Grant: Alliance Grants

Canada has almost a third of the world's peatland area, which is still relatively intact. Canada is also one of the world's largest producers and exporters of horticultural peat. Although the impact of peat extraction by the Canadian horticultural industry on peatlands in terms of disturbed area is relatively marginal (1.2% of all disturbances in peatlands), it is the industry that makes the greatest effort to restore and reclaim disturbed peatlands. The Canadian peat industry has a genuine interest to be a model among the resource extractive industries in terms of responsible environmental stewardship. Peatlands are wetlands that store more carbon, more efficiently and for longer than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Their restoration is therefore one of the most cost-effective natural solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change compared to other measures. This project aims to establish natural solutions through peatland restoration to re-establish the biodiversity of these ecosystems and restore their potential as carbon sinks. New approaches for the restoration of fens (minerotrophic peatlands) will be tested (based on natural regeneration, progressive rewetting, topographic heterogeneity). Restoration methods already demonstrated their effectiveness in cut-over bogs (Sphagnum peatlands), but they need refinements to improve ecosystem connectivity, hydrological stability, biodiversity recovery, and sustainable management of sourcing material for restoration. As the long-term goal of peatland restoration in Canada is the return of the carbon accumulating function, we need to improve our process-based understanding of the drivers of post-restoration greenhouse gases exchange. Finally, restoration outcomes must be monitored to evaluate their success, implement adaptive management where necessary, and ensure knowledge transfer between academics, practitioners, and policymakers. Our projects will lead to the successful restoration of a growing number of peatlands into functional ecosystems and will contribute, among other things, to climate change mitigation. The spinoffs are Canada-wide, as the restoration touches 5 Canadian provinces.