Historically, scientific and popular science publications have viewed mires as an ecosystem with a certain degree of negative impact. Even in our Dainas, the mire is highlighted as a place endowed with an eerie aura. In recent years, undoubtedly under the influence of the pandemic, mires have become Instagram objects, making them places worthy of admiration, thanks to boardwalks. On the other hand, the industrial use of mires has always been a relative taboo, and just like in Latvian folklore, it encounters myths.
These legendary tales and myths most likely stem from Latvia's geographical location, which has caused waterlogging. This, in turn, is determined by climatic conditions and the country's position in the temperate climate zone, which leads to distinct maritime climate features – a small amplitude of average temperatures, increased rainfall, and inconsistent weather. Therefore, it can be stated with certainty that the formation of mires or peatlands in Latvia has occurred thanks to natural and climatic conditions.
The distribution of peatlands in Europe is highly imbalanced, as there are many more in the north than in the south. The occurrence of peatlands largely reflects the influence of rainfall and temperature; respectively, where summer temperatures are higher and rainfall is lower, peatlands are less common (1).
Historically in Europe, there has always been a struggle to 'combat' waterlogged lands in order to pursue agriculture, forestry, and the development of urban environments – the largest European metropolises are actually built on mires, and some of them achieved prosperity precisely due to the drainage of mires. If, until relatively recently, the view persisted here too that waterlogging was a problem to be solved by installing drainage systems, with the new European Union (EU) concepts, we are accepting changes, such as even the replacement of definitions for land reclamation and peatlands.
For instance, the Law on Land Reclamation (2) currently defines land reclamation as the use of land in a way that reduces the adverse effects of climatic conditions and ensures the sustainable use of natural resources. In contrast, the technical guidelines for carbon farming (3) of the new EU regulation provide a completely new definition of what peatlands are – any land that contains peat in terms of a histic horizon (e.g., lawns, moors, meadows). A histic horizon is the surface layer of soil which, when not subjected to drainage, consists of poorly aerated organic material saturated with water (or without drainage) for 30 days or longer.
Such politically and dogmatically altered concepts, adapting to the 'modern' concept, serve the proposed paradigms and confirm the clichés of the new green thinking.
Regardless of these, it should be noted that the peat industry was born along with Latvia and is one of the traditional sectors of the national economy, alongside agriculture and forestry; it has existed and developed independently of any external or internal influences. It holds a very significant place, especially if we speak about the influence on professional horticulture in the world and related industries, where Latvia has become the most influential player. Over the last thirty years, by practically abandoning the use of peat in energy, we have created the prerequisites for the rapid modernisation of peat extraction, producing high-value-added products essential for horticulture – peat substrates that are known, understood, and used by professional and amateur gardeners all over the world.
Conditions for peat resource extraction
The total area of peat mires is estimated at approximately 643,000 hectares, i.e., about 9.8% of the territory – 208,400 hectares in Vidzeme, 117,600 hectares in Kurzeme, 95,800 hectares in Zemgale, and 221,500 hectares in Latgale (4). Of the aforementioned amount, only a portion is usable for industrial peat extraction, as peat extraction involves many preparation works that only pay off when using areas and stocks of a certain size. Industrial peat exploitation requires an area of at least 100 hectares with an average layer thickness of 2.5 metres, containing about 175 kg of dry peat per cubic metre (5). The total area of mires usable in this way in Latvia was about 350,000 hectares.
Peat can be extracted if the mire is not located in a protected area and if industrially extractable peat reserves have been identified. In turn, the extraction site must comply with the municipal spatial plan, followed by an environmental impact assessment. An essential condition is geological exploration, carried out by inviting specialists who determine the structure, properties, quality, reserves, and other information of the peat deposit, which allows one to conclude and decide whether peat extraction is economically justified.
Upon receiving a subsoil extraction licence and developing a peat extraction project, one can begin preparing the area for the peat extraction site by choosing appropriate technology, establishing drainage systems for the extraction site, setting up the peat field and access roads, as well as fire safety infrastructure.
Mire cultivation – sustainable land use
Over the last twenty years, the issue of post-extraction mire use has developed, as in most extraction territories, peat extraction began in the last century. We call this mire cultivation or responsible mire management. It includes responsibility for the management of one's lands and mire territories, from efficient resource use to post-extraction mire use with environmentally friendly and compensatory methods. SIA Laflora, as a mire landowner, sees mire cultivation as a separate sector of the national economy. It is necessary to recognise the potential of this type of land as natural capital with socio-economic contributions. For more efficient use of the mire in the interests of the land capital owner and the state, this sector must be defined in terms of bioeconomy, circular economy, and climate change.
Mires – a carbon storehouse
Peat has formed and accumulated through the incomplete decomposition of dead plant biomass under conditions of high humidity and oxygen deficiency.
By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and producing large amounts of organic material, mires are a huge carbon storehouse. Peatland ecosystems contain approximately 30% of the global terrestrial soil carbon (C) stock. Therefore, they are one of the world's main components of the C cycle. It is estimated that the rate of carbon accumulation in the Northern Hemisphere over the last 11,700 years has been an average of 23±2 g C m/year, and the accumulated atmospheric C in peat has reduced global temperatures by approximately 1.5–2 °C.
Through photosynthesis, ombrotrophic mire plants take C from carbon dioxide (CO2) and thus sequester C as a surplus of vegetation production. C sequestration in peatlands results from fluctuations in biomass production on one hand and the degree of decomposition on the other.
In a study on carbon accumulation in a natural raised bog – the Teiči Reserve, where the total area is 14,000 hectares, approximate calculations showed that it accumulates 24,336 tonnes of C (89,313.12 tonnes of CO2e) per year, and over the last 180 years, 4,380,480 tonnes of C (4,380.48 kt or 0.00438 Gt) have accumulated in Teiči, which is equivalent to approximately 0.016076 Gt CO2e or 0.034129 ppm of the CO2 increase in the atmosphere (6).
The greenhouse effect is reinforced 20 times more by methane, which is much more aggressive than carbon dioxide, which has hitherto been considered the main factor in global warming. The peatlands of Western Siberia, for example, contain 70 billion tonnes of methane.
CH4 balance (LVMI Silava data)
Peat sector emissions vs other sectors – CO2 emissions in Europe in 2016
(European Environment Agency, 2016)
Peat – slowly renewable
Peat is currently defined in documents as a fossil resource (7), however, it has been proven that it is a slowly renewable resource (under favourable conditions, up to 4 mm per year).
It is noteworthy that research results point to peat growth both in natural mires and in those parts of the mire where a small amount of ditch digging has taken place.
During the digging of the first drainage ditches in the Teiči mire (1920s–1930s), ditches were dug by hand, and the drainage had no visually significant impact on the hydrological regime. Under these conditions, the impact is measured at 179±14 g C m/year. From 1960 to 1999, the installation of drainage systems involved large-scale works and the use of specialised automatic motorised equipment, which affects the hydrology of the mire and causes a decrease in the rate of peat accumulation, followed by a decrease in impact to 159±48 g C m/year (8). However, it is clear that peat growth of up to 4 mm/year has occurred in both natural and affected parts of the mire.
Small extraction – huge contribution
Peat is an integral part of the circular economy, after which no waste is created in horticulture, because it can be used multiple times in the growing process and is returned to the soil at the end of the growing cycle.
In Europe, approximately 25.1 million m3 of peat is extracted for horticulture and the food industry, which generates 5.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Peat is transported mainly to Europe, the Near and Far East, and China; it is used by approximately 750 million people, which corresponds to CO2 emissions of 6.9 kg CO2 per capita per year. For comparison, this would be equivalent to fuel consumption of 2-3 litres per year.
Furthermore, one cubic metre of peat can grow 6,000 tree seedlings, with which it is possible to plant 3 hectares of forest, which in a 50-year perspective can sequester 1,110 tonnes of CO2. If the organic soils used for agriculture (158,000 hectares) were afforested, a significant reduction in GHG emissions would occur, corresponding to 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
Mires and the peat within them are a natural resource that is used to provide for human needs
In today's context, unfortunately, one has to hear many myths about what happens to a mire when the peat in it runs out or that they are endangered and that mires are threatened with destruction. Statistics can be wrong, but the numbers do not lie – a significant volume of mires is already part of specially protected nature areas, ensuring the preservation of biological diversity. For example, the habitat 'Active raised bogs', or active mires in which peat formation occurs, covers ~266,200 hectares, or 41.7% of the mire areas in Latvia. Approximately 27%, or ~83,000 hectares of them, are protected in specially protected nature areas. For comparison – peat extraction in Latvia takes place on ~27,000 hectares, or approximately 3% of all mire areas.
On the path to climate neutrality
The European Commission has set a goal: in 30 years, the economy in Europe must become climate-neutral.
For a producer, this means evaluating the creation of emissions and the balancing of sequestration in the production process. In this case, the added value of products includes a measure of the producer's responsibility for various global 'challenges', such as climate change, the preservation and enhancement of natural capital, social welfare, and peace. Specifically, the peat substrate produced by SIA Laflora is a peat-based biomass product without which healthy plant-based food is unimaginable. It is obtained from the raw material peat, with mires emitting climate-warming gases. In turn, plants grown in peat substrate ensure the sequestration of these gases. However, it is possible to achieve the above-mentioned goals even in the production process itself and when extracting the resource. This is possible by effectively using the land areas where both resource extraction and post-extraction use occur, which includes green plantations and alternative energy generation by establishing a wind park and biomass extraction sites.
Areas after resource extraction are planted with berry bushes and plantations of plants suitable for the respective environment, and forest stands, which ensure emission sequestration. Bees and bumblebees, which feel comfortable in this industrial ecosystem, attest to its degree of purity and promote an increase in the yield of agricultural crops. Wind energy compensates for the power of production equipment and partly for the emissions caused in the extraction process. From wind energy, it is planned to develop a green industrial zone or an oasis of renewable energy as a regional business infrastructure object. This would be formed by attracting energy-intensive companies and allowing them to produce in a climate-neutral way, developing new products in line with the new climate reality, creating sustainable new jobs, as well as producing alternative energy carriers, for example, renewable hydrogen from wind energy. This will significantly improve the proportion of renewable energy resources and alternative energy carriers in Latvia's energy resource balance and will contribute to the achievement of the goals of the National Energy and Climate Plan by 2030 (50% RES share in final electricity consumption).
Settings and preambles can determine our agenda politically, but the obvious cannot be denied – if the goal were to achieve climate neutrality, or more accurately, if the aim were to reach it, then no one would doubt the importance of mires and peat in its implementation.
Latvia's natural wealth – peat, must be used reasonably, providing for its extraction in the long term, producing products with the highest added value, and ensuring national welfare and state growth in the future. In Latvia, the use of peat is sustainable; it is justified by the increase in natural capital in the mire sector and, by dispelling myths, is climate-neutral in the broad scope of this concept both in the context of the state and the whole world.
1. http://mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes/map19/map1922.php
2. https://likumi.lv/ta/id/203996-melioracijas-likums
3. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/10acfd66-a740-11eb-9585-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
4. Latviešu konversācijas vārdnīca 1933–1935, 18672
5. Latvian Economic Review 1936, 5.
6. https://kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2018/issue_4/earth-2018-4-247-258.pdf
7. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/imports/events/35/IPCC.
8. https://kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2018/issue_4/earth-2018-4-247-258.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0f1G41NID7g0xiTaz02pzeLjk59DKZrysOqiC7MrrCrnBSOaNobA6JmV8