Peatlands

No Life Without Peatlands

Plants and animals living in peatlands have adapted over a long period of time to this wet, nutrient-poor environment. When peatlands are drained, when other plants spread into them, or when nutrients from agriculture enter the peatland, these species lose their habitat. Many of them are threatened with extinction.

It is part of the course of nature that species become extinct. But because of human intervention, this is happening ever more often and ever more quickly. In Austria, the Environment Agency records which species and habitats are at risk and lists them in Red Lists. The greatest threat affects habitats that are intensively used by humans: grassland, arable land and waters, closely followed by peatlands, marshes and springs.

Source: Habitat Diversity in Austria – Threat Status and Need for Action, Environment Agency Austria, 2024.