Although scientists confirm that, across its full life cycle, peat is the most environmentally and climate-friendly substrate compared with rock wool and coconut fibre substrates, a number of myths about peat extraction remain widespread in Latvia.
“Peat is an ideally suited material for agricultural purposes, because it is a sedimentary rock of organic origin that contains air and conducts water exceptionally well. Peat naturally provides a growing environment that is well suited to plants. At this year's Baltic Peat Producers Forum, scientists expressed the view that, right up to 2050, global demand for peat and other renewable natural resources will only grow as the number of people increases,” explains Karīna Āboliņa-Zalpētere, Sales Executive Director of LVM Zemes dzīles.
A public survey on the use of peat
A study on peat extraction in Latvia carried out by the research centre SKDS in October last year confirms that the public appreciates the economic importance of peat to the national economy and to exports. A total of 1010 respondents took part in the study, and the majority of them, or 71%, agree that peat extraction makes a substantial contribution to the Latvian economy and that peat is an important Latvian export commodity (69%). According to information from the VID, the peat extraction industry paid 20.3 million euros into the state budget in 2023.
Although the European Green Deal sets out various restrictions on the use of peat in order to meet climate neutrality targets, 75% of the Latvian residents surveyed have a generally positive attitude towards peat extraction, and only 11% think that the volume of peat extraction should be reduced.
Myth 1: peat is a non-renewable resource
Although peat renews itself very slowly, it is a renewable resource. Latvia has more than 5000 peat deposits in total, and industrial extraction takes place on 4% of the area of those deposits. Scientific studies confirm that in Latvia's largest peat bogs (Teiči and Ķemeri), peat accumulates at a rate of 3 to 5 mm per year. One cubic metre of peat substrate can grow 6000 forest seedlings or 7000 vegetable seedlings, increasing the added value of a cubic metre of peat more than 100-fold.
Myth 2: peat extraction destroys natural areas
Once peat extraction has finished, restoration work began in 2024 on almost 919 ha of areas managed by LVM where extraction had been completed. For 675 ha the restoration objective has been set as forestry, by establishing or tending forest stands. On 244 ha, wetland will be created to encourage bog regeneration processes. It is planned that in 2025 peat extraction could be completed on 314 ha, with the restoration process then beginning: wetlands will be created on roughly half of the area and the remainder will be afforested.
“Restoration is a set of activities carried out after peat extraction has been completed in order to prepare the land for its next useful purpose — for example, forestry, agriculture, renaturalisation, that is, the creation of an environment typical of a bog, or other purposes. Restoring extraction sites is essential, because the land is then put to good and efficient use by being given a new function and added value,” explains Kārlis Volfs, Production Executive Director of LVM Zemes dzīles.
The restoration process for a site begins with careful planning and an analysis of the area and its surroundings. Once peat extraction has been completed, a detailed restoration plan is drawn up setting out specific activities and a plan of action for achieving the stated objectives — for example, filling in ditches and preparing the soil for the next intended use. LVM Zemes dzīles studies and draws on experience from bog restoration projects in Latvia and abroad in order to choose the best approach to managing extraction sites.
Slightly more than half of the respondents (51%) who took part in the study conducted by SKDS believe that the bog should be restored at the extraction site once peat extraction has ended. Respondents also indicate that, once peat extraction has ended, forest should be planted at the extraction sites (43%), the area should be handed over for agricultural use (36%), or the area should be restored and converted for the construction of solar and wind farms (13%).
Myth 3: peat is used only in energy production
In Latvia most peat is used in horticulture rather than in energy production. From 2030, the use of peat in energy production will be prohibited in Latvia. Peat is the basis for substrates used in urban greening and in growing forest seedlings, vegetables, mushrooms and leafy greens. LVM, too, uses peat substrates to grow forest seedlings. Using peat substrate to grow plants and forest seedlings can help meet climate targets, because achieving those targets involves a plan to substantially promote forest regeneration, which requires tree seedlings, and at present there is no better growing environment for them than substrates containing peat. 59% of the respondents surveyed use peat. 64% would generally not be prepared to pay more for tree, vegetable and ornamental seedlings if peat had not been used to grow them.
Myth 4: peat extraction is harmful to the environment
As a natural resource, peat has been important in Latvia both in energy production and in horticulture, but nowadays ever greater attention is being paid to using it sustainably and to restoring the environment after extraction. In order to reduce the impact of peat extraction on ecosystems, countries where peat is extracted are actively seeking solutions for restoring the sites where peat extraction has taken place, whether historically or in the recent past. In these processes an important role is played not only by planting forest, but also by regulating water levels and restoring the bog environment, which makes it possible to bring back the natural bog processes in which peat can, over the long term, form once again from plant matter and mosses.
Restoration projects, for example at historic peat extraction sites, cover considerable areas running to several hundred hectares. Restoration and renaturalisation plans are drawn up in order to restore the unique environmental values of bogs. This approach helps not only to preserve biological diversity, but also to create a sustainable and balanced solution for the future.
The SKDS study shows that 21% of respondents believe the volume of peat extraction in Latvia should be increased, while 43% think the current volume of peat extraction should be left unchanged.
Compared with the data from the 2018 survey, there has been a slight fall in the proportion of respondents who generally agree that peat extraction harms nature (from 44% to 38%), while there has been an increase in the proportion of respondents who generally disagree that peat extraction reduces the opportunities for Latvian residents to pick berries and mushrooms (from 44% to 49%).
“The use of peat, from extraction through substrate production and its further use all the way to planting seedlings in the ground, has to be analysed across the whole life cycle. At present the focus is being narrowed, without justification, to the CO₂ emissions generated by the peat extraction process alone, without assessing the possibilities for the further use of this substrate and the fact that substrates end up in the ground together with plant and tree seedlings, where they decompose considerably more slowly, and that plants and trees growing in a peat substrate environment additionally capture CO₂. The actual restoration prospects for extraction sites that have not been worked out also have to be assessed. Day to day we see that in places where peat extraction has taken place historically and has not been carried through to completion, the land is barren, poses a fire risk and has sparse plant cover, because the plants grow very slowly under the influence of the weather and an unsuitable moisture regime, and from time to time die off. That is why it is important to continue and to carry out peat extraction in such areas in a way that allows them to be restored as effectively as possible in future. Peat is a resource that is needed both here in Latvia and globally. That is why, in the coming years, LVM Zemes dzīles plans to carry out and take part in studies that would make it possible to look objectively at the role of the peat resource and its overall impact on the environment, people, climate change and the quality of ecosystems,” says Kristīne Ansone, Director of LVM Zemes dzīles.
Because of geographical and climatic conditions, peat forms only within a certain belt, and so the number of countries with their own peat reserves is limited. Peat is one of Latvia's valuable natural riches, found in the country's bogs, and when managed sustainably it delivers economic benefits to the national economy. Peat deposits cover 10% of Latvia's territory. 93% of Latvia's bogs are state-owned. In terms of peat export volumes Latvia is a world leader, but by value it ranks second behind Canada. On the European market, peat extracted in Latvia makes up 30% of total market supply for horticulture.
AS Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) manages the largest share of Latvia's peat extraction sites, or 16.8 thousand hectares, where peat extraction is carried out by lessees.