Good practice

Belarus National Peatland Rewetting Programme — 89,400 ha Restored (2007–2030)

Belarus · Minsk · See the Belarus profile

Belarus has rewetted 89,400 hectares of degraded peatlands since 2007—the largest UNDP-supported peatland restoration programme in Europe—cutting ~3 million tCO₂e over 20 years and adopting a national peatland law anchored in Paris Agreement commitments.

89,400 ha

Peatland rewetted (since 2007)

~3M tCO2e over 20 yr

Estimated emissions avoided

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus / UNDP Belarus
Period: 2007–2030
Keywords: government, conservation, climate, peatland, nature-based solutions

Context

Belarus has run the largest UNDP-supported peatland-restoration programme in Europe, rewetting degraded peatlands since 2007 and adopting a national peatland law anchored in its Paris Agreement commitments.

Results

The programme has rewetted 89,400 hectares of degraded peatlands, estimated to cut about 3 million tCO2e over 20 years.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-22
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus / UNDP Belarus — accessed 2026-06-22
UNDP Belarus Peatland Restoration Success — accessed 2026-06-22
PANORAMA Solution: Belarus Peatland Model — accessed 2026-06-22
UNDP: 12,000 ha Wetlands Project — accessed 2026-06-22
UNCCD Belarus Peatland Success — accessed 2026-06-22

Quality score: 87/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 1% in this catalogue (335 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced2/3

The UNDP 'Wetlands' project phase (12,456 ha) is projected to avoid 3.2 million tCO₂e over 20 years per UNDP reporting; cumulative rewetting of 89,400 ha is documented but not independently market-verified.

Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced2/3

UNDP reports recovery of rare bog-specialist species in rewetted sites, but systematic pre/post biodiversity surveys with quantified outcomes are not publicly available.

Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control3/3

Peatlands regulate water tables and reduce flooding; UNDP, Ramsar, and national programme documents explicitly cite hydrological regulation and water-quality improvement as primary co-benefits.

Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced3/3

Rewetting peatlands eliminates the primary precondition for peat fires; UNDP attributes near-elimination of peat-fire events in restored areas, and fire prevention is cited as a core justification in national policy documents.

Governance, certification & transferability3/3

A 2015 national peatland law, multi-year UNDP/GEF institutional support, Paris Agreement reporting, Ramsar Convention commitments, and international knowledge-sharing with Baltic and Central Asian states demonstrate strong multi-level governance.

Cite this

Evidoria. Belarus National Peatland Rewetting Programme — 89,400 ha Restored (2007–2030). Persistent ID: 522fda91-b31d-4450-934a-7e594b87e0f1.

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