Care-Peat is an Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) project with 12 partners working together to reduce carbon emissions and restore the carbon storage capacity of different types of peatlands in North-West Europe. The main partnership consists of 7 knowledge institutes and 5 nature organisations from Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Together with 7 sub-partners and 41 associated partners , we develop and test new techniques and socio-economic strategies for carbon reduction.
Peatlands tackling climate change
Why focus on peatlands? Peatlands are not only habitats with a highly specialised flora and fauna, they also play an important role in global climate regulation. Northern hemisphere peatlands count for 3 to 5% of total land area and contain approximately 33% of global soil carbon. Therefore peatlands have a strong natural potential to save carbon and play an important role in nature based solutions for climate change.
When peatlands are drained, the well preserved carbon is released as greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. That is why it is important to keep peatlands wet. Unfortunately many peatlands are degraded and emit rather than store carbon. The global annual greenhouse gas emissions from drained organic soils are twice that from aviation. We need to act now to prevent further degradation and encourage more recovery of our remaining peatlands.
What does Care-Peat do?
The main goal of Care-Peat is to set up and demonstrate innovative technologies for new restoration and carbon measurement techniques and involve local and regional stakeholders.
Therefore the nature organisations, together with local landowners, restore peatlands of 7 different pilot sites ranging from 1 to 250 hectares and demonstrate the (potential) carbon savings of the restoration. For each pilot site different restoration techniques are used - from manual management to growing additional peat moss. Throughout the project the organisations are supported by the knowledge institutes that work together to develop and test new equipment, methods and models to predict carbon flows (e.g. by the use of drones and satellites to guide restoration and provide input for carbon models). Care-Peat also works with innovative companies in the field of restoration and develops partnerships with local and regional stakeholders to increase the impact of pilots and maximise socio-economic benefits.
Important outputs of Care-Peat are the publication of a management and decision support tool and a set of socio-economic models concerning the best options for peatland restoration in regard to carbon storage. This way the results of the project are transferred and replicated to users across North-West Europe to determine the most appropriate management measures, even after Care-Peat has ended.
In 2021, as part of the Interreg NWE programme, the Care-Peat project was given the opportunity to strengthen its scope with a so called ‘capitalisation project’. The aim is to apply the project results to new areas and a new target group in North-West Europe. The approval resulted in no less than 3 new partners and 6 new associated partners who joined our consortium.
In the capitalisation project we develop a unified methodology for assessing GHG emissions from peatlands, that is widely applicable in North-West Europe (different peatland types and regions), and thus increase the impact of the decision support tool. Also we will include farmers and farmer organisations as a new main target group by engaging with them directly and incorporate best practices for carbon savings on farmland.
How much carbon can be saved?
Care-Peat is ambitious. By the end of the project in 2023, we expect that about 8,137 tonnes of carbon emissions per year are prevented from losses and stored in the 7 pilot sites (in total approximately 645 hectares).
After 2023 we hope that nature conservation and other organisations all over the North-West Europe region will take further measures, resulting in the restoration of many more peatlands. And the more peatlands are restored, the more carbon is saved. In this way peatlands can become an important natural partner in climate policies across North-West Europe.
The last few months the works at De Wieden continued. After completion of the works on the foreshore, Natuurmonumenten together with their contractors started the preparatory activities for digging the peat pits, such as building willow screens, laying the pipeline to transport peat material and removing forest. Also a start has been made in digging the first peat pits. Read More
Lancashire Wildlife Trust completed the restoration works at Winmarleigh Moss and Little Woolden Moss. For a detailed description of the works: Read More
There is a first for everything: this year, in which everyone needs to adapt to new and different circumstances, the Eurosite Annual Meeting was organised in an online setting for the very first time.
The event was divided into four morning sessions from 2 to 5 November 2020. Eurosite’s working groups played a vital role in the organisation of the sessions, which focussed on management planning, ecosystem services, peatland restoration and management, and remote sensing.
On day 3 (4 November 2020), participants were taken on a journey on peatland restoration and management under the guidance of the Peatland Restoration and Management Group’s chair Mr. Paul Leadbitter of the North Pennines AONB Partnership. Read More
Case Study: the first sale of carbon credits from peatland rewetting in the Netherlands is a huge success.
The concept of carbon credits for peatland rewetting has been around for at least five years, but since early July 2020 it became possible to earn money by increasing the water level in peatland areas.
In 'De Lytse Deelen', the first trade in voluntary CO2 certificates took place. By rewetting the peatland a reduction in GHG emissions of 4,370 tons over ten years, is created. A target price of €70 per ton applies to companies and private individuals who want to compensate for their own CO2 emissions. The credits are almost sold out for the first year. Read More
The Flemish Minister for Nature invests 4,2 million euros in the protection and restoration of the existing peat layer in the valley of the Black Creek ('Zwarte Beek'). The area is located upstream from the Care-Peat project area and represents an important reinforcement of our efforts in the valley to restore Flanders' main peat area.
In the neighbouring Care-Peat area the preparation of the restoration works is ongoing. As the rewetting of the area will have a significant effect, working together with local stakeholders is indispensable. Read More
One of the main goals of Care-Peat is to assess the effect of peatland restoration works on greenhouse gas (GHG, CO2 and CH4) fluxes. An important factor for determining the fluxes is soil temperature. To better understand how the works will affect soil temperature, a laboratory experiment was set up by students of the Orléans University. Read More
In a collaborative effort between the five Care-Peat partner countries, the Care-Peat project has produced a report highlighting the peatland policies and strategies in the five North-West European countries Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This report will provide a baseline for further project activities which will aim to explore and discuss the gaps in policy making with stakeholders and policy makers. Read More
Lancashire Wildlife Trust recently started with the restoration works at their Carbon Farm pilot site at Winmarleigh Moss and the planting activities for their 'companion planting pilot' at Little Woolden Moss. Read More
In Care-Peat, the carbon fluxes in peatlands are measured with techniques adapted to each pilot site. On the Dutch pilot site 'De Wieden' the measurements of CO2 and CH4 fluxes directly in the channels and creeks are possible thanks to a floating chamber connected to a Los Gatos Research (LGR) analyzer.
On the Belgian pilot site, the valley of the Black Creek ('Zwarte Beek'), the peatland is water saturated. The measurements carried out there are more traditional: a collar is first inserted into the soil ensuring the connection between the soil and the measuring chamber. Read More
After a lot of interesting discussions on the design of the Dutch pilot at 'De Wieden', the restoration works have started! Last spring a contractor started building the foreshore by using geotubes that are filled with dug peat material. Check the video to see how they do this! Read More
Get to know the different partners and their role within Care-Peat.
Natuurpunt - BE
With over 110.000 members and 6.000 volunteers, Natuurpunt is the largest Belgian nature conservation organisation. The long term protection of important habitats, species and landscapes is the main goal. To achieve this, they buy and manage nature reserves, study species and habitats, raise awareness and run educational programs for a general and specific public and lobby local and regional governments.
Natuurpunt is the lead partner of Care-Peat. Natuurpunt is responsible for the project management, general communication, and the development and demonstration of new methods of restoration of carbon sequestration capacity in a lowland peatland with adaptive management techniques for habitat conservation.
CNRS is one of the most important research institutes in the world. Its scientists explore the biosphere, the matter, the universe and functioning of human societies to raise current stakes. Its scientific objectives are focused on developing the knowledge based on fundamental works, which are coordinated by different institutes. CNRS is coordinating the French Peatland Observatory composed of 4 sites, including La Guette, equipped for monitoring meteorology, GHG emissions, hydrology and vegetation.
Its main roles in Care-Peat are: 1) coordination of GHG fluxes in different sites, writing transferable and replicable protocol; 2) validation of protocol: study of La Guette peatland functioning; inter-partner discussion on strategies and to implement works; 3) implement transferable tools and interoperable information system to evaluate strategies.
BRGM is France’s reference public institution for Earth Science applications in the management of surface and subsurface resources and risks. The key objectives are the understanding of geological processes and associated risks, the development of new methodologies and techniques, the production and dissemination of data to support the management of soils, subsoils and resources, the delivery of the necessary tools for the management of soils, subsoils and their resources, risk prevention and policy responses to climate change.
Within Care-Peat, BRGM will have a transverse role since it will provide a technical support to each pilot site. BRGM will contribute to environmental modelling by studying the gas transfers from peatlands. Both transfer model and GIS support tool will be developed to simulate and to predict the role of restoration actions on the gas transfers on the mid and long-term.
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is a conservation charity dedicated to enhancing habitats and protecting wildlife in the North West of England. It is one of 46 Wildlife Trusts across the United Kingdom. The Trust is also the region's largest conservation volunteering organisation, employing some 1.500 volunteers to work with our 150-plus dedicated staff. It is also involved in engaging thousands of people with wildlife and has more than 30.000 members supporting its work. Over the past 20 years the Trust has bought up areas of lowland raised bog in Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
Its main role in Care-Peat is, with sub-partner Micropropagation Services and the other project partners, to deliver pilots of new methods of reducing carbon through peatland restoration. On farmland next to the Winmarleigh Moss site (the North West's best example of lowland raised bog), they want to demonstrate the viability of alternative land use, in this case sphagnum growing for carbon, on peatland sites adjacent to wildlife restoration sites and show its benefit both in terms of carbon and improvement to the wildlife site. They also wish to demonstrate the carbon benefits related to restoration techniques involving planting particular species at the site near Manchester, Little Woolden Moss. They will also work to influence policy makers, landowners and others through their involvement in the Great Manchester Wetlands partnership and the Lancashire Peat Partnership.
Manchester Metropolitan University is a public university located in Manchester, England.
Within Care-Peat, Manchester Metropolitan University will work with the nature conservation and knowledge partners during the pilot development stage to assess ground condition, hydrology, topography and drainage, peat depth and quality and site biogeochemistry. From this, they will advise on the best approaches for restoration, the ground conditions and species mix to achieve this, and the protection methods that will accelerate restoration and maximise carbon sequestration. They will work alongside the other knowledge partners to monitor GHG and carbon balance at UK sites and will analyse satellite and drone imagery to inform water management and monitor restoration success across all pilot sites. With Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Micropropagation Services Ltd., they will establish a large 4 ha Sphagnum moss ‘Carbon’ farm on existing grazed grassland which will reduce water loss from a neighbouring bog and lower GHG emissions from both the agricultural land and bog. This will become a European case-study of an example of how integrated land management can benefit restoration, carbon sequestration and the local economy.
The University of Galway s a leading higher education and research organisation ranked in the top 1% of universities globally. NUI is involved in over 100 EU projects, securing over 45 million euro in direct funding. The Insight Centre for Data Analytics at NUI is a joint initiative between researchers at 4 Irish Universities and other partner institutions bringing more than 400 researchers from these institutions and more than 80 industry partners, to position Ireland at the heart of global data analytics research. Insight has extensive experience in designing, building and implementing information portals using co-creation techniques involving the public, private, academic and community sectors. It also has an extensive citizen science and community outreach programme.
Within Care-Peat, NUI Galway and Insight will lead the Irish consortium that includes two sub partners (The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council) and a number of associate partners. NUI will coordinate activities at the Irish pilot sites and serve as a focal point for knowledge transfer among the Irish sub-partners, associate partners and the international project partners. NUI will perform high-resolution spatial mapping at all project pilots and coordinate activities at the Irish pilots. Insight will provide support with knowledge and data transfer and policy implications related to Irish carbon strategies. Insight will lead the policy work for Care-Peat as a whole. NUI will develop a set of sustainable use cases and socio-economic models (based on data from the pilot sites and other information) to provide ecosystem services and integrated landscape strategies to promote the roll-out of developed techniques and methods for peatland restoration using the decision support tool to be developed by Care-Peat. They plan to develop policies and strategies together with key governance stakeholders including politicians at local, regional, national and EU level with a focus on maximising carbon reduction. The economic model of restoration will be fully examined including the use of carbon and blue credits, sphagnum farming and co-location with renewable energy projects.
Eurosite is the network for Europe’s natural site managers. Their mission is to provide opportunities for practitioners to network and exchange experience on practical nature management. Therefore, they bring together non-governmental and governmental organisations, and individuals and organisations committed to their vision.
Within Care-Peat, Eurosite is responsible for the long term development and implementation of the project. It is Eurosite’s role to involve landowners, nature organisations and policy makers on all levels, from all over North-West Europe and the EU through the organisation of activities to show and explain developed strategies and methods. Among the long-term activities will be the creation of a transnational peatland management group.
Natuurmonumenten (Society for preservation of nature monuments in the Netherlands) is a Dutch NGO founded in 1905, that buys, protects and manages nature reserves in the Netherlands. It is run by and for people who care about the Dutch nature. Natuurmonumenten has 363 sites under management, with a total area of more than 150.000 hectares. Natuurmonumenten counts over 700.000 members and works together with almost 10.000 volunteers.
Within Care-Peat, Natuurmonumenten will develop a method to increase the carbon storage capacity of lowland peatlands by creating peat pits in nature reserve De Wieden.
The Université d'Orléans is a higher education center that delivers diplomas at the bachelor, master and PhD levels. The UO is structured in faculties: 1) sciences and techniques, 2) humanities, 3) Law and management, 4) Universe Sciences Observatory. The research activities are developed in all these fields and in connection with research institute located in the Orléans Grand Campus: CNRS (fundamental), INRA (agronomy), BRGM (geology), CNES (space agency).
Within Care-Peat, The Université d'Orléans will be in charge of coordinating the writing of the in situ scientific program. It will participate to the in situ CO2 fluxes monitoring in the French pilot as well as in the other pilots. Prof. Guimbaud of UO in the Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of the Environment and Space (LPC2E), will be involved because of his skills in CH4 fluxes measurement. He has the equipement and the competence that will allow the UO-team to undertake the CH4 fluxes monitoring.
Our goal is to set up and demonstrate innovative technologies for new restoration and carbon measurement techniques and involve local and regional stakeholders.
>> Discover our pilot sites through movies, fact sheets and as Panorama-solutions. >> For every pilot site we put together full reports on the restoration works, monitoring and results
One of the objectives of the Interreg Care-Peat project was to improve the understanding of the interaction between hydrology and GHG emissions, and simulate carbon fluxesat the peatland and atmosphere interface, especially ecosystem respiration (RECO), Gross Primary Production (GPP) and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) at peatland scale. This goal however, is a challenge because of the specificities of each site. Indeed, peatlands are complex ecosystems where water, solute and gas fluxes can vary strongly during a year. In consequence, RECO, GPP and NEE are vulnerable to change inhydrological and weather conditions and vegetation developing at the surface.
As part of the Interreg Care-Peat project, a numerical model explicitly predicting the gaseous C fluxes resulting from RECO and GPP was first developed, calibrated and validated against data acquired at the project's various pilot sites. Next, this model was integrated inthe Care-Peat Decision Support Tool (DST) developed in Excel. This software was used to provide a user-friendly tool for site managers/owners to optimise the restoration and management of their sites. Based on certain input parameters recorded in the field, such as water table depth, temperature, solar radiation and vegetation type, the tool predicts the actual GHG fluxes, i.e. whether the peatland behaves as a carbon source or sink. Moreover, the numerical tool can also simulate these same fluxes as a function of different restoration scenarios. The tool allows the user to change/modify the input parameters (such as the depth of the water table, the type of vegetation, etc.) in order to predict the impact of these changes on carbon fluxes. These estimates are possible because the carbon balance is based on a separate calculation of ecosystem respiration and vegetation uptake.
We are aware that site managers/owners may have little information about their site, or long series of field parameters if their sites have been instrumented for many years. This is why the tool offers users two calculation methods. The first optionis based on a minimum number of values collected at the site (mean depth of the water table, mean air temperature and mean photosynthetic photon flux density). Coupled with the type of vegetation, these calculations make it possible to estimate GHG fluxes at a given time and according to specific meteorological conditions. The second option uses the same three parameters measured daily over long periods. This second option allows seasonal variations in the various parameters to be taken into account when estimating the RECO, GPP and NEE each day and therefore provides a better estimate of the annual gaseous carbon balance. Ultimately, both options make it possible to calculate GHG fluxes, including respiration fluxes, gross primary production and net exchange between ecosystems in different units.
Validating the bespoke model for the social and economic impact of Carbon farming (and developing a theoretical model for the impact of Paludiculture)
Carbon farming is an alternative land management practice that could provide financial incentives to the actors of the bioeconomy for climate-friendly activities resulting in carbon removals and storage, thus creating a new source of income, and helping them adapt their businesses to withstand the effects of climate change. It involves raising the water table and practicing wet agriculture.
As part of the Care-Peat project a carbon farm pilot was established in the UK and a preliminary financial feasibility model has been built. The model highlights that carbon farming, peatland restoration and rewetting can be financed through carbon credits that may be exchanged in the markets, or bought directly from project developers (for example, land managers, NGOs, trust funds or public bodies) or from intermediaries.
The development of the financial feasibility and pricing model also revealed specific socio-economic parameters in trading ecosystem services that need further defining and validation during the next stage of this work. The specific socio-economic parameters are presented under the headings of modelling, capacity, and social. During validation these specific socio-economic parameters are discussed within the framework of the theoretical implications listed above. Initiating, implementing, maintaining, and managing a peatland restoration scheme would require significant capacity inputs initially and over a fifty-year period. These capacity inputs would either be provided by the farmer, or the farmer would need to access these inputs from specialist support.
Carbon farming initiatives should encourage the development of a range of locally or regionally tailored result-based pilot schemes for carbon farming, and meanwhile promote the more widespread adoption of well-designed, action-based or hybrid schemes to make the initial step towards a real shift in the agriculture sector’s contribution to EU climate targets. The experience gathered through pilot schemes will be essential to upscale result-based carbon farming, by improving design elements and expanding farmers’ knowledge and understanding of the potential benefits to them.
In addition to the specific examination of carbon farming primarily based on specific experiences derived from work carried out on the Winmarleigh carbon farm, we also discuss as part of this output a number of possible paludiculture (wetland farming) practices based on research carried out by other projects.
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Measuring methods and integrated model to predict C-emissions and sequestration in natural peatland
The Care-Peat project aims to demonstrate and quantify CO2 emissions and C-storage by proposing restoration scenarios and solutions for the reduction of CO2 emissions from peatlands, using advanced management tools developed from pilot sites. The project focuses on the improvement of the interaction between hydrology and greenhouse gas emissions. For that, we developed a fullmethodologyon two mainobjectives:
to standardise the set-up of a field procedure to measure Greenhouse Gases (GHG, specifically CO2and CH4) across all pilot sites,
the implementation of(i)a numerical model to simulate carbon fluxes, especially ecosystem respiration (RECO), Gross Primary Production (GPP) and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) at peatlands scale and(ii)a numerical tool dedicated to site managers and owners to estimate these fluxes.
One of the objectives of the Interreg Care-Peat project was to improve the understanding of the interaction between hydrology and GHG emissions, and simulate carbon fluxes at the peatland and atmosphere interface, especially ecosystem respiration (RECO), Gross Primary Production (GPP) and Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) at peatland scale. As part of the Interreg Care-Peat project, a numerical model explicitly predicting the gaseous C fluxes resulting from RECO and GPP was first developed, calibrated and validated against data acquired at the project's various pilot sites. Next, this model was integrated in the Care-Peat Decision Support Tool (DST) developed in Excel. This software was used to provide a user-friendly tool for site managers/owners to optimise the restoration and management of their sites.
The mean of total annual carbon saved calculated by all approaches is 9,662 tCO2/year which corresponds to 19,323; 48,308 and 96,616 tCO2 over 2, 5 and 10 years respectively, with reductions likely to increase as restoration progresses further.
Across all sites and methods, a mean saving of 11 tCO2 per hectare was produced with the largest total saving at the Valley of Zwarte Beek in Belgium (250 ha) highlighting the need for large scale restoration of peatlands. However, in many countries restoration has expanded following the project.
In 2023, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Galway conducted surveys of farmer attitudes toward rewetting/wetland farming (paludiculture) in England and Ireland. In both cases, the majority (~68%) of farmers interviewed had not heard of paludiculture, but were interested in learning more about it. Most farmers are concerned about land degradation and want to increase biodiversity to ‘do the right thing’ but are often most limited to market uncertainties. Our results clearly indicated a lack of existing business case studies and an unwillingness to enter uncertain markets were the main barriers preventing uptake of paludiculture.
Carbon Reduction Guidance for farmers and landowners
Drained peatlands lead to a substantial amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from EU Countries, as well as other negative effects on water quality, biodiversity and soil quality. Rewetting degraded peatlands decreases CO₂ emissions, and potentially restores the capability of peatlands as carbon sinks. The effect of rewetting on GHG emissions can be measured in the field, but such measurements are very expensive.
Socio-economic model: towards a carbon and blue credit scheme for peatlands
The aim of this output is to outline the preliminary requirements and steps needed to fully establish frameworks for certification systems across Europe, specifically to support and incentivise the restoration of peatlands and to provide a framework for reducing GHG emissions from degraded and mismanaged peatlands on a large scale. This will ensure that peatlands across Europe fulfil their potential to become a net carbon sink by 2050, while optimising ecosystem service provision in a way that is fully consistent with all the relevant European policies.
In Care-Peat we addressed some of the complexities of unregulated carbon markets by creating a Pricing and Feasibility tool for carbon credits that cuts across different emerging markets. The tool evaluates the financial feasibility of peatland restoration projects and the expected profit from different sale prices of carbon credits. It combines indicators of profit for peatland restoration projects that generate and sell carbon credits over a period of years, then allows user to examine break-even carbon selling points relative to costs including restoration activity, investment and audit costs. We are hoping the tool will be useful for advisers, brokers, accrediting bodies, farmers, landowners, and other investors in carbon credits.
This report examined new sources of financing for the restoration of degraded peatlands using income from co-located renewable energy sources and provides proposals for the compensation of turbary rights holders. Three renewable energy sources were selected toward this task: wind generation, solar generation and the use of biomass for district heating. These were examined and our conclusions have gone through a validation process by consultation with key stakeholders.
This report builds on input from the review of existing peatland restoration strategies and approaches in NWE, input from 5 stakeholder workshops carried out at national level in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and a transnational workshop in the European Parliamentin Brussels combined with new opportunities and results from 5 pilot projects. The recommendationswere refined at a joint partner meeting and subsequently for each country.
Care-Peat ended in December 2023 and to avoid the fate of many similar initiatives which are ceased when the financial support is finished, Eurosite and the Care-Peat partners decided to formalise the cooperation between project partners beyond the project in the form of a Eurosite Thematic twinning under a name of “Care-Peat Project Alliance”.
