Peene River Valley (Germany)

The restoration of the Peene Valley is one of the biggest and most ambitious projects to restore wetlands across Europe. This valley represents one of the largest contiguous fen areas in Central Europe. Peat extraction, wetland draining and polderisation during the times of the German Democratic Republic had caused severe degradation of the original floodplain-mire system.

The German government, together with the regional authorities of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were the main initiators of the project, developed with the local authorities, in response to the perceived loss of major ecological value. The association of municipalites ‘Peenetal-Landschaft’ was specifically created to execute the project, overseeing the acquistion and management of the land.

From the first phase of the project (Großprojekt Peenetal/Peenehaffmoor, from 1992 to 2009), restoration was implemented on a landscape level, focusing on recovering natural hydrology and restoring drained peatlands. The goal of this phase was to restore up to 20 000 hectares. Almost 5000 hectares of agricultural land were bought and dedicated to nature conservation, while polders were renatured, water tables were raised and floodplains were recovered. Peatlands were rewetted and flooding regimes reinstated, allowing for the recovery of peat-forming vegetation. Vegetation management and removal sought to restore open mire mosaics and fen meadows with high levels of biodiversity. In 2011, the area was granted official protection as the Naturpark Flusslandschaft Peenetal.

In recent years, as part of the Horizon ALFAWetlands project, restoration efforts are promoting the conversion of drained peatlands for agriculture to more sustainable and climate-friendly land management practices, such as paludiculture and wet farming, in an area that encompasses approximately 15.000 hectares of peatlands. However, governance issues and the lack of financial and institutional support pose significant barriers to landowners.