Peatland restoration protects ancient carbon stores and threatened habitats
Published on 9 September 2026 at 04:45 GMT
By Editorial Team SDG15
Peatlands occupy only a small share of the Earth's land, yet their waterlogged soils hold an exceptionally large store of carbon accumulated over centuries and millennia. Their protection and repair therefore connect climate mitigation, biodiversity, water regulation and rural economies in the same landscape. The opportunity is substantial, but restoration is not a simple reversal of damage.
Peat forms where dead plant material accumulates faster than it decomposes. Persistent saturation restricts oxygen in the soil, slowing the microbes that would otherwise break organic matter down and return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Layer by layer, partially decomposed vegetation becomes peat. In intact systems, this slow process can continue for thousands of years, creating deep deposits whose carbon stock is far larger than the vegetation visible above them.
The UN Environment Programme reports that peatlands cover around 3 to 4 per cent of global land but contain up to one-third of the world's soil carbon. They occur from boreal bogs and Arctic permafrost landscapes to tropical swamp forests, mountain wetlands and temperate fens. Their species vary widely, but many peatlands provide specialised habitats, regulate flows of water and support fisheries, grazing, forestry, farming and the collection of wild products.
Drainage changes the chemistry that made this storage possible. Ditches and pumps lower the water table, exposing peat to oxygen. Decomposition accelerates and carbon dioxide is released, while the peat surface can subside as stored organic matter is lost. Fertilised agricultural peat can also emit nitrous oxide. According to the UN Environment Programme, degraded peatlands contribute about 4 per cent of annual global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
Fire can turn a gradual loss into an acute crisis. Dry peat may smoulder below ground, spread beyond the visible fire front and resist suppression. Burning releases carbon stored over long periods as well as smoke that can damage health and disrupt transport and livelihoods. The risks are particularly visible in tropical regions where drainage, land clearance and drought can combine, although fire also affects degraded northern peatlands.
Rewetting is the central restoration method identified by the Convention on Wetlands. Blocking drainage channels, removing or disabling pipes, installing bunds and adjusting sluices can raise and stabilise water levels. On cutover bogs, practitioners may reshape bare surfaces, create shallow cells that retain water and reintroduce peat-forming vegetation. In forested tropical peatlands, canal blocking is often combined with vegetation recovery and measures intended to reduce ignition and access pressures.
Effective water management typically operates across the hydrological unit rather than at the boundary of a single project. A raised water table in one location can affect neighbouring farms, roads or buildings, while drainage elsewhere can undermine a restored site. Monitoring groundwater levels, rainfall, vegetation and peat movement helps managers adjust interventions and distinguish temporary wetting from sustained recovery.
Rewetting generally cuts carbon dioxide emissions from drained peat, but the climate response is not uniform or immediate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes that restored high water levels can increase methane emissions, particularly during the transition from drained land. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, while avoided carbon dioxide accumulates as a benefit over time. The balance varies with climate, nutrient status, previous land use and the water level achieved, making long-term monitoring important for credible carbon accounting.
Biodiversity recovery can also be uneven. Native mosses, sedges, wetland plants, insects and birds may return when appropriate water and vegetation conditions are restored, but heavily modified sites can retain altered nutrients, compacted surfaces or missing seed sources. Full recreation of an earlier ecosystem may be impossible. Restoration is therefore often measured through the recovery of functions and characteristic species rather than an assumption that every site will return to a pristine condition.
Wildfire risk reduction commonly begins with keeping peat wet, but hydrology is only one part of risk reduction. Fire planning can include mapping drainage and previous burns, maintaining water access, patrolling during dry periods, regulating ignition sources and organising rapid local response. Vegetation management may be required where flammable scrub has become established. In places affected by recurring haze, prevention also depends on enforcement and on whether land users have viable alternatives to burning and drainage.
The difficult choices become clearest on peat already used for food, fibre, grazing or plantations. Rapid rewetting can reduce the productivity of crops designed for dry soils and may affect land values, employment and infrastructure. Conversely, continued drainage can deepen subsidence, raise pumping costs and increase long-term flood and fire exposure. These costs and benefits fall on different groups and on different timescales.
Some programmes are testing paludiculture, the productive use of wet or rewetted peatlands with crops and materials suited to high water tables. Options depend on local ecology and markets and can include reeds, wetland biomass and certain native food products. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations presents sustainable use and livelihood planning as part of peatland management, while warning that local conditions determine which approaches are feasible.
Land tenure and participation shape whether restoration endures. Indigenous Peoples and local communities may hold detailed knowledge of water, fire and seasonal harvesting, while projects can create conflict when access restrictions or water-level changes are introduced without agreed consent and compensation arrangements. UNEP's global assessment links peatland management with the sustainability of livelihoods, placing social conditions alongside mapping, finance, governance and ecological techniques.
This intersection gives peatland restoration a direct connection to SDG 15 (Life on Land), which covers the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems. Its climate importance rests not only on new carbon accumulation but on preventing the oxidation or combustion of carbon already stored. Its biodiversity value depends on rebuilding wetland processes, while its durability depends on negotiated land use, continuing water control and the practical interests of people living in peatland landscapes.
Written by a human author, edited with AI assistance.
Further information:
• UN Environment Programme, Global Peatlands Assessment, supports the global extent, carbon-stock, biodiversity, degradation and livelihoods context.
• Convention on Wetlands, Policy Brief 5: Restoring drained peatlands, supports the emissions estimate and the central role of rewetting.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, AR6 Working Group III Chapter 7, supports the mitigation potential, land-use constraints and evidence on restoration.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Peatlands guidance, supports rewetting, fire prevention and sustainable-use approaches.
