Best practice for peatland restoration in Norway: the expert view
Master thesis
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3091010Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
Sammendrag
Peatlands play an important role in mitigating climate change in Norway, and provide many other ecosystem services. This puts pressure on the success of restoration efforts. The aim of this thesis was to synthesize knowledge on Norwegian peatland restoration and produce foundations for best practises in peatland restoration in Norway, and to compare Norwegian peatland restoration to the eight principles for ecological restoration by the Society of Ecological Restoration (SER).
To address this aim, I took a qualitative approach by interviewing restoration practitioners and scientific experts. Overall, the scientists were more critical regarding the older restoration projects, but developed a more positive outlook on the newer restoration projects. The practitioners were overall positive regarding the restoration success, but do see room for improvement. The interview results revealed five aspects in which peatland restoration in Norway can improve. Namely: goal setting, restoration methods, monitoring, climate change considerations, and organisation.
There is a need to reshape the national goals for peatland restoration in Norway, based upon the fifth principle by the SER. Statens naturoppsyn (SNO), the agency performing peatland restoration in Norway, needs to incorporate Sphagnum species revegetation practices in their restoration practices, to promote recovery and lower methane emissions. More monitoring data on the restoration success of peatlands is required to assess whether the national goals are being achieved. For this, monitoring actions need to scale up, separate monitoring projects need to merge or at least share their data, and monitoring should follow the Before-AfterControl-Impact (BACI) design. While climate change will not force peatlands out of existence in Norway, it will affect certain areas negatively due to dryer conditions. Focussing restoration efforts on the areas most affected by climate change will have the biggest emission reduction effect. Norway’s environmental agency should focus on composing a strategy on peatland restoration in areas that will become dryer due to climate change. It is at these sites that restoration will have the biggest impact.
Upscaling restoration efforts is needed to have significant impacts on the three national goals. To upscale restoration, SER principles one (stakeholder engagement) and seven (restoration gains cumulative value when applied at large scales) need to be better integrated.
Beskrivelse
Master's Thesis in Climate Change Management