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Climate, water, biodiversity in peatlands and floodplains

Statement of the Leopoldina

27/06/2024 Climate, water, biodiversity - how this is connected in peatlands and floodplains, what condition it is in and how it can be improved - is now summarized in Climate - Water Balance - Biodiversity: For an integrative use of moors and floodplains, the statement published today by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. "Nowhere in Central Europe is biodiversity as high as in these wetlands," says Leopoldina member Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner, Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. Near-natural peatlands and floodplains are also essential for preventing flood disasters and reducing CO₂ emissions. The statement with supplementary digital dossier emphasizes the need to rewet peatlands and restore floodplains. Both are already enshrined as climate and biodiversity goals, for the EU for example in the Nature Restoration Law recently adopted by the EU Environment Council and worldwide in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The latter provides for the protection and restoration of at least 30% of the world's land, freshwater and marine areas by 2030. The statement now presents options for action to achieve national and international commitments in climate, water and biodiversity protection and still be able to use these areas economically. This includes protecting intact peatlands, switching to paludiculture, rewarding ecosystem services and including the measures in CO₂ emissions trading. Twelve scientists from the fields of ecology, biology, hydrology, sociology, agricultural engineering, environmental economics and law were involved - including Dr. Franziska Tanneberger and Prof. Jürgen Kreyling, two scientists from the Greifswald Mire Centre.