The major problems that have been addressed by this component of the Project are the low level of public awareness of peatland values and modern approaches to sustainable use of peatlands, lack of interest of most people as far as peatland conservation is concerned, and low capacity of organisations working in the field of peatland education.
It has been well demonstrated by sociological surveys that most local people and decision makers have negative attitudes towards the restoration of peatland ecosystems, mainly caused by their low understanding of peatland functions and ecosystem services. Designers of peatland rewetting projects often do not understand the functional patterns of natural peatlands, which results in essential faults in engineering designs. Both designers and decision-makers are often unaware of relevant international experience and international obligations of the Russian Federation under conservation conventions. Protected nature areas and educational institutions do not fulfil their potential to deliver messages about the peatland restoration effectively due to the lack of methodical materials and systematic information.
The Project activities implemented under this component can be broken down into the following major activity lines:
- Providing technical and financial support to the development of information materials on peatlands for protected areas;
- Developing information and awareness materials particularly about peatland restoration, including demonstration sites and trails;
- Establishing visitor centres and museum expositions;
- Capacity building, including workshops, exchange visits and study tours; and
- Developing recommendations and guidelines on planning and designing peatland rewetting projects.
For details please use the corresponding tag on the Resource page of the website.