European Peatland Strategies - Exchange on status, progress and future perspectives

The workshop will be hosted by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and facilitated by Michael Succow Foundation, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, and Eurosite, as part of the EUKI project “Building the European Peatlands Initiative: a strong alliance for peatland climate protection in Europe”.

In 2019, experts from 12 European countries came together in Bonn on invitation of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), Ramsar secretariat, UNEP Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI), and Michael Succow Foundation, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, to discuss European peatland strategies. Results have been published in a joint policy paper and fed into the drafting of the German National Peatland Strategy. Now, 5 years later, we aim to bring together respective experts, policy makers, and stakeholders from EU Member States and other European countries in a follow-up workshop, in order to exchange knowledge and experiences on existing and planned national peatland strategies. A focus will be on identifying core elements of a national peatland strategy that foster best practices of peatland management, considering aspects of conservation, restoration and sustainable use. A further objective is to discuss the needs and possibilities for integrating strategic peatland conservation at European level, including an overview of current practices and existing regulations, as well as opportunities for closer cooperation between countries.