Welcome to the CANAPE project.
Creating A New Approach to Peatland Ecosystems
CANAPE is a project co-funded by the North Sea Region Programme 2014 - 2020.
Fenlands and Bogs used to be a major part of the landscape in the low lying areas around the North Sea. Over time these flat landscapes covered in moss, grasses, reeds and sedges, broken up by shallow lakes and rivers, have lain down layer after layer of partially decomposed organic matter called peat.
For centuries peat has been an important resource, as people have drained the fens and bogs for land to produce food, and used the dried peat as a fuel. This leads to releases of CO2 from the dried peat, and a reduction in capacity of the land to store water leading to reduced protection from floods.
The project Creating a New Approach to Peatland Ecosystems responds to these issues by restoring wetland areas to reduce their CO2 emissions and improve their capacity to store water, and by aiming to develop the markets for products produced from wetland ecosystems - a type of farming known as Paludiculture.
Latest Project News
CANAPE Chats Episode 5: Rewetting De Nol
21 September 2022Harry talks to Rudi and Frederik about the work underway in the Grenspark, a National Park on the border of Belgium and The Netherlands.
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CANAPE: Looking back at Barver Moor
11 August 2022Without the CANAPE project, the field at Barver Moor would be an unremarkable former marginal ifarming area, alongside a substantial nature restoratio…
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CANAPE: Looking back at Hickling Broad
27 June 2022In 2018 we first reported that excavators had begun work at Hickling Broad. Over 4 years they have returned each winter to develop the restoration sit…
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CANAPE: Recording the Oral History of Barver Moor
16 May 2022For two years, the Barver peat moss farm in the Diepholz district has been testing the climate-friendly wet management of moors ("paludiculture"). The…
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CANAPE Chats Episode 4: Bream and water quality research in De Leijen
04 April 2022Harry talks to Joop, Tsjippe and Jasper about VHL University of Applied Science's CANAPE work in De Leijen, a small lake in the northern Netherlands.
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