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The Paris Climate Change Agreement and the European Union (EU) Green Deal transitional assistance policy use the Just Transition (JT) process to support the business sectors most affected by actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of JT is to ensure social and economic justice in the implementation of climate change mitigation policy. The EU countries that have utilised significant amounts of energy peat, such as Finland and Ireland, will potentially seek JT support for the peat industry. We studied the attitudes of Finnish peat entrepreneurs towards JT by investigating the forms of support they would prefer during the green transition. The data were descriptive, collected by questionnaire, and analysed using Spearman's correlation coefficients. The results show that the preference of entrepreneurs is for direct financial support. Our analyses also suggest that low education level, high age and negative attitude towards the current energy policy can reduce the ability of entrepreneurs to adapt to the current climate change policy. We propose that support should be targeted especially at older entrepreneurs lacking higher-level education, who could be at high risk of being left out of the JT process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration of the bog known as the Leegmoor was accompanied by multiple challenging factors such as lack of a white peat layer, strong water table fluctuations and inhibited lateral water movement. The project started in 1983 and was supported by scientific monitoring. Now, almost 40 years later, the monitoring has been repeated to gauge success. As part of this initiative we investigated nutrient dynamics by monitoring soil and water chemistry (NH4+, NO³-, PO43-, pH, Nt, Pt) and soil water content in 2019-2020 and comparing our results with data from the 1980s and 1990s. Soil water content had increased significantly. Soil NO3--N content had decreased significantly and was mostly below the detection limit, while pH and NH4+-N had not changed. Pore water PO43--P concentrations remained above those observed in near-natural bogs, while nutrients (except NH4+-N) in the surface water had decreased to levels observed in near-natural bogs. Most of the observed nutrients had decreased, some to near-natural levels, although the Leegmoor continued to receive an atmospheric supply of nutrients from adjacent agricultural areas. Our results indicate translocation of nutrients into the vegetation, which has developed substantially, but this process can be expected to end at some point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article a concept is presented for replacing the tractors that haul machinery during necessary operations on peat fields with centrally controlled unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The objective is to reduce operational costs in terms of human labour, fuel consumption and the associated CO2 emissions. A robotic system architecture for the example of milled peat extraction has been developed and assessed on the basis of comparative analysis. Depending on the area of the extraction surface, the number of UGVs and the method of extraction, the fuel consumption and labour requirement for one season were determined using a combination of data from production records compiled by peat companies and field measurements using the UGV under assessment. It is demonstrated that utilising currently available robotic technology for milled peat extraction by either the Haku method or the 'vacuum harvester' method can reduce production-related labour requirement by 34-43 % and fuel consumption by 21-26 % with a corresponding reduction of CO2 emissions. Future advances in UGV technology will increase the advantages of robotic technology by reducing the requirements for human intervention as well as by using green energy in fully electric UGVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During most of the 20th century, peatlands in Belarus were regarded primarily as a strategic resource for agriculture and energy. In 1991, the Council of Ministers approved a "Scheme of Sustainable Use and Conservation of Peat Resources until 2010" (the "Scheme until 2010") which allocated a considerable fraction of the country's mires to nature conservation. Expiry of that Scheme has prompted its replacement with the "National Strategy for the Conservation and Wise (Sustainable) Use of Peatlands in the Republic of Belarus" (the "Strategy") supported by a new "Scheme until 2030". The aim is to meet the requirements for both sustainable development of natural resources within Belarus and international conventions. This article describes the development of the Strategy, which was achieved in conjunction with a detailed appraisal of the current state of peatlands in Belarus. The outcome is that the "Scheme until 2030" allocates almost all of the mires that have so far been confirmed still to be in natural (pristine) condition (684,200 ha or 29 % of the total peatland area) to nature conservation, 19,600 ha (1 %) as a reserve of 'especially valuable' peat, 99,100 ha (4 %) for commercial peat extraction, and 1,592,600 ha (66 %) for agriculture and forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]