How to make intensively used peat meadows sustainable for the future? Four management options to potentially reduce peat oxidation

Almost all peatlands in the Netherlands are drained for agricultural purposes or in the past for peat extraction. What remains is a peatland area of about 300.000 ha of which 85 % is used for agriculture. As a result of peat oxidation, these areas are still subsiding by about 1 cm per year. Another effect is the enormous emission of CO₂, which contributes to about 4% of total Dutch greenhouse gas emissions. With the awareness of a changing climate and the need for protection against flooding of coastal areas, solutions are being searched to reduce or stop peat oxidation and coinciding land subsidence and CO₂ emission.

In this presentation we will show four different management options which are currently being tested in the Netherlands. These options all focus on increasing the groundwater table to lower oxygen intrusion and consequently lower aerobic decomposition. Depending on crop choices water levels may need to stay 40 cm below the surface to maximize fodder plant yields. We expect a trade-off between land-use intensity (yields) and CO₂ emission reduction. The management options range from maintaining the current land-use by elevating summer water levels with submerged drainage pipes to the development of peat-forming plant species by complete rewetting. Data of the effects of these management options on CO₂ emission will be shown and with that the effectiveness of reducing peat oxidation.