The International Mire Conservation Group is a partner in the UNEP-GEF project “Integrated management of peatlands for biodiversity and climate change”. The project has asked IMCG to assist in delivering one of its key products of the global component: a global handbook on peatland restoration.
First discussions on such a handbook were held in February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and in June 2004 in Tampere (Finland), but since action has been meagre. Now Martin Schumann (Greifswald, Germany) has taken on the task to coordinate the process.
The aim is to produce a guideline that is science-based and that will be a practical guide to peatland restoration for policy makers and site managers. The work will have relevance to all peatlands of the world but will especially focus on the core regions of the UNEP-GEF project: Indonesia, China, Western Siberia, and European Russia.
The guideline will consist of at least six parts, starting with a basic overview on characteristics, types, and distribution of mires and peatlands, on important peatland functions and values, as well as on the impact of different damaging operations on these functions.
The central part of the handbook will provide assistance in questions of strategic and site management planning for restoration projects. Guidelines will be given to assess the actual status of the peatland and to identify and set realistic objectives. This will guide the user to relevant construction and management actions that will be amply explained and illustrated.
An important part will be a catalogue of restoration activity providing an overview of and links to a great variety of current and past restoration projects. The last part will present some case studies in closer detail.
The handbook will consist of a short hardcopy text and a dynamic e-version on the web that can easily be updated. It will be available in the first half of 2006.
Only with the help of specialists all over the world a satisfactory output can be reached.
Therefore, any information (especially grey literature and oral information) on conditions, planned or undertaken measures, costs, results, monitoring techniques, funding, and other background knowledge will be gratefully received by:
Martin Schumann, Botanical Institute Greifswald, Grimmer Straße 88,
D-17489 Greifswald, Germany, Tel. +49 3834-864135, MS990736@uni-greifswald.de