How to use the Toolbox

The Carbon Connects ToolBox is for anyone interested in adopting better practices for the management of peatlands or learning more about how to improve land use management to reduce GHG emissions and /or to enhance carbon sequestration by the soil.

The purpose of the IWRM ToolBox is to provide assistance in overcoming the largest obstacles to climate proof peatland land use practices in NW Europe. The physical, institutional but also socio cultural and socio economic settings vary greatly in NW Europe. Therefore, there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution when it comes to applying climate proof land use of peatlands. Thus, users should carefully approach the Tools and thoroughly evaluate which ones can best fit their given country, context, and situation.

The ToolBox cover various peatland areas from NW Europe and provide climate proof practices with the latest knowledge of new business models, policies and legislation (i.e. the Tools). Within the context of Carbon Connects peatland areas in France, UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium were selected to cover the variety of NW Europe.

In summary, there are three main categories of climate proof peatland use, all three with their own specific challenges but also (business) opportunities:

• Restoration and conservation

• Paludiculture

• Transitional land uses

The interactive decision tree below can help decide which of these categories is relevant for a specific site.

The ToolBox addresses these categories by:

1) Describing related climate proof land use practices. Specific attention is given to the incomes related to these practices (financial incentives and business opportunities).

2) Describing monitoring practices in order to validate if the improved land use practices have the desired effect.

3) Provide an overview of learning opportunities, training possibilities, and best practice showcases in the Capacity Building chapter.

4) Analyzing the concurrent European policies and indicate what can or need to be done to improve the situation for climate proof peatland use in Europe, in the Policy Recommendations chapter.

The future of our peatlands is based on the next generation of farmers and people that are willing to change their traditional land use practices. Therefore the Toolbox offers a novel online learning environment and a ready to use plan for a European MSc Climate Robust Land Use.

Finally, the ToolBox advocates for mixed management systems, believing that using an array of different tools are likely to be most effective; employing, for instance, a mixture of direct controls, market instruments, information and education, assisted community participation or incentives for climate proof peatland use.

There is a increasing awareness of the important role peatlands can play in Europe to combat climate change. More and more experts, business people, policymakers and NGO's are involved in developing and applying climate robust peatland use. If you are interested to join this learning community the ToolBox also offers a gateway to this network.