Peatlands in the Nordic Baltic region and elsewhere in the world store large amounts of carbon and are at the same time important for conservation of biodiversity. Thus peatlands are space-effective carbon stocks, but when drained carbon and nitrogen are released as greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and as nitrate to the surface water, while methane will be released when rewetting. New knowledge reveals that one of the most efficient means to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are the restoration of drained peatlands by reestablish former high water tables on organic soils.This project on synergies between climate change mitigation and the restoration of peatlands has been conducted under a regional Ramsar initiative covering the Nordic and Baltic countries (NorBalWet), with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. The report contains chapters on peatlands and their role in climate change mitigation, individual country chapters and the role of the Ramsar Convention.

The aim of this guidebook is to support the reduction of GHG emissions from managed peatlands and present guidance for responsible management practices that can maintain peatlands ecosystem services while sustaining and improving local livelihoods. This guidebook also provides an overview of the present knowledge on peatlands, including their geographic distribution, ecological characteristics and socio-economic importance.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2021-510/ We are facing two global environmental crises, the loss of biodiversity and climate change. Both crises should be handled within the forthcoming decades. Actions implemented to mitigate one challenge should not worsen the other. The two crises are interlinked. Biodiversity, together with geophysical and climatic factors form and maintain ecosystems, which contribute to climate change mitigation by capturing CO2 and store carbon. But the current climate change worsen the negative impact of the main drivers causing biodiversity loss. This leads to further degradation of ecosystems, which in turn may weaken the functionality of ecosystems that reduce the ability of nature to capture and store carbon. The project identified eight cases related to nature-based solutions enacted in the Nordic countries and identifies synergies between biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Did you know that • peatlands hold more carbon than all forests of the world combined? • drained peatlands are responsible for 25% of total CO2 emissions in the Nordic and Baltic countries? • rewetting of peatlands substantially reduces these emissions? This policy brief pleads for increased commitments to conserving and rewetting peatlands; for abolishing regulations that drive peatland drainage; for changing drained peatland use to paludicultures; and for setting up good practice demonstration projects. It stresses the need for better communicating the benefits of wet peatlands and the costs arising from damaged ones. Finally it highlights the role of peatland rewetting and restoration in reaching national and international policy targets for climate change mitigation, water quality improvement and biodiversity conservation.

An interdisciplinary book tackling the challenges of managing peatlands and their ecosystem services in the face of climate change.

Nature provides us with a multitude of goods like food and fiber, drinking water, protection against floods and storms, carbon storage and recreational services like swimming and bird watching. Our welfare and well-being depend on these goods and services – often called ecosystem services, defined as “the benefit people directly and indirectly obtain from nature”. We often distinguish between four categories of ecosystem services; supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. This report aims to sum up and show some examples of the results of the ecosystem services projects carried out for NCM. It illustrates which ecosystem services we receive from Nordic nature and the importance of these. It also shows examples of how the ecosystem services approach has been and can be used in management of nature in the Nordic countries, and to point out some knowledge gaps.

Soils are neither good nor bad, but some have inherent or acquired characteristics that may or may not suit our intended use. Unsuitable characteristics are considered to be soil problems, soil constraints or soil limitations. Only twelve percent of global land is right for agricultural production without much limitation. Some soils have severe limitations for crop production. These soils are so called ‘problem soils’. Many of them do not have enough fertility to be productive; some are arid and saline; some are very sandy and dry; and some are wet and waterlogged for most of the growing season. The global demand for food, wood, fuel, fiber, medicine and other plant products for the 7.2 billion current world population has created such an immense pressure on global soil resources that even the most fertile soils are losing their productive capacity. We are being compelled to bring more and more unsuitable or marginally suitable soils under cultivation. Unless innovative and integrated soil, crop and environmental management practices are adopted for their improvement and sustainable use, further degradation is inevitable. This book, Management of Soil Problems, identifies the problems and discusses management options in a smooth and reader-friendly style. It will be useful for students and professionals of soil science, agriculture, forestry, geography and environmental sciences.