To store or to drain — To lose or to gain? Rewetting drained peatlands as a measure for increasing water storage in the transboundary Neman River Basin

Stachowicz, Marta; Manton, Michael; Abramchuk, Marina; Banaszuk, Piotr; Jarašius, Leonas; Kamocki, Andrzej; Povilaitis, Arvydas; Samerkhanova, Amalj; Schäfer, Achim; Sendžikaitė, Jūratė; Wichtmann, Wendelin; Zableckis, Nerijus; Grygoruk, Mateusz

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154560

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The lack of thunderstorms is the main cause of droughts, but when they do occur, they help not only to irrigate but also to sustain the cloud and storm formation process itself by circulating water locally between the atmosphere and the ground (Figure 10). The restoration of drained peatlands for water storage is of increasing importance worldwide, not only for hydrological reasons but also for nature conservation, tourism and agriculture [70][71][72][73][74]. Because of their significant water capacity, peat soils are highly suitable for groundwater storage, a function that has been fulfilled for thousands of years by the marshes associated with lowland rivers.…”

Section: Discussion: a Corrective Option And A Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve this, a total area of around 5000 to 7000 km 2 (about one-fifth of the total area covered by the scheme) will need to be restored to marsh vegetation or at least be converted to farming practices that restore and maintain soil water-holding capacity and ensure continuous summer evaporation. However, due to the ownership of the site, it is not envisaged that this area be contiguous but that it be restored to near-natural conditions The restoration of drained peatlands for water storage is of increasing importance worldwide, not only for hydrological reasons but also for nature conservation, tourism and agriculture [70][71][72][73][74]. Because of their significant water capacity, peat soils are highly suitable for groundwater storage, a function that has been fulfilled for thousands of years by the marshes associated with lowland rivers.…”

Section: Discussion: a Corrective Option And A Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Step from Vulnerability to Resilience: Restoring the Landscape Water-Storage Capacity of the Great Hungarian Plain—An Assessment and a Proposal

Timár,

Jakab,

Székely

2024

Land

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The extreme drought in Europe in 2022 also hit hard the Great Hungarian Plain. In this short overview article, we summarize the natural environmental conditions of the region and the impact of river control works on the water-retention capacity of the landscape. In this respect, we also review the impact of intensive agricultural cultivation on soil structure and on soil moisture in light of the meteorological elements of the 2022 drought. The most important change is that the soil stores much less moisture than in the natural state; therefore, under the meteorological conditions of summer 2022, the evapotranspiration capacity was reduced. As a result, the low humidity in the air layers above the ground is not sufficient to trigger summer showers and thunderstorms associated with weather fronts and local heat convection anymore. Our proposed solution is to restore about one-fifth of the area to the original land types and usage before large-field agriculture. Low-lying areas should be transformed into a mosaic-like landscape with good water supply and evapotranspiration capacity to humidify the lower air layers. Furthermore, the unfavorable soil structure that has resulted from intensive agriculture should also be converted into more permeable soil to enhance infiltration.

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Section: Discussion: a Corrective Option And A Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion: a Corrective Option And A Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Step from Vulnerability to Resilience: Restoring the Landscape Water-Storage Capacity of the Great Hungarian Plain—An Assessment and a Proposal

Timár,

Jakab,

Székely

2024

Land

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“…The high costs of seed materials could explain that. It has been estimated that lower initial costs are for the planting of pine (1042 EUR/ha −1 ) and spruce-1090 EUR/ha −1 [36,57]. It is calculated that high market revenues in drained peatlands are from plantations of poplar (7557 EUR/ha)-in 20 years, and in 40 years-hybrid aspen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of the Economic and Environmental Sustainability for Different Peatland Strategies

Balode,

Blumberga

2024

Land

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Previous studies of the literature show that there are great uncertainties regarding costs and gains for peatland restoration strategies and that the monetary estimation of peatland restoration and possible alternatives can be complicated. The research aims to compare the economic costs and benefits of existing peatland restoration strategies and alternative use of peat and peatlands. A core method for the evaluation of the economic aspects of each strategy used is the composite index method. Information for constructing the composite index is based on data from the scientific literature, reports, and local project studies. In the study, peatland strategies, peat extraction, and alternative use in products were mutually compared with existing strategies. The highest composite index among strategies was for the production of insulation boards and cultivation of paludicultures using cattail or sphagnum farming. Cultivation of paludicultures can be an economically viable strategy if costs and gains are evaluated. Cultivation of cattail or sphagnum can make economic gains for landowners and farmers, and solutions for the reduction in necessary initial investments should be sought. Harvested biomass can be used for high-added-value products, in this case, insulation boards from cattail (Typha). Therefore, peat biomass can be used as an economically valuable resource, and raw material for insulation board production is obtained without the extraction of peat. Also, ecosystem services and potential income are not reduced.

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“…(5) Support spatial planning and monitoring; combine multiple data sources to describe and measure natural forest and cultural woodland values. Note that forests that are less valuable from a wood production point of view due to low timber volumes ("green lies") can indeed have a high degree of naturalness [462], and deliver many non-wood benefits [417,463]. (6) Cope with wicked goal conflicts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Solutions for Forest Biodiversity Conservation in Sweden: Assessment of Policy, Implementation Outputs, and Consequences

Angelstam

Bush

Manton

2023

Land

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Swedish policies aim at conserving biological production, biodiversity, cultural heritage and recreational assets. This requires compositionally and structurally functional networks of representative habitats, the processes that maintain them, and resilient ecosystems. The term green infrastructure (GI) captures this. We review (1) policy concerning forest biodiversity conservation from the 1990s; (2) the implementation outputs, including the formulation of short-term and evidence-based long-term goals for protected areas, education, and the development of hierarchical spatial planning; (3) the consequences in terms of formally protected and voluntarily set-aside forest stands, as well as conservation management and habitat restoration. We assess the successes and failures regarding policy, outputs and consequences, discuss challenges to be addressed, and suggest solutions. Policies capture evidence-based knowledge about biodiversity, and evidence-based conservation planning as an output. However, the desired consequences are not met on the ground. Thus, the amount of formally protected and voluntary set-aside forests are presently too low, and have limited quality and poor functional connectivity. GI functionality is even declining because of forestry intensification, and insufficient conservation. Challenges include limited collaborative learning among forest and conservation planners, poor funding to conserve forest habitats with sufficient size, quality and connectivity, and national politics that ignores evidence-based knowledge. As solutions, we highlight the need for diversification of forest management systems with a landscape perspective that matches forest owner objectives and regional social-ecological contexts. This requires integrative approaches to knowledge production, learning and spatial planning.

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To store or to drain — To lose or to gain? Rewetting drained peatlands as a measure for increasing water storage in the transboundary Neman River Basin

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

A Step from Vulnerability to Resilience: Restoring the Landscape Water-Storage Capacity of the Great Hungarian Plain—An Assessment and a Proposal

A Step from Vulnerability to Resilience: Restoring the Landscape Water-Storage Capacity of the Great Hungarian Plain—An Assessment and a Proposal

Comparison of the Economic and Environmental Sustainability for Different Peatland Strategies

Challenges and Solutions for Forest Biodiversity Conservation in Sweden: Assessment of Policy, Implementation Outputs, and Consequences

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