The main goal of Care-Peat is to set up and demonstrate innovative technologies for new restoration and carbon measurement techniques and to involve local and regional stakeholders.
As part of the project, nature protection organisations, together with local landowners, restore peatlands at seven pilot sites ranging from 1 to 250 hectares, and demonstrate the associated carbon savings. For each pilot site different restoration techniques are used – from manual management to growing additional peat moss. Throughout the project the organisations are supported by the knowledge institutes that work together to develop and test new equipment, methods and models to predict carbon flows (e.g. by the use of drones and satellites to guide restoration and provide input into carbon models). Care-Peat also works with innovative companies in the field of restoration and develops partnerships with local and regional stakeholders to increase the impact of pilots and maximise socio-economic benefits.
The outputs of Care-Peat include the publication of a management and decision support tool and a set of socio-economic models concerning the best options for peatland restoration in regard to carbon storage. These outputs should enable the transfer of results and replication by users across North-West Europe.
As part of a 2021 extension of the project, a unified methodology for assessing GHG emissions from peatlands, applicable across different peatland types and regions in North-West Europe, is being developed to increase the impact of the decision support tool. Farmers and farmer organisations are also included as a new main target group through direct engagement and incorporating best practices for carbon savings on farmland.
