Assessing greenhouse gas emissions in fertile drained peatland forests in Finland

The studies of the SOMPA project coordinated by the The Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) assessed the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in fertile drained peatland forests according to different silvicultural practices. Continuous cover forestry on fertile drained peatland produced significant climate benefits, because their selection harvesting results in much fewer emissions in comparison to even-aged forestry and clear-cutting. However, selection harvesting does not significantly reduce the amount of soil emissions in comparison to uncut forests, especially if the soil water level is not greatly raised.