Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

[ ] 36 Belarus — Restoring peatlands to conserve biodiversity After a failed experiment had disastrous results for biodiversity, Belarus has helped pioneer an approach to restoring degraded peatlands Between 1960 and 1980, Belarus drained 1 million ha of natural mires for agriculture, 300,000ha for forestry and another 286,000ha for peat mining. After extracting peat, it tried unsuccessfully to cultivate agriculture on damaged peatlands. Although the lands were generally abandoned, the mires continued to be drained, leaving them vulnerable to fire. Indeed, in 1999 and 2002, large- scale peat fires caused heavy damage to the environment and the economy. Building on the results of a pilot study by the Government of Belarus, the GEF and the United Nations Development Programme funded a project to combat land degradation, ensure conservation of globally valuable biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The project successfully researched and tested various practical approaches to restore the hydrological regime at 12 disturbed peatlands. It is now common practice to re-wet abandoned peat. By 2016, about 50,000ha of drained peatlands had been restored through various international and national projects supported by the GEF and other partners. Belarus plans to restore 15 per cent of its damaged peatlands, which is about 500,000 ha, by 2030. Global Environment Facility