Establishment of a German peatland monitoring programme for climate protection (MoMoK) - Part 1: Open Land

Peat and further organic soils store large amounts of soil organic carbon and, due to drainage, cause around 6.7% of the German greenhouse gas emissions. • For the first time, a monitoring network specifically designed for peat and further organic soils is currently established, comprising around 200 sites on open land. • Parallel to the establishment of the monitoring network, the map of organic soils and regionalisation methods for greenhouse gasses and their drivers are improved. • In future, the peatland monitoring programme will serve as one long-term basis for the evaluation of the conditions and the climatic effects of peat and further organic soils.