• December 22, 2024

Peat Pals for LIFE in Flanders: The Word is Out!

The first one-and-a-half year of Peat Pals for Life has passed and in Flanders, we have been focussing on spreading the word and deducting our plan of approach. To do so, we organized numerous field visits, a peat(land) day at Natuurpunt, an excursion in one of our pilot sites, a kick-off event, a board meeting with the local municipalities and we created an information leaflet that will be distributed locally. This experience will be used to increase our target reach and approach stakeholders for a stakeholder-exclusive event. 

In preparation for our restoration measures, multiple site visits to the Abeek, Dommel and Veewei were organised. During these excursions, we went to see those parcels that are eligible for peatland restoration in the project. Our local volunteers guided us through the valleys as they are the driving force of our nature restoration and are very experienced with the (history of the) pilot sites, their input is invaluable. This resulted in an clear initial overview of the works for each pilot region.

Picture of the Veewei visit together with the lead partner Natuurmonumenten (©Drej Oomen).

Before we will start with the works, we want to create some local involvement around the project. To do so, we started with the organization of an opening or kick-off event. During this event, the PP4LIFE project was presented and discussed with local inhabitants and Natuurpunt members from the region of North-Limburg. Members, inhabitants and sympathisers from the Abeek, Dommel and Veewei all came to this event. As the kick-off was also the 30th anniversary of our local branch of Natuurpunt Meeuwen-Gruitrode and Peer, there were more than 60 people registered, with a bunch of passers-by and sympathisers that joined in on our celebration of the anniversary and discussion of the project.

Picture of the Peat Pals for LIFE Kick-Off/celebration event in Flanders (©Natuurpunt).

Additionally, a guided tour was held in the valley of the Dommel. This tour was led by our local conservator and the local project coordinator and attracted around 30-40 people. During our tour, the history of the valley, past restoration in LIFE Dommeldal, the current situation of the valley and  the PP4LIFE project and its implications for the site were discussed with the audience. The people were very interested in peatlands, the PP4LIFE project, allowing some discussion and input from their site. It was a nice experience and we hope to repeat it next year in one of our other pilots sites.

Picture of the Peat Pals for LIFE guided excursion in the valley of the Dommel (©Nathalie Dekoning).

To increase the target reach of Natuurpunt’s peatland projects in the nature restoration community, we organized an internal peat(land) day for our volunteers and professionals. During this event, we discussed peatlands as an ecosystem and their role in biodiversity and climate change mitigation, current policies concerning peatland restoration and conservation, the latest peatland projects in which Natuurpunt plays a role and biodiversity monitoring in peatlands. As a result, we spread the story of the Peat Pals for LIFE project to a target group that covers the whole of Flanders and even the Flemish government as colleagues from the Flemish Institute of Nature and Forest (INBO) were guest-speakers at the event.

Picture of the Peatland day at Natuurpunt (©Natuurpunt).