Integration of peatlands into land-use monitoring systems is central to the conservation of their carbon storage – be they conserved, degraded or restored. Healthy peatlands mitigate climate change, enhance adaptive capacity and maintain ecosystem services and biodiversity. Albeit peatlands are starting to receive a high level of attention and the scientific basis for their monitoring has quickly developed over the last few years. Robust and practical approaches and tools for developing and integrating peatland-monitoring into national monitoring and reporting frameworks is an important opportunity for countries to limit global warming to 2 °C.

SEPLA stands for "Satellite based mapping and monitoring of European peatland and wetland for LULUCF and agriculture". The main objective of the project is to ensure there are methods available for a comprehensive inventory of wetlands and peatlands and for the monitoring of their preservation and restoration by remote sensing and by regularly updated geo-datasets. This report, formally the third and the last deliverable of the project, elaborates on a prototype and technical guidance for Earth observation-based monitoring of peatlands or wetlands. Methodologies for the semantic description of the land cover, land use and soil related aspects are proposed as a pre-condition for this framework for peatland monitoring. Adapting feature-level Checks by Monitoring concepts to deal with ecosystems and with natural processes, the document elaborates examples of monitoring scenarios and tests several Sentinel-derived signals and markers. The peatland monitoring complexity is addressed by its decomposition into smaller and more manageable components. This involves a controlled breakdown of the requirements, feasibility and timing, the elimination of unnecessary processing and the prioritization of queries towards specified expectations. The three key elements of the monitoring system are discussed: the observation method, the temporal phenomenon that reveals an attribute or characteristic and the spatial feature of interest that exhibits the observed phenomenon. Additional EO-based methods that rely on both passive and active satellite sensors are investigated. A proxy method based on multiannual farmers' declarations for handling non-monitorable land aspects is described. The report also documents a summary of study cases that explore the possibilities of discrimination between the managed grassland on organic and on mineral soils, the in-depth characterisation of areas on organic soils and a machine learning based peatland mapping approach. All analyses were performed using data provided by the participating Member States: Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland and Latvia combined with publicly accessible data and products provided by Copernicus Sentinel data access and distribution services and the Copernicus Land Monitoring Services. Despite their promising outcomes, these study cases revealed that ground data collection will be essential for learning, optimisation and validation of the EO-based monitoring methods. Tailored regional-based approaches, relying on local contextual information and using EO-based solutions or Copernicus downstream services can be expected to contribute to a workable solution. The report concludes that the satellite-based monitoring of peatland and wetland is a very complex, yet feasible task, but it requires multidisciplinary expert knowledge and diverse types of data. It also requires the integration of satellite data with ground data, with hydrological models or with ecosystem models. The establishment of a community of practice will likely be essential for an effective uptake of novel technology and for transfer of know-how.

Remote sensing can be used as an aid in the monitoring and mapping of peatlands in order to provide peatland managers and ecologists with information concerning the moisture and vegetation status. Therefore the overall objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of remote sensing in the characterisation of the hydrological cycle in peatland ecosystems.

An interdisciplinary book tackling the challenges of managing peatlands and their ecosystem services in the face of climate change.

Key messages A new global wetlands map, which uses a multisource approach (satellite, climatic and topographic data) and is underpinned by an expert system model with high spatial detail (232 x 232 m2), is now available. The map suggests that much more peat exists in the tropics than was previously reported.Unprecedented areas and volumes of peatlands, three times the size of previous estimates, are identified in the tropics, mainly outside Asia.Brazil emerges to be the main host of peat areas and volumes, closely followed by Indonesia.Tropical and sub-tropical peatland-hosting countries in all continents can use the map to direct, locate and prioritize conservation and management of wetlands and peatlands in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation.Scientific engagement should be continued through intensive field campaigns to validate these new peat hotspots; the interactive map will facilitate this process.

Distribution of tropical peat; Formation of peats; The main characteristics of tropical peats; Classification; Agricultural potential; Reclamation problems; Agricultural management; Energy use of peat; Environmental aspects of reclamation.

The aim of this guidebook is to support the reduction of GHG emissions from managed peatlands and present guidance for responsible management practices that can maintain peatlands ecosystem services while sustaining and improving local livelihoods. This guidebook also provides an overview of the present knowledge on peatlands, including their geographic distribution, ecological characteristics and socio-economic importance.