ALFAwetlands - wetland restoration for the future

The University of Tartu participates in the ALFAwetlands project, which aims to increase research on the potential of wetlands in mitigating climate change and to promote their restoration at the European Union level.

Wetlands store about 225 billion tons of carbon and cover 5-8% of the Earth's land area. Their restoration would provide nature-based solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby mitigate the severe effects of climate change. Depending on the wetland's water levels, it can also be a source of carbon emissions. Therefore, it is important to improve knowledge of how and/or how much carbon wetlands absorb and release, and the socioeconomic impacts of their restoration.

Objectives

• Improve the geospatial knowledge base of wetlands.
• Assess wetland restoration opportunities involving the co-creation process.
• Provide sustainability information and indicators to maximise climate change mitigation, biodiversity and other benefits.

Activities

Our aim is to gather fresh experimental data to enhance our understanding of how ecosystems in temperate and boreal climates respond to different wetland management and restoration practices. This will be achieved by examining ecosystem reactions across various stages during the restoration, including their early establishment, intermediate, and stable states. Our focus will predominantly be on wetlands managed as forests, croplands, grasslands, or wetlands themselves. 

Project details

Image

Image

info@alfawetlands.eu 

Project webpage