Restoration of wetland habitats is one of the potential ways to mitigate the consequences of climatic change. Many wetlands, primarily the peat bogs in Šumava (Bohemian Forest), are islands of biological diversity, where countless numbers of rare plant and animal species live in their natural environment. Wetlands play an irreplaceable role in landscape hydrology and the water cycle, having favourable effects on the local climate.
Water, however, has petered out to a great extent from the landscape after centuries of intensive human activities; mires were drained and converted to cultivated land. Nowadays, drought has become a serious problem, and therefore it is necessary to address the rectification and restoration of the landscape’s natural hydrological regime. This was behind the conception of the project “LIFE for MIRES”, which returns water to places where it had been from time immemorial, forming the surrounding environment.
Project title:
Transboundary restoration of mires for biodiversity and landscape hydrology in Šumava and Bavarian Forest
Acronym:
LIFE for MIRES
Project number:
LIFE17 NAT/CZ/000452 LIFE for MIRES
Coordinating beneficiary:
Administration of Šumava National Park
Associated beneficiaries:
Bayerischer Wald National Park
BUND Naturschutz in Bayern, e.V.
Southbohemian University in České Budějovice
Financial support:
LIFE for MIRES project has recieved funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic
Bayerischer Naturschutzfonds
Period of implementation:
1. 8. 2018 – 31. 12. 2024
Overall budget:
5 845 000 EUR
EU financial contribution:
3 507 000 EUR (60%)