Germany’s agricultural sector and environmental experts are divided over the European Commission’s proposals to gradually restore farmed peatlands to their natural state, with one saying it will cause arable land losses and the other viewing it as beneficial for food security.

Read the original story in German.

The European Commission recently tabled its proposal for a Nature Restoration Act.

One of the Commission’s proposal aims is to have up to 30% of peatlands used for agricultural purposes restored to their natural state by 2030, of which one-fourth should be rewetted.

Peatlands are one of the few natural climate sinks that can be used to bind CO2.

“Drained peatlands are responsible for 5% of EU greenhouse gas emissions,” Sabien Leemans, senior policy officer at the environmental organisation WWF, told EURACTIV on Thursday (14 July). Restoring the areas “stops these emissions and then gives the peatlands the opportunity to gradually pull CO2 out of the atmosphere and store it,” she added.

But the Commission’s renaturation goals are controversial.

Germany’s agricultural sector, in particular, opposes such proposals as rewetting peatlands that had been drained for agricultural use makes land cultivation barely possible.

The proposals would have “fatal effects on rural areas”, and the measures would “massively burden the security of supply”, the President of the German Farmers’ Association, Joachim Rukwied, warned at a press conference this week.

Member states will mostly take care of the design and implementation of the Commission’s target set in the Nature Restoration Act.

Benefits for food security?

By 2050, the Commission wants to see 70% of the bloc’s moors restored to their natural state – a measure that would result from the loss of around 350,000 hectares of land for agricultural production in Germany, according to Rukwied.

While peatlands cover a large share of the total area in northern European countries, in particular, Germany, with a share of 4.3%, will have a greater task at rewetting peatlands than Italy or Spain, for which peatlands only cover 0.1% of their total area.

In Germany, the farmer’s association considers the Commission’s proposal too drastic, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding the global agricultural markets triggered by the Ukraine war.

“I say it quite clearly: security of supply, food security in Europe would then be history,” said Rukwied.

Leemans, for her part, said it is precisely the restoration of peatlands that contributes to securing a resilient food supply, citing climate change mitigation and flooding prevention due to the absorption effects of peatlands restored to their natural state.

“The urgency is obvious, both for the environment and for the climate,” she added.

Compensation crucial

Last autumn, the German government launched the”Climate Protection through Peatland Soil Conservation”, earmarking €330 million from the Energy and Climate Fund until 2025.

“As the federal government, we will strengthen climate protection by protecting our peat soils,” said Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir on Tuesday (12 July) at a peatland conference.

“At the same time, I see and understand the concerns of those who farm land in peatlands – and whose livelihoods depend on it,” he added.

But for stakeholders to back the renaturation of peatlands, experts believe that the amount and form of financial compensation are crucial.

“Many farmers are willing to manage wet peatlands as long as they receive a fair reward for their climate protection efforts and a long-term perspective for management,” write representatives of the Greifswald Peatland Centre and the German Association for Landscape Management in a recently published letter.

According to the farmers’ association, ideas are also needed on how the areas can continue to be used for economic purposes despite rewetting – for example, through so-called paludiculture such as reeds, which can also be cultivated on wet areas, or by using the areas for photovoltaic systems.

“It is about the fundamental approach: How do we bring the preservation of these cultivated landscapes and their economic use (…) together with the goals of emission reduction and biodiversity?” concluded Rukwied.

[Edited by Oliver Noyan/Alice Taylor]

Source: Euractiv.com