Wet carbon storage
June 21, 2016
Project goal: Rewetting peat bogs in Russia
Project partners: KfW Entwicklungsbank, Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Russian Federation, Wetlands International, Michael Succow Foundation
Project budget: 5 million Euros as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI)
Biodiversity: the natural and rewetted peat bogs in Russia represent a unique habitat with plants like bog cotton or the Marsh Calla and many kinds of mosses.
More than eight percent of Russia is covered by peat bogs. In the past, huge areas were dried up in order to develop them for forestry or agricultural use or to harvest peat. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many areas lay idle and today are a severe fire hazard that covers about 2.75 million hectares of land. Since bogs store twice as much carbon dioxide as all forests in the world combined, their destruction is also a serious threat to our climate. That is why efforts are underway to rewet large bog areas in Russia.
A film by Kerstin Palzer