Agricultural peatland restoration for Green Transition: A Danish case-study

In 2024, the Danish government, together with key stakeholders in agriculture and nature conservation, reached a historic Agreement on a Green Denmark. The agreement aims to secure more nature, a better ecological water status, and a sustainable agricultural transition through restructuring and converting land use and production. A central pillar of this initiative is the introduction of a CO₂e tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural lowland soils rich in organic carbon (hereafter “peatlands”), combined with financial support for their decommissioning. It has been decided that a total of 140,000 drained peatlands, including their marginal areas, will be restored into nature areas or forests by 2030.

The presented project seeks to identify the optimal process for peatland restoration in Denmark—from planning to post-rewetting. Through case studies and literature reviews, a detailed model for land use and management is developed to maximize synergies between biodiversity conservation, nutrient removal, and greenhouse gas reduction. The preliminary vegetation analyses indicate that topsoil removal before rewetting is a promising restoration measure to enhance plant biodiversity and remove nutrients, while biomass harvesting seems to be less efficient. Year-round grazing after rewetting seems to be the most effective management measure for ensuring biodiversity.

Stakeholder workshops have gathered knowledge and experience from Denmark and abroad to design efficient management models for restored areas, where multiple landowners must collaborate. The ultimate goal is rational planning and organization that optimize both ecological and economic benefits. The current results of this project, as well as the identified barriers for successful post-restoration management, will be presented as part of this work.