz network but is also open to contributions from outside the network.
To reach the widest possible international audience, the catalogue will be published in both German and English. It will be distributed free of charge in printed form and may also be made available online (depending on the platform). Participation is voluntary and free of charge. The participating companies are responsible for the content they submit. The first edition of the catalogue at the RRR Conference in Greifswald this September.
A prerequisite for inclusion is that submissions are clearly related to the utilisation of wet or rewetted peatlands. The catalogue does not cover management practices or biomass processing technologies. For this area, the project PaludiZentrale is planning a separate platform coming up soon: PaludiScout.de.
If you would like to place a product in the catalogue, you may find the submission form in German or in English or contact the catalogue’s team via email to produktkatalog@greifswaldmoor.de. The team can also help with translations.

New: Guidelines for Peatland Protection

This is how it's done in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein!

03/07/2025  To ensure that rewetting and restoration efforts don’t get bogged down in lengthy planning, approval, or implementation phases, two brand-new guidelines have just been published for Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein—with contributions from the Greifswald Mire Centre.

Published by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the Guidance for Planning, Financing and Approval provides an overview of the key steps involved in the planning, funding, and approval of peatland protection projects and associated measures. With over 545,000 hectares of carbon-rich peat soils, Lower Saxony has the highest peatland area of any German federal state. However, the majority has been drained for agriculture, forestry, or peat extraction. Clearly, there’s a lot to be done. Particularly helpful are the included tips on how to accelerate and simplify projects, along with an overview of funding programs and key contacts in the region.

If land is available, data on the site exists, nature conservation requirements must be considered, or questions arise - such as potential pollution from World War II - these and more are addressed by the equivalent guideline for Germany’s northernmost state: the Guidance for Planning and Approval of Peatland Protection Projects in Schleswig-Holstein, published in the series of the Greifswald Mire Centre. Covering 129,800 hectares, Schleswig-Holstein's peatlands have mostly been drained - causing negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, and the water cycle.

Both publications are aimed at public authorities, municipalities, foundations, associations, agricultural enterprises, and private individuals.

The guidance for Lower Saxony was developed in a collaboration between the MoorNet and MoKKa projects by the Michael Succow Foundation and DUENE e.V. (both partners of the Greifswald Mire Centre), the Ecologic Institute, and the Lower Saxony State Agency for Water Management, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN). The Schleswig-Holstein guideline was created as part of the MoKKa project by GMC partners Succow Foundation and the University of Greifswald, in cooperation with the Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature of Schleswig-Holstein (MEKUN).

Sensational little discovery

Hartman's sedge is back!

25/06/2025  Students of the unique master’s program “Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation” at the University of Greifswald made remarkable botanical discoveries during a field internship focused on peatland research. They rediscovered Hartman’s Sedge (Carex hartmaniorum), which had been considered extinct in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 1968, in the Ladebow Moor — the last known location of this species in the region.

The find was unexpected: while conducting a vegetation survey on a meadow, the students closely examined a 4 m² plot. This thorough analysis led to the discovery of Hartman’s Sedge, which likely would have been overlooked during a more superficial inspection of the area. To verify their findings, the students consulted several botanical experts, who confirmed the identification.

Hartman’s Sedge is a perennial plant that reaches heights of 30 to 70 cm and has slender, gray to dark green leaves. Its flowering period spans from May to June, with male and female flowers differing in appearance. The species is typically found in habitats with alternating wet and waterlogged conditions and forms loose turfs in nutrient-poor wet meadows and fens. Unfortunately, many of its natural habitats are severely threatened by drainage and intensive land use, making the protection of these ecosystems critically important.

A key factor in preserving Hartman’s Sedge is the management of nutrient-poor, seasonally wet meadows through low-intensity use. Ideally, this includes late mowing and the removal of cut material to prevent nutrient buildup. Revitalizing fallow meadows can also benefit the species by reducing competition from shrubs and other aggressive plant species.

The rediscovered site in Ladebow Moor has been professionally managed for several years using a single annual mowing regime, demonstrating that appropriate water management and land use practices are vital for the conservation of rare plant species. By integrating agricultural use with peatland and nature conservation, valuable plant communities can be preserved and even restored.

The rediscovery of Hartman’s Sedge highlights the importance of research and sustainable land management in conservation practice and offers hope for future success in the rediscovery and preservation of endangered plant species.

RRR2025 register now

Preliminary programme online

03/06/2025  For the 4th conference on Renewable Resources from Wet and Rewetted Peatlands – RRR2025 from 23rd – 26th September 2025 at Greifswald, Germany, the preliminary programme is online. You can look forward to an exciting week with 2 key notes, 82 oral presentations, 66 poster, 14 workshops, 6 excursions and inspiring and surprising evening events. During the conference many workshops are offered for more room for exchange, discussion, collaboration or even training. Please register now via our registation platform, which is open until 15th August 2025! Please note that the number of participants for the conference and the workshop is limited. Stay tuned for the latest conference news on the RRR2025-website.

Peatland & Futurium

Living plant installation "Superland"

22/05/2025  Just a few steps out of Berlin Central Station along the banks of the Spree and you can already see it: a living plant installation in front of the Futurium. Also integrated: Cattail and peat moss! They are intended to show that peatlands are important when it comes to land use.  A joint event organised by Futurium, the Joachim Herz Foundation and the Greifwald Mire Centre on 9 October 2025 will focus on how we currently use peatlands, what problems this causes, what opportunities they offer us for the future and what conflicts there are over land use on peatland. At the Futurium's Family Day, already on 4 October 2025, we will present interesting and entertaining facts about peatlands and climate protection interactively for adults and children to participate in.

Detailed information will follow soon on the Futurium and Greifswald Mire Centre channels. Until then, just drop by if you get the chance, perhaps during a stopover at the main railway station.

See peatlands and estimate greenhouse gas emissions

New GEST course

04/04/2025  Looking at peatlands and ... estimating greenhouse gases? Being able to do this is not a bad thing and is increasingly in demand. Recording greenhouse gases is a decisive step towards reducing them and thus combating the climate crisis. The Greifswald Mire Center not only has the right method, but also the training - the GEST course from July 2-4 in Greifswald!
GEST stands for Greenhouse gas Emission Site Type. The idea is to determine the greenhouse gases produced by water levels, land use and vegetation.

Participants will learn:

• to record water levels in the field
• to create a greenhouse gas balance sheet and determine the potential savings

The practical application takes place in two mapping exercises:

• in a degraded grassland in the Ryck lowlands and
• on the unused wet site

In addition, the following questions, among others, will be discussed:

• How can the GEST approach be classified in the climate policy framework and what other areas of application are there?
• How trustworthy are carbon certificates and what criteria are needed for them?

The course is aimed at anyone who would like to be involved in the planning or implementation of peatland and climate protection projects. There is currently a waiting list and the course fee is 370 Euro (reduced rate 220 Euro). Knowledge of botanical species is a prerequisite, previous knowledge of peatland and climate protection projects is desirable.

Register now to actively contribute to peatland and climate protection with the GEST approach!

Mire for Minister

Current research presented

01/04/2025  We were able to present the current status of research and databases to Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (BMUV) during her visit at the Greifswald Mire Center.
Mire research plays an important role in the research strategy of the University of Greifswald, explained Vice-Rector Peter Michalik in his opening speech. The minister was interested in the measurements of plant biomass and greenhouse gases in the mesocosm facility, the reed collection and the oldest book in the bog library explained by Franziska Tanneberger, Gerald Jurasinski, Sebastian van der Linden and Hans Joosten, but she was also particularly impressed by our peat mosses, which Greta Gaudig showed her.
Paludiculture, biodiversity and peat formation were among the other topics part of the exchange - as well as the outlook for future research, as it will take place in the Collaborative Research Center of the German Research Foundation (DFG) WETSCAPES 2.0. Therefore, the GMC representatives were very pleased that the Minister was accompanied by Nathalie Niederdrenk and Ulf Hauke from the Department of Soil and Mire Protection.

Books n‘ Bogs

Long open Night of Libraries on April 4th at the Peatland Library
21/03/2025 Peatland pope Prof. Hans Joosten invites all interested - no, not to the peatland - but to a library where inspiration drips from the walls and thousands of books in all genres and languages are available on one topic only - peatlands. In its new home, the former lecture hall of the “Alte Chemie” in the courtyard of Greifswald's Soldmannstraße 16, the renovation work has been completed. Boxes and boxes of books are currently moving into the listed building and filling the shelves of the barrier-free, high-ceilinged room with two galleries. With a collection of 50,000 publications, the special collection on moors is an important part of the Greifswald Moor Centrum and is of international significance. Statics, financing, contaminated sites - there were and still are many challenges to overcome on the way from the vision of a library to its realization.

On April 4th, the Long Night of Libraries, Hans Joosten will give a guided tour of the 1905 wing of the building in German from 9 p.m. and talk about its history, the extensive decontamination and the new boggy contents.

Afterwards, there will be English samples from “Books n' Bogs”, a project by the collective re-peat earth. International, young and creative, its members are committed to restoring and conserving peatlands and raising public awareness of their importance. For the book project, they documented the relationship between people and bogs around the Irish town of Abbeyleix. They are also driving forward the “Mapping Peatland Justice” project in the Greifswald Peatland Library and are using the occassion to discuss it with visitors. In English and (almost) open end.
Free of charge, but with registration at: bibliothek@greifswaldmoor.de

MoorPower

Solar on peatland feasible?

17/03/2025 Competition for land in Germany is fierce, but is it possible to combine uses such as photovoltaics and the rewetting of peatland? The newly launched MoorPower project is taking a close look at the general feasibility of solar pan elson peatland with simultaneous rewetting. It is also investigating whether this concept makes rewetting more attractive for farmers.
Since the beginning of 2023, the German government has been promoting the construction of solar systems on peatland that was previously drained for agriculture if it is permanently rewetted. The concept is new. So far, there is only one PV system on rewetted peatland known in Germany and none abroad. TThus, there is considerable need for testing and research in order to be able to assess possibilities and effects.

“It is important to develop only drained and heavily degraded peatlands, i.e. peatlands currently used for agriculture, for the dual use of carbon storage in peat and the production of renewable energy via photovoltaics. It must be prevented that peatlands are used for the installation of photovoltaic systems without being rewetted, because then the greenhouse gas emissions from the peatlands would continue,” said Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kreyling from the University of Greifswald. “Peatlands and peat soils of nature conservation value within legally protected areas are excluded.”

And this is what the research looks like in practice: On an experimental site in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the scientists are building system designs on a total of six hectares of fen that is still used for agriculture, with different mounting heights, solar module types and foundations. They then combine each PV system variant with three different water levels and examine their ecological impact. The project team is testing different materials, coatings and methods for the foundations of the special PV systems on a material test area in Baden-Württemberg. As shade from the solar modules can have an impact on the growth of typical peatland plants, they are also investigating this in pot experiments. The scientists at the Thünen-Institute are analyzing the impact of peatland PV on the greenhouse gas balance on a practical scale on around 200 hectares of rewetted peatland with photovoltaics in Lower Saxony.

Research for MoorPower is jointly conducted by the Universities of Greifswald and Hohenheim  Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.

For World Wetlands Day:

New European Wetland Map!

02/02/2025 Just in time for World Wetlands Day a new European Wetland Map shows Europe's peatlands, floodplains and coastal wetlands more comprehensively than ever before in one map. Compiled from about 200 data sources, this map informs policy makers, land users and anyone interested in wetlands not only about their distribution and types, but also, for example, about potential areas at risk of flooding. Users can freely download the European Wetland Map, published in a collaboration with the projects ALFAwetlands, WET HORIZONS and Building a European Peatlands Alliance, for their own analyses. A vector dataset on the geographical distribution of the wetlands considered is available on a country basis in an ArcGIS geodatabase as well as a country-specific high resolution Geo-TIFF collection (grid size: 1 arcsecond).

Background: The World Wetlands Day (WWD)
This day has been drawing attention to the importance of wetlands, including peatlands, on February 2nd every year since 1997. The Ramsar Convention, the international agreement for the protection of wetlands, was adopted on February 2nd in 1971. Since 2021 the WWD has been recognized as an international day by the United Nations. Therefore, their restoration and protection is important. Due to pollution, drainage and agriculture, fires and overfishing, wetlands, which include peatlands, are under threat worldwide or have already been destroyed. Yet they are guarantors of biodiversity and climate protection. Among other things, wetlands offer people protection from drought and flooding, purify water and regulate the microclimate. In Germany, 95% of former wetlands have been drained and are no longer recognizable as such today.

Paludi-green Week

Tips for visitors

16/01/2025 Paludiculture is a topic at the International Green Week from January 17th to 26th in Berlin. Where and when? - We have compiled some tips here: Paludi products and cores from peatlands, peat and peat substitutes are presented all week at the exhibition stand of Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR) in Hall 27 (Stand 215). Explanations and information is given by staff of the PaludiZentrale project and the PaludiNetz, in which ten paludiculture projects have joined forces. Scientists and practitionerrs from Greifswald Mire Center, FNR and Thünen Institute will be on hand at the booth and ready to answer questions on paludiculture.
At the opening day, January 17th, there will be a panel talk on the topic of peatland protection through peatland use from 13:30-14:00 at the booth of Kaufland in Hall 3.2 (Stand 211). Information will be provided by the PaludiAllianz project of Michael Otto Environmental Foundation, University of Greifswald and Succow Foundation.
One day later, on January 18th, the new MOOReturn paludiculture project will officially receive its funding decision from Claudia Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, on the stage in Hall 23a. Visitors will learn how the project, which involves the University of Greifswald and the Succow Foundation, both partners in the Greifswald Mire Centre, aims to promote paludiculture in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
On January 22nd at 11:30 a.m., the WetNetBB project will host a panel discussion on the topic of “Peatlands with a future”, also on stage in Hall 23a, with a focus on paludiculture in the federal state of Brandenburg.

Background: The International Green Week is the world's largest trade fair for food, agriculture and horticulture, which takes place annually in Berlin. It offers a platform for experts from agriculture, the food industry and the environmental economy to exchange information on innovations, sustainable solutions and trends. Visitors can find out about the latest developments in the fields of food, agriculture and environmental technology and gain exciting insights into the future of the industry.

Become a peatland specialist!

New qualification program

06/01/2025 For a new five-year qualification and practical program to become a peatland specialist, 10 Bachelor's and Master's graduates are being looked for. With a curriculum and a certificate from the University of Greifswald and the Landeslehrstätte für Naturschutz, the programme aims to counteract the current shortage of specialists for peatland revitalization and help meet the increasing demand for specialists.
Over the 5-year term, it offers:

- Paid positions (E13/E9A/B)
- Training and work placements at the LUNG with a focus on rewetting projects
- Insight into the practical implementation of nature conservation projects and climate protection measures
- Prospects for the future in an innovative and interdisciplinary field

The program starts in April 2025, applications are still possible until January 13. Further information and application for graduates with a Bachelor's degree and graduates with a Master's degree.