Reclaiming Europe’s drained bogs could both stop Russian tanks and capture planet-warming greenhouse gases, and the Ukrainians have proven that at least the former is entirely feasible, writes Politico.
In February 2022, as Russia tried to reach Kyiv, defense consultant Oleksandr Dmitriev realized he knew how to stop the Russians — by blowing up the Irpin Dam and reclaiming the bogs. Dmitriev had organized off-road races in the area before the war, and he knew the terrain well. He knew exactly what flooding the river basin, which was made up of vast peat bogs and fens drained during the Soviet era, would do to Russian military equipment. Dmitriev told the Kyiv region’s defense commander that everything would turn into an impassable swamp, and he was given permission to blow up the dam.
Dmitriev’s idea worked, and he says the northern offensive was essentially halted. Pictures of tanks stuck in mud were broadcast around the world.
Three years later NATO’s eastern flank looks to restore the bogs. It would combine two European priorities that are constantly competing for attention and funding: climate and defense. The European Union’s efforts to combat global warming rely in part on nature, and peat-rich bogs are equally good at stopping Russian tanks and absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
But about half of Europe’s bogs have been drained to make way for agriculture. Dry, peaty fields emit greenhouse gases and are easily traversed by heavy vehicles. Now EU governments are considering whether restoring the bogs could solve several problems at once. Finnish and Polish officials told Politico that they are actively exploring the possibility of restoring bogs as a versatile tool for protection and combating climate change.
In their pristine state, bogs are covered with soft mosses that do not completely decompose in water and slowly turn into peat. This makes bogs one of the most efficient carbon sinks. Although peat bogs cover only three percent of the planet’s surface, they store a third of the planet’s carbon dioxide, twice as much as all forests combined. However, when they are drained, the carbon stored for hundreds of thousands of years is released.
About 12% of the planet’s peat bogs are degraded,
and produce 4% of the planet’s warming gases.
The situation is particularly dire in Europe, where peatlands have long been considered a wasteland to be converted into agricultural land. Half of Europe’s peatlands have been drained, and as a result, EU countries reported 124 tonnes of greenhouse gases from drained peatlands alone in 2022.
Various peatland restoration projects are currently underway, and a new EU law requires member states to restore 30% of degraded peatlands by 2030 and 50% by 20250. Scientists say that restoring bogs on NATO’s eastern flank would be a relatively cheap and simple way to achieve environmental and defense goals.
Professor Aveliina Helm of the University of Tartu said that it is certainly possible.
A large part of Europe’s peat bogs are located on NATO’s border with Russia and its ally Belarus. They stretch from the Arctic regions of Finland through the Baltic states along the security wise challenged Suwalki Corridor, all the way to eastern Poland. When there is water in the area, it becomes a trap for military equipment and tanks. A tragic example is the death of US soldiers during an exercise in Lithuania when the armored personnel carrier they were driving sank in a bog.
Defenses based on swampy areas are not a new idea.
Wetlands have always served to stop armies in Europe, from the Romans, who in 9 AD were defeated by Germanic tribes, to the failure of the Soviet army in the Finnish marshes during World War II. The menacing swamps north of Kiev have always posed a significant challenge to the armies. However, the strategic restoration of drained swamps in preparation for an enemy attack is new.
Finnish government member Pauli Aalto-Setälä submitted a motion to parliament last year calling for the restoration of bogs to strengthen borders and combat climate change. Aalto-Setälä is a major and trained to drive a tank during his service. The MP said that Finns have historically used bogs for defense.
The fastest-moving talks on nature restoration are in Poland, although Warsaw is generally reluctant to do anything related to climate. Climate activists and scientists realized a few years ago that Polish politicians would be much more willing to invest in environmental issues if they were linked to defense, and began campaigning for environment-based defense.
After several years of campaigning, the issue has reached government level, and discussions are underway between scientists and the defense and environment ministries. Ecologist Wiktor Kotowski said the Defense Ministry wants to restore as much wetlands as possible along the eastern border, and
this is also necessary from a nature restoration and climate perspective.
Meanwhile, interest in restoring bogs in the Baltic states is low. Only the Lithuanian government, without providing further details, indicated that discussions are underway about restoring wetlands for defense purposes. The Estonian Defense Ministry and the Latvian Armed Forces indicated that natural obstacles, including bogs, are being taken into account in the formation of the defense line, but there are no plans to restore bogs.
However, scientists see great potential, considering that bogs cover 10% of the territory of the Baltic states. Helm pointed out that in many places the process would be simple. She said there are many wetlands that are being drained but have not been destroyed. If the drainage ditches are closed, it could be quite easy to return the wetlands to their natural state.
The idea also has its detractors. The Estonian Ministry of the Environment has suspended one mire restoration project this year because of opposition from local residents. Their main concern was that not only the bog would flood, but the forest would also be destroyed. Scientists say the concern is unfounded.
The biggest threat to the bogs is agriculture,
and this is causing embarrassment to the EU, which does not want to anger farmers. In Poland and Finland, restoration projects will initially only affect state-owned land, which will allow for the time being to avoid conflicts. However, scientists point out that this will not be enough for serious projects, and governments will have to talk to farmers. Kotovsky pointed out that programs are needed that not only compensate for lost agricultural land, but also allow for income from the restored bog.
The idea of using bogs for defense does not seem reasonable everywhere, and the German Bundeswehr pointed out that restoring bogs could also interfere with NATO operations. However, a Bundeswehr spokesman added that the idea of natural obstacles has always been used, and it is still viable today.
Scientists also point out that bogs cannot replace traditional defense, and they will not stop drones or missiles. War in general is not good for nature or for efforts to preserve it. In Ukraine, too, the flooding of the Irpin basin, while critically necessary, was economically and ecologically devastating. Unlike Ukraine, EU countries have the opportunity to carefully restore marshlands, taking into account the needs of nature, farmers, and the military.
Read also: Why is Donetsk so important for Ukraine’s defense?