Ecological resilience of restored peatlands to climate change

Degradation of peatlands through land-use change and drainage is currently responsible for 5-10% of global annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, restoring disturbed and degraded peatlands is an emerging priority in efforts to mitigate climate change. While restoration can revive multiple ecosystem functions, including carbon storage, the resilience of restored peatlands to climate change and other disturbances remains poorly understood. Here, we review the recent literature on the response of degraded and restored peatlands to fire, drought and flood. We find that degraded sites can generally be restored in a way that allows for net carbon sequestration. However, biodiversity, hydrological regime, and peat soil structure are not always fully restored, even after a decade of restoration efforts, potentially weakening ecosystem resilience to future disturbances. As the recovery of degraded peatlands is fundamental to achieving net-zero goals and biodiversity targets, sound science and monitoring efforts are needed to further inform restoration investments and priorities. Restoring degraded peatlands can return them to a state of net carbon sequestration and enhance their ecosystem resilience, highlighting the importance of peatland protection and restoration in climate mitigation, according to a synthesis of evidence from temperate and high latitude peatlands.

Automated summary

The degradation of peatlands contributes significantly to global carbon dioxide emissions, making the restoration of disturbed and degraded peatlands crucial for climate change mitigation. However, the resilience of restored peatlands to climate change and disturbances is not well-understood. While restoration efforts can achieve net carbon sequestration, the restoration of biodiversity, hydrological regime, and peat soil structure may not be fully achieved, potentially compromising ecosystem resilience to future disturbances.