In the Salzkammergut

Our moors: the underestimated climate protectors

The White Schnalbelried blooms in the Kainischmoor.

(Bild: Eva Stockner)

The word renaturation has been on everyone's lips for weeks. But what are the benefits of renaturation? Why does it make sense? Are there any disadvantages? And why are many farmers so strongly opposed to it? The "Krone" went in search of answers in one of the most beautiful moors in Steria.

The sun is burning hot from the sky in Kainisch in the Bad Mitterndorf basin. We made an appointment with Karin Hochegger from the Styrian Nature Conservation Association to find out why renaturation is actually important. And we wanted to know where measures might already be visible in order to understand the necessity of the much-vaunted Renaturation Act. 

And so we ended up in the Kainischmoor, an almost mystical world. But first of all, what is a moor? Easy to explain: a moor is an area where the soil is constantly wet. Because the soil is always soaked like a wet sponge, only certain plants and animals can live there.

The sundew, beautiful but carnivorous.

(Bild: Radspieler Jürgen)

The wet ground, covered in red and green moss, bounces under our rubber boot steps. "There are over a thousand species of moss in Austria," says Karin Hochegger. But it's not just mosses that love the moor. So does the sundew, which glistens gently in the sunlight. This carnivorous plant only grows on peat moss blankets of wet moorland. Because the substrate does not provide any nutrients, the sundew gets the protein it needs from insects, which it catches through its adhesive glands.

Some say that moors are the rainforests of Europe, the primeval landscapes where cultivation by humans has hardly ever taken place. It is of great importance for our survival.

Karin Hochegger

"Bogs were a nuisance and a nuisance"
In recent years, however, the Kainischmoor has lost some of its diversity. People used to think that a moor was useless. "It was annoying and troublesome and what was left was cultivated." The moors were allowed to dry out. Ditches were dug to allow the water to drain away, and the meadows were and still are drained in this way. People then extracted the peat and used it for burning. Today, peat is still sold as potting soil.

Wooden sheet piles are used to keep the rainwater in the moor.

(Bild: Eva Stockner)

This drainage has already caused the eastern moor to sink by around half a meter. "That's why the nature conservation association installed wooden sheet pile walls," explains Karin Hochegger, a renaturation measure. This allows the rainwater in the moor to be retained and the moor water level to be raised again. The peat mosses ("the kings of the moors") and the sundew then feel at home again and are no longer displaced by trees.

Stores climate-damaging CO₂
And not to forget: Peatlands are extremely important for climate protection. This is because the plants store the climate-damaging CO₂. They then convert it into organic carbon compounds. "Roughly speaking, a 15-centimeter layer of peat on the same area contains about as much carbon as a 100-year-old forest. When peatlands are destroyed, climate-impacting gases that were previously stored for 10,000 years are emitted in a very short space of time," calculates Karin Hochegger. The layer of peat grows about one millimeter per year.

A moor is a habitat that is truly ancient. It is important for biodiversity, for the water and carbon balance. It is simply a giant sponge in nature.

Karin Hochegger, Naturschutzbund

"Moors are also one of nature's most efficient tools against flooding," explains the expert. They can absorb immense amounts of water because the peat soils are extremely swellable and the mosses act like huge sponges. Studies have shown that an intact raised bog can absorb around 90 percent of rainwater during heavy rainfall and then gradually release it again.

Why the law is causing a stir

• The law is a central part of the comprehensive "Green Deal" climate protection package, which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050.
• It aims to save ecosystems from collapse, for example by rewetting drained moors and reforesting forests. Another goal is to create more green spaces in cities.
• In a lightning action, the responsible minister Leonore Gewessler voted single-handedly in Luxembourg in favor of the controversial renaturation law - against the will of the coalition partner ÖVP.
• The ÖVP then brought criminal charges against the minister for abuse of office.

The red peat moss.

(Bild: Radspieler Jürgen)

"There is a lot of uncertainty"
But why are farmers and landowners so opposed to the law if so much can be achieved through renaturation, as is the case here with the moor? "There is a lot of uncertainty about the implementation of the law, the funding, who it affects and how," explains Karin Hochegger. "But politicians, administrators and NGOs could do a lot to alleviate this uncertainty by providing factual reports and information." Because nobody is being deprived of anything.