Peatlands across the world are an essential ally when it comes to climate protection, acting as a carbon sink and stabilizing our global climate. They are powerful nature-based solutions providing multiple ecosystem services: as biodiversity hotspots, for water regulation, as flood and drought prevention and as lifelines for local communities. However, peatlands around the world are being lost at an alarming rate – through clearing, deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, oil extraction, mining, and drainage. A transformative shift is therefore necessary. Decision-makers urgently need to make decisive and concrete commitments.

The first Peatland Atlas 2023 (https://eu.boell.org/PeatlandAtlas) highlights background information from different regions and provides options on how decision-makers and society can act now. The publication by the Michael Succow Stiftung, partner of the Greifswald Mire Centre, BUND - Friends of the Earth Germany and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in cooperation with the Global Peatland Initiative is going to contribute to a broad social debate on challenges and potentials of peatland conservation, restoration, and sustainable use in Europe and globally.