Healthy peatlands are among our most important natural allies in tackling climate change, safeguarding water resources and supporting biodiversity. Yet many have been degraded. At Isosuo in southern Finland, rewilding is bringing a drained peatland back to life, demonstrating why large-scale recovery of these vital ecosystems is increasingly essential.
Peatlands: powerhouses for nature, people and climate
Peatlands are remarkably diverse ecosystems, supporting an array of plants, insects, birds and other wildlife adapted to their unique conditions. Healthy peatlands also play a vital role supporting people by storing carbon, regulating water flows, improving water quality, and reducing the impacts of floods and droughts. Although they cover just 3% of the Earth’s surface, peatlands store over 30% of its soil carbon — more than twice the amount held in theworld’s forests combined.
Yet these critical ecosystems have been widely damaged. Around 12% to 15% of the world’s peatlands have been completely drained, while degradation affects up to a quarter of global peatland ecosystems. This has damaged biodiversity and weakened nature’s ability to regulate water and help landscapes withstand floods, droughts and other impacts of a changing climate. Once drained, peat also begins to decompose and release carbon dioxide, turning a critical carbon store into a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Restoring degraded peatlands by blocking drainage channels and raising water levels can reverse this decline, helping wildlife recover while reducing carbon emissions. This is particularly important in Finland, where peatlands cover around a third of the country and more than half have historically been drained.
Breathing new life into Isosuo
Located in the municipality of Hartola in southern Finland’s Päijät-Häme region, the Isosuo Restoration Project is overseen by Finnish NGO PLUPS (Foundation for Better Nature). Isosuo — meaning “Large Bog” in Finnish — is one of southern Finland’s larger raised bogs and the most significant regional peatland for birds. While much of the bog complex remains natural or near-natural, some areas have been degraded by drainage.
Rewilding at Isosuo is helping transform a fragmented and degraded landscape into a larger, connected ecosystem where natural processes can recover and shape a more resilient landscape. Restoration currently encompasses around 180–300 hectares, with PLUPS aiming to secure and rewild additional land to create a much larger interconnected area over time.
Building a European movement for peatland recovery
As the latest bold rewilding effort to join the European Rewilding Network, Isosuo will now be able to share its growing experience of peatland restoration, while drawing on the knowledge of a diverse community of rewilding practitioners across Europe. This exchange will support PLUPS as it looks to strengthen and expand its work — the team particularly keen to learn more about large-scale ecosystem and hydrological restoration, biodiversity monitoring, measuring climate impacts, funding and long-term sustainability.
The exchange will work both ways. Isosuo brings valuable practical experience of peatland restoration in boreal areas, based on an approach that combines science, community participation, art and communication. PLUPS can share lessons from its restoration work and early results, as well as its experience of camera-trap monitoring and stakeholder engagement.
“Joining the European Rewilding Network connects Isosuo with a vibrant community that is demonstrating how rewilding can make a real difference for climate, wildlife and people,” says Antoine Scherer, a rewilding expert at PLUPS. “We’re excited to exchange ideas and knowledge, and work together to deliver positive impact across Europe.”
“JOINING THE EUROPEAN REWILDING NETWORK CONNECTS ISOSUO WITH A VIBRANT COMMUNITY THAT IS DEMONSTRATING HOW REWILDING CAN MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE FOR CLIMATE, WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE”
Antoine Scherer
A recovering landscape for nature and people
Restoration at Isosuo centres on blocking drainage ditches and carrying out small-scale earthworks to raise water levels. This allows typical bog vegetation to return and the peatland’s natural processes to recover. Major rewetting and vegetation restoration began in 2024, while PLUPS has also secured and legally protected parcels of land to expand the rewilding area.
As the bog recovers, it should increasingly function as a carbon store and water regulator, while providing richer habitat for species such as waders, grouse and invertebrates. PLUPS is also exploring the introduction of low-intensity grazing by locally sourced cattle, which could help maintain open mire and meadow habitats and increase habitat diversity.
Local people are closely involved in this recovery. Volunteers have helped build dams, while PLUPS works with communities, landowners, authorities, researchers and businesses. Photography, art, storytelling and education are helping people reconnect with the landscape and recognise the vital benefits healthy peatlands provide, from clean water to climate regulation. Future opportunities could include birdwatching, guided visits and other forms of low-impact nature-based tourism.
The bigger picture: scaling up peatland recovery
As Europe faces growing climate and water challenges, restoring peatlands is becoming a necessity rather than a choice. Few ecosystems offer such a powerful combination of climate resilience, long-term carbon storage, improved water quality and quantity, and reduced flood and drought risk as healthy peatlands. Realising this potential lies at the heart of the work at Isosuo. Over the next decade, PLUPS wants the site to become a self-sustaining peatland, with restored water levels, lower carbon emissions and thriving wetland wildlife. Scientific monitoring will track the landscape’s recovery, generating knowledge that can inform peatland restoration elsewhere.
PLUPS is looking to extend this vision well beyond Isosuo, reflecting growing recognition that large-scale peatland recovery is essential for climate resilience, water security and wildlife recovery across Europe. The organisation plans to secure and rewild additional land and ultimately establish a connected network of restored and protected ecosystems across the region. This comes as Finland considers restoring around 180,000 hectares of drained peatland. Recent research suggests restored peatlands can begin functioning as carbon sinks again within just 15 years, highlighting how quickly restoration can begin delivering climate benefits.
Across Europe, Rewilding Europe and its partners are also helping to scale up peatland recovery. In Scotland’s Affric Highlands rewilding landscape, more than 1,000 hectares of degraded peatland have recently been restored through landscape-scale collaboration, while Rewilding Europe-incubated Wilderway is working to unlock private finance for peatland restoration and wider nature recovery. This momentum is reinforced by the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, which sets binding targets to restore 30% of drained agricultural peatlands by 2030, rising to 40% by 2040 and 50% by 2050. By connecting initiatives such as Isosuo and enabling practitioners to share knowledge and experience, the European Rewilding Network is helping turn this growing ambition into action — accelerating peatland recovery and scaling up rewilding across the continent.
Let’s rewild together
Rewilding Europe extends a warm welcome to all European rewilding initiatives that focus on practical, results-oriented rewilding and encourages them to apply for European Rewilding Network membership.
