Peatlands in the EU Regulatory Environment - DEHSt
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Peatlands in the EU Regulatory Environment Peter Wehrheim, Head of Unit for Land Use and Finance for Innovation Seminar on Peatland Protection Succow Foundation, Greifswald Mire Center and Silvestrum Representation of Saxony-Anhalt, Brussels, 19 April 2016
Peatlands facts
• 3% of global land area
• contain 550 Gt carbon
• 30% of the global soil carbon and
• 75% of the total atmospheric carbon
• Annual emission factors for cultivated
organic soils: 5 t CO2/ha,y in cool
temperate; 10 t CO2/ha,y in warm
temperate and 20 t CO2/ha,y in tropics
(IPCC, 2006)
• Valuable carbon sink, but also major
source of emissions when degraded
Degraded peatlands contribute
disproportionally to global GHG
emissions, with approximately 25% of
all CO2 emissions from the land use
sector
Peatlands are a key category in northern
Peatland annual emissions from one region,
Europe
ASEAN: approximately 5% of global fossil
fuel emissions = combined total emissions
of Germany, UK and France (2012) or
equivalent to global emissions of world's sea
and air transport!
Sinks feature prominently in
the Paris Agreement
Paris Agreement, Art. 4 (1): The new long term
goal was defined as achieving "a balance
between anthropogenic emissions by sources
and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in
the second half of this century."
Article 5: (1) Parties should take action to
conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and
reservoirs of greenhouse gases as referred to in
Article 4, paragraph 1(d), of the Convention,
including forests.
International initiatives on soils
Land and Soil in the
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)
Target 15.3: By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded
land and soil, including land affected by desertification,
drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-
neutral world
But also:
2.4: sustainable food production
systems and resilient
agricultural practices
13.1 Strengthen
resilience and adaptive
capacity to climate-
related hazards and
natural disasters in all
countries
15.1 conservation, restoration 15.2 sustainable forest management, halt
and sustainable use of deforestation, restore degraded forests and
terrestrial ecosystems and their substantially increase afforestation and
services reforestation
EU Climate Cooperation with
third countries/regions
Example of EU-international climate cooperation –
EU-ASEAN Projects 2014-2020:
Sustainable Use of Peatlands and Haze Mitigation in ASEAN (SUPA)
Distribution of ASEAN Peatlands
Purpose:
To improve sustainable peatland management, mitigate the adverse impact
of climate change and manage the risk and reduce of trans-boundary
regional haze in ASEAN.
6
EU regulatory
environment for
peatland protection
CAP LULUCF
Air
Water 2013: EU
legislation on
accounting
emissions and
removals from
Nature land use, land
use change
Soil
International
obligations/
Structural objectives
LIFE Funds
In the EU
CAP and Soil
-(…)
5%
EFA 30% 30% -AEM
Permanent
grassland Focus area 4c: Preventing soil
erosion and improving soil
Crop diversification management
GAEC4 Focus area 5e: Fostering C
sequestration and conservation
CMEF : Soil quality, Soil
erosion, GHG
GAEC5
Cross
GAEC6 compliance
8
PILLAR I PILLAR II
Soil measures in Second Pillar
• Rural Development has the ability to plan
measures in Operational Programmes, which fits
into a strategy, with the help of a dedicated
budget
• 2 specific objectives for soil :
• Focus area 4c: Preventing soil erosion and
improving soil management
• Focus area 5e: Fostering C sequestration and
conservation
• A wide range of available measures :
agrienvironment, afforestation, non productive
investments
Examples of projects EU cofunded by
the EU's Rural Development Policy
Doblermoos’ peat resources date back over 8000
years and cover around 10 hectares of a peat moor,
which is estimated to store approximately 100 000
tonnes of carbon (plus hold the potential to fix a
further 2.5 tonnes of carbon annually).
Benefits are now being sustained by agri-
environment agreements that pay for continuous
extensive grazing on the moor. The livestock act as
natural mowers and keep the peat habitat from
becoming overgrown.
Source : European Network for Rural Development
The ‘Flows to the Future’ project, co-ordinated
by The Peatlands Partnership, is an ambitious plan
to protect and restore seven square miles of one
of Europe’s largest expanses of blanket bog in
Caithness and Sutherland. The ancient
environment of the Flow Country is a repository
for vast amounts of carbon locked into the peat,
estimated to be around 400 million tonnes.
Source : http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A1697542.pdfReference study on
climate action on
agricultural land
Study : "Mainstreaming climate change into rural
development policy post 2013" (Ecologic et al., 2014)
http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/mainstreaming-climate-change-into-rural-development-policy-post-2013-pbML0614002/
M9 - Avoiding the drainage of wetlands
and the conversion of peatlands
Study : Effective performance of tools for climate action
policy - meta-review of Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) mainstreaming
Wetland/peatland conservation/restoration - high potential in
areas with rich organic soils – key category in northern EuropeAccounting of emissions and In the 2020
removals from peatlands framework
Treatment of emissions from agricultural land use
and forestry in the current EU climate policy
EU Target: - 20%
Decision 529/2013/EU:
• CO2 emissions and removals
• Accounting exercise
ETS ESD: 28 MS • No inclusion in the 2020 ESD target
targets • Improved information
Waste
Buildings
Transport LULUCF Decision
Agriculture:
Non-CO2
emissions
(livestock and
fertilizer use)
Forest
Aforestation Wetland
Management
Reforestation Drainage and
Cropland and
Deforestation Rewetting
Grassland
Management, CO2
emissionsAccounting of emissions and Future framework -
removals from LULUCF work in progress!
• October 2014 European Council invites EC
• Propose policy on how to include LULUCF into the 2030
greenhouse gas mitigation framework;
• Take into account the multiple objectives:
food security and climate change mitigation
• "Lower mitigation potential" of agriculture.
• Principles for the inclusion of LULUCF:
• Build on rules already agreed with Member States when
domestic LULUCF Decision was adopted in 2013
• Making them fit for purpose for 2021 to 2030
• No backsliding in terms of environmental integrity; protect
existing sinks; develop additional mitigation potentialNext steps
• Impact Assessment 2016:
• Analyse and compare the policy options;
• Assess mitigation options for agriculture and
forestry in each Member State;
• Assess environmental integrity, economic and social
impacts
• Summary report of the stakeholder consultation
and workshop will be part of an Impact Assessment
• Legislative proposal in 2016
jThank you!
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