Organische Böden, Klima und der Kohlenstoffmarkt

Organic soils, particularly peatlands store large quantities of carbon. Recently, in several joint research projects peatland restoration has been proven to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. In a long-term perspective, both conservation and rewetting of organic soils can be regarded as effective climate mitigation measures. Rewetting projects hold a range of other benefits to society as well as trade-offs. The complex quantification of the greenhouse gas balance remains challenging, but approaches using adequate proxies allow for reliable estimates. Developing ecosystem service markets for rewetting projects enables the issuance of emission reduction certificates. If the quality requirements of defined standards are met, they can be traded on the (voluntary) carbon market, thereby setting up an additional funding source. In Switzerland, there has been no comprehensive examination of the topic “organic soils, rewetting and climate mitigation” up to now.