Research
The Greifswald Mire Centre recently joined Wilderness International on an exciting joint research expedition to our protected areas in Canada. The initial findings reveal the incredible, underestimated potential of Canada’s coastal peatlands for climate protection and biodiversity.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kreyling and Hanna Martens were able to fill in critical gaps in global bog research thanks to their two-week field survey in July 2025 within our protected areas. For the very first time, researchers set out to measure the true CO2 storage potential of western Canada’s coastal peatlands.
Initial estimates suggest that these peatlands store up to three times as much carbon as the local coastal rainforests—making them true powerhouses in the fight against climate change.
Hardly any other ecosystem is as mysterious, as grossly underestimated, and at the same time as crucial to climate protection as peatlands. Although they cover just 3% of the Earth’s surface, they store over 30% of all soil carbon—more than all the world’s forests combined! If they are destroyed, they release enormous quantities of CO2, which would have catastrophic consequences for our climate. This makes it all the more vital that we understand how peatlands function and work together to protect them.
This was precisely the goal of the research expedition organized by Wilderness International and the Greifswald Mire Centre in the summer of 2025 to our protected areas on the north coast of British Columbia.
Canada is home to some of the largest peatland areas in the world, yet almost nothing was previously known about the bogs within our protected reserves. With the scientific expertise of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kreyling and Hanna Martens, we set out to fill these knowledge gaps together.
A surprisingly large proportion of these peatlands are not even shown on global maps. And what information is available consists only of rough estimates. In reality, we know next to nothing about their depth, their extent or their carbon stores. The information we think we have is therefore subject to a great deal of uncertainty, and that is precisely what makes field research in this area so exciting.
Picture this: daily treks across beaches carrying heavy core drills, filtering drinking water directly from tea-colored bog streams, navigating unpredictable coastal weather, and enduring endless bites from sand flies, horseflies, and mosquitoes (because insects love moors).
What sounds like a daunting challenge to most was merely a minor inconvenience for Jürgen and Hanna. Our expedition gave them a rare opportunity to study a virtually unexplored ecosystem up close. "Every step across the springy cushions of Sphagnum moss reminded us just how vibrant and intact this ecosystem is, and how little we actually know about it," says Hanna Martens.
Hanna is Canadian herself, and her research focuses primarily on bog rewetting and restoration. In her home country, she has seen far too many peatlands degraded and destroyed by oil and gas extraction, making this pristine ecosystem all the more special to study.
Drained peatlands do not recover fully. When peat dries out, it becomes compacted, the pores become blocked and the moss decomposes – causing it to lose its function as a water reservoir. Although a rewetted bog creates new habitats and halts emissions, it doesn't achieve the storage capacity of the original ecosystem. That's why we must protect intact bogs now – only wet bogs fulfil their unique role for the climate and biodiversity.
Even before setting foot on the island, researchers from the Greifswald Mire Centre selected over 100 sampling sites in our protected areas using satellite imagery and existing maps. The sites covered three distinct peatland landscapes: extensive open raised bogs, forested peatlands, and "muskeg"—an intricate mosaic of mossy peatlands, small open water pools, exposed rock, and islands of trees.
The goal was to measure the total carbon content of the bogs along British Columbia’s Pacific coast by taking soil cores and surveying above-ground plant life.
Core samples were extracted at each site to determine the depth and quality of the peat layer. At the same time, above-ground vegetation—including trees and shrubs—was surveyed to quantify the living biomass. By combining this data, the team can extrapolate the numbers across the entire region, giving us a far clearer picture of how much carbon is stored both above and below ground.
The lab findings confirm what the researchers suspected: the peatlands on Porcher Island are among the region’s most substantial carbon sinks. With peat layers in some places reaching over 4 metres deep, enormous quantities of CO2 have been safely locked away here over 4,000 years.
Particularly fascinating is the comparison with the ancient old-growth rainforests of British Columbia. While these giant trees are famous for storing massive amounts of carbon above ground, initial analyses suggest that up to three times as much carbon is stored in the underground biomass of the moors. This brings bogs into the spotlight alongside rainforests as Canada’s primary "climate reservoirs."
When you hold the preserved mosses, small twigs, or pine needles extracted from the bottom of a 4-metre drill core, you are touching unassuming ecological record-holders. Though tiny, those pieces of wood are ten times older than any living giant tree standing on the island today.
These findings mark a huge step forward in recognizing the climate value of peatlands. They provide the scientific foundation for international research publications and fill in missing pieces on the map. They also offer concrete recommendations for action—which are especially urgent in Canada. Unlike in Europe, where awareness of peatlands is growing, vast peatlands in Canada continue to be destroyed by industrial activity.
Furthermore, the peatlands on Porcher Island are vibrant habitats for specialized wildlife. They shelter unique plants like insect-eating sundews, bog myrtle, and cloudberries, as well as amphibians and pollinators that thrive in wet, nutrient-poor soils. These, in turn, sustain migratory birds, breeding waterfowl, and bats that depend on intact wetlands.
While the moors on Porcher Island remain wild and untouched, the picture is very different in other parts of Canada. In particular, oil sands extraction in neighboring Alberta has irrevocably destroyed vast areas of moorland. When peat is extracted, the plug is literally pulled on the ecosystem: ancient carbon stores dry out, water drains away, and vast quantities of trapped CO2 escape into the atmosphere.
This is not only an ecological disaster, but a global climate risk. Intact peatlands are doubly valuable: they actively prevent emissions while protecting rare biodiversity. Destroyed peatlands, on the other hand, flip from climate shields into greenhouse gas hotspots.
This expedition was just the beginning of a long-term scientific partnership! Annual research missions are planned to document environmental changes over time using modern technologies like drone mapping and environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis.
Deep collaboration with local Indigenous partners is central to this effort. Large portions of the peatlands on Porcher Island lie within the Gitxaala Nii Luutiksm Kitkatla Conservancy. The Gitxaala Nation has a profound interest in these research findings, and we are honored to work together to protect these precious peatlands for the future.
Our joint research on Porcher Island proves that these quiet, often overlooked ecosystems play a vital role in protecting our planet’s climate. They lock away vast stores of carbon while safeguarding precious wildlife in Canada’s coastal forests.
For Wilderness International, this expedition is a inspiring milestone that highlights a simple truth: every single protected square metre of bog helps make our shared future more climate-resilient and full of life.
As Hanna loves to say: "Actually, it’s not that difficult. Please, just leave the bogs wet!"
