Nature conservation that has it all: Licensing packaging and renaturating peatlands!

Content:

• Peatlands as climate saviours
• Drainage and raw materials: Threats to the peatland ecosystem
• We want Moore! - License packaging and restore peatlands

 

Peatlands are real climate heroes. They are our largest and most effective carbon stores (yes, even more effective than trees), provide biodiversity and serve as natural water reservoirs that help prevent flooding. They are also a landscape feature. The problem: by draining peatlands for agricultural land or infrastructural purposes, these valuable CO2 reservoirs are lost. We want to change that! That is why we renaturalise a piece of moor for every packaging licence.

In this article, we take a closer look at exactly what role peatlands play for our climate and our environment and why they should be protected. In addition, we present the project "We want Moore!" in detail and show what we can do together to protect the moors.

 

Peatlands as climate saviours 

Wet landscapes, worms and snails? - Our peatlands have much more to offer than first impressions might suggest. They are:

• Important CO2 reservoirs
• Home to rare plant species
• Habitat for many endangered animal species
• Water reservoir

 

Peatlands are wetlands that (as the name suggests) are characterised by their high water content. Compared to other ecosystems, they are characterised by a positive material balance. This means that more organic substances are formed in them than are metabolised. The slower decomposition of organic substances in peatlands ensures that carbon is retained in peat and the CO2 content in the atmosphere is regulated. This ability makes peatlands real climate savers. But that's not all: peatlands filter water, serve as flood protection and not only provide a habitat for animals and plants, but are also recreational areas for us humans.

 

Drainage and raw materials: Threats to the peatland ecosystem

Unbelievable, but true! The organic peat in bogs actually stores twice the amount of carbon that is contained in forests worldwide. However, the storage capacity of peatlands is directly dependent on their water level.

If the water level is high, the peatland is in a low-oxygen state in which carbon is increasingly formed and stored. This can be explained by the fact that when the bog is flooded, organic materials cannot be completely broken down due to the lack of oxygen. A high water level in the peatland therefore has a positive effect on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. If, on the other hand, the water level is low, the bog dries out. Organic substances are now broken down more quickly by so-called aerobic organisms and the stored carbon is released in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). Against this background, draining peatlands reduces their positive impact on the climate. The consequences are:

• Restrictions on the habitat of many plant and animal species
• Increased environmental pollution due to climate-damaging CO2
• Increased impact of climate change and further drying out of moors

 

But why are peatlands drained in the first place? The majority of drainage is caused by human intervention. For example, peatlands are drained for industrial or agricultural use. But the extraction of peat for the plant industry also causes drainage and releases the stored carbon.

The consequences of draining are counteracted by regulating the water level, renaturalising and rewetting moors. Such measures are taken in projects such as our "We want Moore!" programme.

 

We want Moore! - Licensing packaging and renaturalising peatlands

Are you wondering how you as a distributor or retailer can make an active contribution to climate and nature conservation? It's quite simple! Licence packaging with us and renaturalise moors. Together with "Mission to Marsh", we have launched the "We want Moore!" project. For every tonne of licensed packaging in the Interseroh+ dual system, we restore a piece of the Venner Moor. Former peatland areas are reclaimed in renaturalisation projects. This makes the renaturalised peatland ecosystem sustainable and efficient to use again. In this way, we are tackling climate protection together, protecting one of our most valuable ecosystems and helping to secure our future.

Renaturalise peatlands & licence packaging now