A Quick Scan of Peatlands in Central and Eastern Europe

A Quick Scan of Peatlands in Central and Eastern Europe reviews the status, con
servation and use of peatlands in the countries participating in the BBI-Matra Programme (Belarus, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Turkey). Geographically, it covers central and eastern Europe together with the non-European part of the Russian Federation.

 

This document was prepared at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), in order to inform the assessment of projects seeking financial support from the BBI Matra Programme and evaluate the impact (ecological foot print) of trade in peat products with The Netherlands.

Fullest possible coverage of aspects 

The LNV required, for each country, the fullest possible coverage of the following aspects: peatland status, distribution, location and habitat/species diversity in the context of (a) the regional extent and variety of peatlands and (b) the global distribution and status of peatlands; volume of peat and the total area of disturbed peatlands in the context of the impacts of mining, trade and other types of disturbance; the relative areas of impacted, primary and protected peatland; national policies on the management of  peatlands; the locations of the most important of the peatlands that are currently or potentially threatened; the areas or activities for which special responsibility falls on The Netherlands, in terms of ecological footprint; the most important unanswered questions; and the actions required within the framework of bilateral cooperation between The Netherlands and the countries of the CEE region.

Background information

This document provides initial background information relating to the issues listed above, which has been extracted from the results of a comprehensive review. It presents a series of sketches describing the peatlands within each country, followed by general conclusions. The order in which the countries are introduced roughly reflects their geographical sequence from north to south. The data are as up-to-date as possible, the most recent originating from 01 January 2008 and the oldest referring to the 1990s.