Headfirst into shallow water - Wetland restoration and its contribution to the Habitats Directive

Sammanfattning: Located in the borderland between aquatic and terrestrial environments, the wetlands cover a wide spectrum of habitats and enable living standards for a great variety of organisms. Although important habitats, a great extent of the original wetlands have disappeared in Europe and Sweden due to anthropogenic disturbances. In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in efforts to restore wetlands due to their popularity as a climate mitigation tool and their suggested multifunctional benefits. However, little is known about what kind of wetlands that have been restored in Sweden. Is it merely amphibian dams or is it fens and bogs? In this thesis, I have investigated whether the projects within LONA (The Local Nature Conservation Program) had contributed to reaching the aims of the Habitats Directive (79/409/EEC). My results showed that eleven (20 %) of the LONA projects from 2021-2022 contributed to favorable conservation status for five of the wetland habitat types listed in the Habitats Directive. In particular, there were positive impacts on Transition mires and quaking bogs (7140), and Bog woodland (91D0) from the hydrological restoration of peatlands. Although a major part of the projects rather resulted in novel ecosystems. A potential future challenge lies therefore in finding ways to increase the contribution to the Habitats Directive through the utilization of LONA funding. However, considering that LONA has unrelated aims and that other funding sources are better suited for this purpose, it is arguable whether this is the most suitable way forward. Hence, I propose adopting a landscape view that considers different funding sources and an integration of the expected ecosystem services in the national database with restored and created wetlands. With this approach, we can determine which wetland types to prioritize on a basin scale and identify the gaps where restoration of high-biodiversity wetlands is absent. Wetland restoration is a crucial aspect of conservation efforts, but if we are to reach the aimed functions, it requires careful planning, effective management, and long-term funding for future management.