The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is critical for the restoration of degraded ecosystems and active afforestation of degraded peatlands has been suggested as a restoration measure under the NRL. Here, we discuss the current state of scientific evidence on the climate mitigation effects of peatlands under forestry. Afforestation of drained peatlands without restoring their hydrology does not fully restore ecosystem functions....

Climate warming and projected increase in summer droughts puts northern peatlands under pressure by subjecting them to a combination of gradual drying and extreme weather events. The combined effect of those on peatland functions is poorly known. Here, we studied the impact of long‐term water level drawdown (WLD) and contrasting weather conditions on leaf phenology and biomass production of ground level vegetation in boreal pe...

Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in species composition and functioning as they warm twice as fast as the global average. It has been suggested that tree-less boreal landscapes may shift abruptly to tree-dominated states as climate warms. Yet, we insufficiently understand the conditions and mechanisms underlying tree establishment in the subarctic and arctic regions to anticipate how climate change may furt...

Present tropical peat deposits are the outcome of net carbon removal from the atmosphere and form one of the largest terrestrial organic carbon stores on the Earth. Reclamation of pristine tropical peatland areas in Southeast Asia increased strikingly during the last half of the 20th century. Drainage due to land‐use change is one of the main driving factors accelerating carbon loss from the ecosystem. Dams were built in drain...

A tropical ombrotrophic peatland ecosystem is one of the largest terrestrial carbon stores. Flux rates of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) were studied at various peat water table depths in a mixed‐type peat swamp forest floor in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Temporary gas fluxes on microtopographically differing hummock and hollow peat surfaces were combined with peat water table data to produce annual cumulative f...

The free air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) and N deposition experiments on four ombrotrophic bogs in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland, revealed that after three years of treatment: (1) elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration had no significant effect on the biomass growth of Sphagnum and vascular species; and (2) increased N deposition reduced Sphagnum growth, because it increased the cover of vascular plant...

Part of the missing sink in the global CO 2 budget has been attributed to the positive effects of CO 2 fertilization and N deposition on carbon sequestration in Northern Hemisphere terrestrial ecosystems. The genus Sphagnum is one of the most important groups of plant species sequestrating carbon in temperate and northern bog ecosystems, because of the low decomposability of the dead material it produces. The effects of raised...

Summary We measured a cut‐away peatland's CH 4 dynamics using the static chamber technique one year before and two years after restoration (rewetting). The CH 4 emissions were related to variation in vegetation and abiotic factors using multiple linear regression. A statistical model for CH 4 flux with cottongrass cover ( Eriophorum vaginatum L.), soil temperature, water level, and effective temperature sum index as driving va...

Summary Natural wetlands release about 20% of global emissions of CH 4 , an effective greenhouse gas contributing to the total radiative forcing. Thus, changes in the carbon cycle in wetlands could have significant impacts on climate. The effect of raised supply of CO 2 or NH 4 NO 3 on the annual CH 4 efflux from the lawn of a boreal oligotrophic mire was investigated over two years. Ten study plots were enclosed with mini‐FAC...