Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, ul. Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.
Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Forest Science and Ecology, Studentu Str. 13, Kauno r., LT-53362 Akademija, Lithuania.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jul 10;829:154560. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154560. Epub 2022 Mar 14.
Agriculture continues to place unwanted pressure on peatland functionality, despite international recognition calling for their conservation and restoration. Rewetting of peatlands is often the first step of restoration that aims towards improving the delivery of ecosystem services and their benefits for human well-being. Ongoing debates on peatland restoration in agricultural landscapes raise several issues based on the valuation of benefits achieved versus the costs of peatland restoration. Using the transborder Neman River Basin in North-Eastern Europe, this study aimed to quantify and evaluate the gains provided by peatland rewetting. To achieve this, this study estimated i) possible changes in water storage capacity from peatland restoration, ii) the value of expected benefits from restoration and iii) costs of restoration measures at the overarching basin level. Applying multiple assumptions, it was revealed that rewetting drained peatlands in the Neman River Basin could increase water retention by 23.6-118 M m. This corresponds to 0.14-0.7% of the total annual Neman River discharge into the Baltic Sea. Unit increase of water retention volume due to rewetting ranged between 69 and 344 m·ha. The estimated water retention value ranged between 12 and 60.2 M EUR·year. It was also shown that peatland rewetting at the scale of Neman River Basin would cost from 6.8 M and 51.5 M EUR·year depending on the selected scenario. Applying less expensive rewetting measures (non-regulated outflow from ditch blocks), the economic gains (as water storage ecosystem service of rewetted peatlands) from rewetting exceed the costs of rewetting. Thus, rewetting peatlands at a river-basin scale can be considered technically and economically efficient measures towards sustainable management of agricultural landscapes. The novel methodology applied in this study can be used when valuing trade-offs between the rewetting of drained peatlands and leaving them drained for the uncertain future of wetland agriculture.
尽管国际社会呼吁保护和恢复泥炭地，但农业仍在继续给泥炭地功能带来不必要的压力。重新湿地化通常是恢复的第一步，旨在改善生态系统服务的提供及其对人类福祉的益处。在农业景观中进行的泥炭地恢复的持续争论基于所实现的效益与泥炭地恢复成本的估值提出了几个问题。本研究利用东北欧的跨国界涅曼河流域，旨在量化和评估泥炭地湿地化带来的收益。为此，本研究估计了 i）泥炭地恢复可能导致的储水能力变化，ii）预期恢复效益的价值，以及 iii）在流域总体层面上的恢复措施成本。应用多种假设，结果表明，涅曼河流域湿地化排水泥炭地可增加 23.6-118 M m 的蓄水能力。这相当于涅曼河每年排入波罗的海的总水量的 0.14-0.7%。由于湿地化而导致的单位储水能力增加量在 69 至 344 m·ha 之间。估计的蓄水价值在 12 至 60.2 M 欧元·年之间。还表明，根据所选情景，涅曼河流域规模的泥炭地湿地化每年将花费 680 万至 5150 万欧元。如果采用成本较低的湿地化措施（非监管沟渠块的非调节流出），则湿地化带来的（作为湿地化泥炭地的水存储生态系统服务）经济效益超过湿地化成本。因此，在流域尺度上湿地化泥炭地可以被视为可持续管理农业景观的技术和经济有效的措施。本研究应用的新方法可用于权衡排水泥炭地的湿地化与为湿地农业不确定的未来而保留其排水状态。
