Young people for old peat

The peat challenges & benefits

Peatland restoration is a major challenge around the globe. Especially in the Netherlands, centuries of drainage for agriculture and land use have resulted in greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and ongoing land subsidence. Researchers Jan Feist and Zoë van Eldik of Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) study the link between peatland restoration and transformative change for nature, climate and human-nature relations. Their work builds on WENR’s extensive expertise in peatland ecosystems, including greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology, biodiversity, land subsidence and peatland restoration strategies.

Healthy peatlands shelter rare species and act as water buffers and filters. Their importance for the climate cannot be understated: while covering just three percent of the land globally they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. Peatlands also have strong cultural value in many places, just consider how many words we have for it, bog, fen, marsh, mire - the list goes on.

Twelve percent of global peatlands are now degraded, releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere. In the Netherlands, land subsidence linked to peat drainage is the main reason why a quarter of the country's land surface is below sea level. Therefore, peatland restoration holds great potential for climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and preservation of cultural heritage. This is also why the EU Nature Restoration Regulation mandates member states to rewet one third of drained peatlands by 2050.

Young voices for peatlands: RE-PEAT

In 2020, a small group of young climate activists returned from a bog excursion with a peatland ecologist at a climate camp in Germany and were in awe. Even in the climate movement, the unique biodiversity and enormous carbon storage capacity of peatlands is not widely known. To change this, RE-PEAT was born soon after: a “youth-led collective changing hearts and minds for and through peat” - a group of young people that engage in creative advocacy for peatlands across Europe.

This goes beyond talking about peatlands alone. RE-PEAT uses peat as a starting point for broader conversations about how people relate to nature. By challenging traditional images of peatlands as dark, dangerous places often found in folklore and presenting them instead as fascinating, living landscapes, the collective encourages people to experience these ecosystems from new perspectives. In doing so, RE-PEAT brings scientific knowledge and personal experience together.

An important feature of RE-PEAT's work is using art as a vehicle to convey (scientific) concepts, raise awareness, and bridge the rational with emotional and intuitive connections. This includes visual arts, storytelling, and sensory experiences. One example is the Moss Pit: an audiovisual experience in which visitors immerse themselves in a mossy pop-up landscape. Since its first pilot at the Earth Rising Festival in 2023, Moss Pit iterations have made their way to Glastonbury Festival in the UK, and efforts are underway to introduce them at festivals across Europe.

Young People Old Peat Symposium

Many events organised by RE-PEAT are playful and creative in nature, but they address serious issues. Stories about peat extraction, peatland degradation and their environmental and societal consequences are woven into activities that stimulate dialogue between generations, share knowledge and encourage young people to become involved in peatland restoration and climate action.

This approach was also central to the two-day Young People Old Peat symposium, organised by RE-PEAT in Oosterwolde (a town in Friesland) on 18 and 19 May 2026. The event brought together young people, peat experts, artists and practitioners to exchange knowledge, explore new perspectives on peatlands and experience the nearby Fochteloërveen peatland firsthand.

Peat paradigm change

RE-PEAT envisions an interconnected world where all peatland creatures and communities are supported culturally and ecologically. This fits a broader trend in movements that aim to contribute to transformative change towards nature positive futures. Part of such transformations is a shift in people's views and values; a change of paradigm.

How such shifts in perspectives and values can contribute to more nature-positive societies is currently being studied by researchers from several Wageningen Research institutes within the MINDVAL project, carried out for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature. As part of this project, researchers collaborate with RE-PEAT to better understand how creative and cultural approaches can strengthen people's connection with nature.

Getting involved

There are many ways to get involved with RE-PEAT. Keep an eye on its website, or LinkedIn, Instagram and Spotify channels for upcoming events, publications, podcasts and more.

Text: Jan Feist & Zoë van Eldik, Wageningen Environmental Research in collaboration with Frankie Turk and Bethany Copsey, RE-PEAT
Images: Savannah van den Roovaart (lead photo: Young People Old Peat symposium participants posing in the Fochteloërveen peatland)