COP14: Belarus brings experience in peatland restoration

Minsk, Belarus – The development of measures to protect and restore forests and peatlands as key resources in the fight against climate change, loss of biodiversity and land degradation will be of major importance for Belarus at UNCCD COP14, BELTA news agency reports.

According to the UNCCD national focal point Andrei Kuzmich, “Belarus brings to COP14 established national indicators of achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) and the political will to implement them. We have already gained some practical experience in restoring degraded areas – in particular peatlands – and we are eager to share these results with other UNCCD Parties at the COP."

An international project on restoration of drained peatlands, implemented with technical assistance from Republic of Korea and UNCCD, resulted in more than a thousand hectares of degraded and inefficiently drained bogs restored in the Mogilev region, where land in some areas there still bears the scars of the Chernobyl disaster. Peatland restoration helps prevent possible cross-contamination of other areas as a result of peat fires and radionuclide migration.

Read more:

• Full article on BELTA news agency website (in Russian)
• UNCCD COP 14
• Achieving LDN
• UNCCD national contacts
• Belarus shares success in peatland restoration