Restoring peatlands in Russia for fire prevention and climate change mitigation: framework for integrative peatland ecosystem management Hans Joosten

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1 Restoring peatlands in Russia for fire prevention and climate change mitigation: framework for integrative peatland ecosystem management Hans Joosten Andrey Sirin Tatiana Minayeva, Marcel Silvius Sebastian Schmidt

2 What this presentation is about? Again about peatlands and their international recognition Peatland of Russia distribution, use and status Peatlands fires natural and anthropogenic Peatlands use and management in Russia How to reduce fires and GHG emission from peatlands IKI Russian-German project: peatlands restoration for fire prevention and GHG emission reduction

3 Again about what is peatland water peatland peat vegetation

4 climate Position in the landscape bedrock

5 the Cinderella Syndrom: very important but not

6 Recent climate policy developments Wetland drainage and rewetting is a system of practices for draining and rewetting on land with organic soil that covers a minimum area of 1 hectare. The activity applies to all lands that have been drained since 1990 and to all lands that have been rewetted since 1990 and that are not accounted for under any other activity as defined in this annex, where drainage is the direct human-induced lowering of the soil water table and rewetting is the direct human-induced partial or total reversal of drainage Durban UNFCCC - KP IPCC Supplement IPCC 2013 GPG LULUCF

7 Recent new policy attention UNEP UN-FAO UNESCO -SCOPE

8 Peatlands (peat >30 cm) make up over 8% ( km) and with shallow peat lands (< 30 cm) up to 22% ( km) of Russia Vompersky, Sirin, Salnikov et al. // Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2011, V.4, N 7. «GIS «Peatlands of Russia»

9 Human disturbances to peatlands in Russian Federation Peat extraction > ha Drainage for Agriculture > ha Forest Drainage > ha Indirect impacts: linear constructions (roads, pipe lines, etc.) water contamination and air pollution others Minayeva, Sirin, Bragg, 2009

10 The Scale of Disturbances to Peatlands in European Part of Russia Peat extraction нарушено, % >50 Москва Drainage for agriculture Forest drainage GIS «Peatlands of Russia»

11 Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from intact and disturbed peatlands (observed from over 70 sites in Tomsk Oblast (southern part of West Siberia). Figures represent gross emissions; GHG sequestration by peat formation and vegetation growth not included. Glagolev et al. Agrochemistry. 2008

12 Peat fires in center of the European part of Russia in extremely dry year Российская Академия наук ИНСТИТУТ ЛЕСОВЕДЕНИЯ

13 Abandoned peatlands used for milled peat extraction (Vladimir and Moscow Provinces) Drained for extraction peat fields and not used nowadays are most fire dangerous territories

14 State standard (СТ СЭВ ) on the reclamation of lands disturbed by peat extraction Haying on drained peatlands (Moscow Province) Cattle grazing on recultivated extracted peatland (Tver Province)

15 Moscow Province: land use on drained, excavated, utilised and worked out peatland, ha Forestry лесное хозяйство Agriculture сельское хозяйство Reserve lands прочие организации, госземзапас Not невозвращенные decided for future use Industry, special issues используемые для противопожарных целей Utilized в постоянном пользовании Fisheries рыбное хозяйство Total peatlands: ha Under use: ha Worked out: ha, partly worked out ha

16 Naturally restored peatland previously extracted by wet methods (excavating and hydropeat in 1940ies, 15 km from Moscow In 1996 the sectorial standard had been adopted giving way to natural regeneration

17 The areas under use and reclaimed annually (ha) in peat industry (the Russian Satistic Agency data) 25 24, disturbed, th ha recultivated, th ha ,2 6,8 5 4,1 3,7 1,3 1,3 1,7 1,5 1,9 0,4 0,1 0,9 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,

18 FEDERAL LAW 74-FL WATER CODE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION (2006) Article 5. Surface water objects and underground objects 2. Surface water objects include: 1) seas and their parts (straits, gulfs, incl. bays, estuaries, etc.); 2) streams (rivers, brooks, channels); 3) reservoirs (lakes, ponds, pits filled with water, water-storage basins); 4) peatlands; 5) natural groundwater seepages (springs, geysers); 6) glaciers, snowfields. 4. Coast line (boundary of water object) is defined for: 4) peatland according 0 peat depth. Article 52. The use of water objects for exploration and extraction of minerals (including peat) 2. reclaiming peatlands preferably by rewetting and artificial paludification

19 Action Plan for Peatland Conservation and Wise Use in Russia Development of the integrated document, endorsed and approved by Federal authorities, focusing on: scientific and systematic provision of peatlands conservation and wise use measures for securing peatlands conservation and wise use include in: legal, social, economic and management measuresurgent measures for peatland conservation Achievements and future tasks were discussed during official workshops in 2005 and 2010, organized by Federal Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment

20 Moscow Oblast has the largest areas of abandoned peatlands, partially excavated by milled extraction Ленинградская Псковская Владимирская Ивановская Тверская Московская Рязанская Ярославская Горьковская Новгородская га ha Area Площадь of peatlands выработанных drained for месторождений peat extraction by excavation and milled methods фрезерный карьерный «Проект по сохранению торфяных болот России»

21 Peatlands restoration initiatives Project: Rewetting of abandoned fields of peat extraction in the flood-plains of small rivers ( ) Burned peatland, spring Rewetted peatland with Beaver s lodge,

22 Regular peatland restoration work Meschera national park Meschera

23 Abandoned peat excavated site with dry periodically burning bare peat surface 4 years after re-wetting, Meschera National Park, Vladimir Province, 2007

24 Peat fires in Meschera National Park in Number of Peat Fires Количество пожаров, ед Burned Area, ha Площадь пройденная пожарами, га During over 2000 ha from 7500 ha of abandoned milled extracted peatlands were rewetted

25 Rate of peatland drainage (ha/year) Decreasing the rate of peatland drainage increases annual GHG emissions because the emissions from newly drained peatland add to those of already drained peatland. Annual emissions (ton/year) peatland Oh, oh, it does not fit on the graph

26 Forest-peat fires 2010 Photo: NASA, 9 August, 2010

27 German-Russian technical cooperation coordinated by the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation a high level bilateral decision was made to draw on expertise available in Germany for peatland rewetting and develop a joint Russian-German project with German investment for technical expertise and Russian investment into implementation. To support these activities the project Restoring Peatlands in Russia - for fire prevention and climate change mitigation was initiated jointly conducted by the Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Moscow Province Government, Wetlands International, the Michael Succow Foundation, Greifswald University and the Institute of Forest Science, Russian Academy of Sciences. This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (ICI) funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through KfW Entwicklungsbank.

28 Restoring peatlands of Russia for fire prevention and GHG reduction Inventory Rewetting Monitoring Capacity building Advocacy Economic incentives Reduction: Restoration Monitoring Accounting

29 Inventory: Total peatland area of Moscow Province: ha or about 6% of the province; Total number > 1700 Area from 2.5 to ha

30 Practical work and capacity building in peatlands rewetting

31 GHG fluxes monitoring by scientists from RAS on the pilot area of the project Crane Homeland

32 Mitigation through reduction Reduction by rewetting is possible! Thank you for your attention