SOCIAL BENEFITS AND ABATEMENT COSTS OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION REDUCTIONS FROM RESTORING DRAINED FEN WETLANDS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE ELBE RIVER BASIN (GERMANY)

This paper presents estimates of the costs and benefits of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through fen wetland restoration. This study takes previous research on GHG emissions from peat wetlands further by coupling water‐level‐dependent emission functions with a landscape‐ and basin‐scale assessment of the hydrology and water management of wetlands. For this purpose we use a water management model for the Elbe River Basin that includes the major lowland fen wetland sites as water users. Based on the resultant estimates of the GHG emissions of wetlands and the reduction potential of management options under a more realistic description of water availability, this paper provides improved estimates of the benefits of restoration in terms of the shadow price of carbon and the GHG abatement costs of wetland restoration measures. An econometric approach is used to develop abatement cost estimates for wetland restoration. We find mean current emissions over 35 wetland sites (3840 km²) to be in the range of 17.5–25.5 tCO2e ha ‐1 . The median of estimated abatement costs for fen stabilisation scenarios are within a range of €10–20 tCO2e ‐1 and for restoration scenarios in a range of €7–14 tCO2e ‐1 . Fen wetland restoration can therefore potentially contribute to mitigation targets at low cost. An approach focused on restoration is a more efficient strategy compared to an approach centred on agri‐environmental schemes, even though both components are required in a zoning approach. However the effects of climatic change may reduce the effectiveness of wetland restoration measures by roughly 50%. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.