CANAPE

Worldwide peatlands store more carbon that all of the world’s forests, despite accounting for a smaller fraction of land area. Ancient bogs and fens contain many thousands of tons of carbon in an area the size of a football pitch. Once damaged, these sites release this carbon as CO2 into the atmosphere and drive global warming. Healthy peatlands help regulate global climate by actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere, but damaged peatlands increase emissions. CANAPE combines North Sea Region (NSR) local authorities, NGOs, academic bodies to address challenges manage sustainable, integrated peat landscapes that are resilient to climate change contribute to the reduction in global CO2 emissions. Our objective is to demonstrate sustainable ways to use Peatland. Our vision for the future is one where peatlands are both productive and sustainable, providing wider environmental benefits such as water and carbon storage, and also providing an income for landowners through alternatives to traditional agriculture.

The project has 2 main activities:

• Physical restoration of the landscape, raising water levels in drained bogs and fens, and restoring lake edges to improve their water quality. This will halt the release of CO2 that occurs on drained peatlands, and restore the capacity of the land to act as a buffer to floods and droughts. Improving water quality will improve the recreational value of the waterways and support tourism by reducing incidents of toxic algal blooms.
• Demonstrating sustainable use of the land, through piloting agricultural products that can be grown on wet land (known as Paludiculture), and showing that there is a viable economic alternative to draining land for agriculture.

Expected results: CANAPE willbring economic and environmental benefits in the NSR: reducing CO2 emissions, increasing flood resilience, developing new wetland products, restoring unique ecosystems improve management of peatlands to reduce their contribution to climate change, improve resilience to its effects. Namely: support the restoration of 95 hectares of peatland, and support the restoration of 3 peatland lakes. This will bring about substantial benefits for the local populations, and help prevent climate change. The project will showcase restoration and management methods, and create new business opportunities.