Peat sample Puergschachen bog (c) Raphael Müller

MOIST – Recording Austria's degraded peatlands and assessing their suitability for restoration

The MOIST project is concerned with recording degraded peatlands in Austria and assessing their suitability for regeneration measures. The focus is on the recording of peatland areas and peat soils, based on the intersection of different data bases, the development of models and supplementary surveys in the field. The result should be distribution maps of organic soils, which will be used in a further step to develop a catalogue of criteria for the possibilities of rewetting measures. This is intended to achieve the overarching goals of the Austrian Mire Strategy 2030+ and the Biodiversity Strategy in order to preserve or restore important ecosystem services.

potential peat areas in a valley location (c) Raphael Müller

Project period: 01.01.2024 – 31.10.2025

Project management at the University of Vienna: 

Project partners: 

  • Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH (AGES)
  • Bundesamt für Wasserwirtschaft (BAW)
  • Bundesforschungs- und Ausbildungszentrum für Wald, Naturgefahren und Landschaft (BFW)
  • Höhere Bundeslehr- und Forschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft Raumberg-Gumpenstein (HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein)
  • Naturschutzbund Niederösterreich
  • Universität Wien
  • Bundesministerium für Finanzen
  • Landwirtschaftskammer Österreich

Funding: Biodiversitätsfond (C321085)

Responsibles from the Geoecology group

Stephan Glatzel

Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Geogr. Dr. Stephan Glatzel

Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2 (UZA II)
1090 Wien
Room: 2A376

T: +43-1-4277-48660
stephan.glatzel@univie.ac.at