Navigating the transition to rewetted peatlands : governance, economics and public knowledge

Pia Sommer

doi:10.18453/rosdok_id00005156

Pia Sommer

Navigating the transition to rewetted peatlands : governance, economics and public knowledge

Universität Rostock, 2026

https://doi.org/10.18453/rosdok_id00005156

Abstract: This cumulative dissertation analyses the rewetting of agriculturally used peatlands in Germany as a socially acceptable and climate-target-compliant transition. The dissertation highlights that rewetting is a task for society as a whole, involving a profound, multidimensional transition. The end of drainage should be actively shaped politically and requires binding phase-out targets, sufficient funding and targeted communication. Peatland rewetting is analysed as an exnovation governance problem and compared with the Germany coal phase-out.

doctoral thesis free access

title:

Navigating the transition to rewetted peatlands: governance, economics and public knowledge

contributing persons:

Pia Sommer[VerfasserIn]
	0000-0002-2957-1961
	1392460557
Sebastian Lakner[AkademischeR BetreuerIn]
	0000-0002-5122-8924
	141499567
	Universität Rostock
Harald Grethe[AkademischeR BetreuerIn]
	0000-0002-4467-6905
	128860529
	Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Bettina Matzdorf[AkademischeR BetreuerIn]
	0000-0002-6244-6724
	133923576
	Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover

contributing corporate bodies:

Universität Rostock[Grad-verleihende Institution]
	38329-6
Universität Rostock. Agrar- und Umweltwissenschaftliche Fakultät[Grad-verleihende Institution]
	10025954-6

abstract:

This cumulative dissertation analyses the rewetting of agriculturally used peatlands in Germany as a socially acceptable and climate-target-compliant transition. The dissertation highlights that rewetting is a task for society as a whole, involving a profound, multidimensional transition. The end of drainage should be actively shaped politically and requires binding phase-out targets, sufficient funding and targeted communication. Peatland rewetting is analysed as an exnovation governance problem and compared with the Germany coal phase-out. [English]

Diese kumulative Dissertation analysiert die Wiedervernässung landwirtschaftlich genutzter Moorflächen in Deutschland als einen gesellschaftlich akzeptablen und klimazielkonformen Wandel. Es wird hervorgehoben, dass die Wiedervernässung eine Aufgabe für die gesamte Gesellschaft ist, die einen tiefgreifenden, multidimensionalen Wandel mit sich bringt. Das Ende der Entwässerung sollte politisch aktiv gestaltet werden und erfordert verbindliche Ausstiegsziele, ausreichende Finanzmittel und gezielte Kommunikation. Die Wiedervernässung wird als Exnovations-Governance-Problem analysiert und mit dem Kohleausstieg in Deutschland verglichen. [German]

document type:

doctoral thesis

institution:

Faculty for Agriculture, Civil and Environmental Engineering

language:

English

subject class (DDC):

333.7 Natural resources, energy and environment

630 Agriculture

extent:

1 Online-Ressource (ix, 193 Seiten)

publication /
production:

Rostock: Universität Rostock

2026

statement of responsibility:

vorgelegt von Pia Sommer

notes:

Enthält Zeitschriftenartikel

Zeitschriftennachweis: Peatland rewetting as drainage exnovation - A transition governance perspective, published in Land Use Policy 143 (2024) 107191, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107191 ; Deriving a justified budget for peatland rewetting - Applying the German coal phase-out as a blueprint, published in Land Use Policy 147 (2024) 107363, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107363

identifiers: