On World Wetlands Day 2026, we celebrate the power of collaboration, science, and local action to protect and restore Europe’s wetlands. Through the ALFAwetlands Living Labs, researchers, NGOs, citizens, land managers, municipalities and policy makers are working together to share knowledge, test solutions, and shape sustainable wetland management across diverse socio-ecological contexts.
Please also read: ALFAwetlands Living Labs
Here’s a snapshot of what ALFAwetlands Living Labs across Europe have achieved and plan currently:
Living Lab Austria – Hungary
This transboundary Living Lab, based at the Fertö/Neusiedl Lake, Hungary & Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park, Austria, and led by the European Wilderness Society, focuses on the management of Europe’s largest contiguous reed belt, a critical habitat for many Central European bird species. At this Living Lab we investigate involvement of different stakeholders in testing and evaluation of controlled fire management as a nature-based solution, including assessment of its impacts on biodiversity with the aim of informing adaptive management and potential legal change. Strong citizen engagement activities, combined with an innovative reed management experiment, demonstrating how local participation can actively contribute to adaptive wetland management.
Living Lab Belgium
This Living Lab, led by Research Institute Nature and Forest, currently focused on finalizing all field measurements and ensuring that the complete dataset is properly imported into the central database, laying a solid foundation for comparative analysis. Don´t miss our Final Conference excursion to this Living Lab in September 2026!
Living Lab Estonia
The Living Lab in Estonia, coordinated by the University of Tartu, brings together four contrasting wetland site types to assess the long-term effectiveness of restoration and management. Fieldwork focuses on greenhouse gas fluxes, carbon budgets, biomass, environmental parameters, and microbiology, comparing restored peatland forests, abandoned peat extraction fields, and reference sites to understand ecosystem recovery over time. By combining restored, constructed, and reference wetlands, including insights from nature-based solutions, the Living Lab contributes critical evidence on whether restored wetlands function as carbon-sequestering ecosystems.
Living Lab Germany
The Living Lab Upper Peene Valley is located in the north-east of Germany and is coordinated by the Michael Succow Foundation. In September 2025, a successful paludiculture excursion brought together the international audience from the 4th international conference on “Renewable Resources from Wet and Rewetted Peatlands – RRR2025″ and political stakeholders ranging from federal state to EU level. The visit of two paludiculture sites with cattail and wet meadow species was a great basis to discuss and exchange upon barriers and enablers of paludiculture in governance and policy.
Would you like to discover the Peene Valley yourself? Stay tuned for news about our next Living Lab Open Day in summer 2026.
Living Lab Latvia
A major scientific milestone was reached with the collection of a significant amount of comparable data. Addressing this gap between evidence and perception is essential for effective wetland governance. This Living Lab is coordinated by the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava”, who is working currently on presentation of more results in 2026.
Living Lab Finland
The Living Lab Finland, led by the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke, with the contribution of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, focuses on drained peatland forests, which cover a significant share of Finland’s land area and offer major potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through improved management.
Across six sites, the Living Lab compares ecological restoration through rewetting with continuous cover forestry, generating evidence to balance climate mitigation, biodiversity recovery, the livelihoods of private forest owners and recreational use to allow for socially sustainable wetland restoration. In 2025, a Living Lab Open Day was organised in Sanginjoki site in cooperation with local partners, accompanied by biodiversity observation and bioblitz campaign to biodiversity data through citizen science.
Living Lab France
Two of this Living Lab sites: Bernadouze-Pyrénées and Confluent-Toulouse are coordinated by the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS.
At the Bernadouze-Pyrénées site, piezometers were replaced to secure the long-term monitoring of water levels, ensuring continuity and reliability of hydrological data. At the Confluent-Toulouse sitetwo full years of measurements have been completed, which made a key step toward long-term assessment of wetland functioning.
Furthermore, at the third Rampillon Living Lab site, coordinated by the National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, INRAE, in 2025 field monitoring using manual chambers was finalised in collaboration with the University of Tartu. In 2026, the focus shifts to data analysis and interpretation, turning measurements into insights.
Living Lab Spain
All four sites of the Living Lab in Spain, led by the University of Barcelona and input fromEcological & Forestry Applications Research Center, CREAF, have successfully completed two years of sampling. In 2026, the results are expected to be published in scientific journals, contributing to the broader evidence base on wetland restoration and management.
Living Lab Sweden
This Living Lab on the island of Öland, led by Stockholm University, focuses on understanding how and why wetland rewetting decisions are made within a complex cultural landscape shaped by history, institutions, and competing land-use interests. The Living Lab supports a collaborative, actor-driven process that brings together farmers, authorities, NGOs, and businesses to identify institutional barriers, co-create shared future visions, and develop collective pathways toward water-retentive and climate-resilient landscapes.
Conclusion
Together, these Living Labs demonstrate how wetlands can function as real-world laboratories for climate mitigation, biodiversity protection, and societal dialogue. On World Wetlands Day 2026, ALFAwetlands reaffirms its commitment to science-based, participatory pathways toward resilient wetland futures, while looking ahead to a year of continued engagement through trainings, Open Days, excursions and the publication of scientific papers and datasets.
Joint results presentation
Close collaboration with our sister projects, especially Restore4Cs, REWET and WET HORIZONS, alongside active exchange within Living Labs, Open Labs, and Case Pilots, enhances the latest science-based knowledge and promotes sustainable wetland management.
Highlights from this joint work will be showcased in a shared presentation by ALFAwetlands coordinator Dr Liisa Ukonmaanaho at the Finnish Peatland Day on 5 February. Organised by the Finnish Peatland Society, the event celebrates World Wetlands Day 2026 and the 55th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention.
Stay tuned and celebrate World Wetlands Day with us!
This post is prepared by Vlado Vancura, European Wilderness Society´s expert, with the input from ALFAwetlands partners.