A living lab approach to promote sustainable management of agricultural peatlands in Finland

Abstract

Solution-oriented approaches are crucial for identifying the leverage points to promote sustainable management of agricultural peatlands in Finland. This study used a living lab approach to co-create policy measures and actions to mitigate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from drained agricultural peatlands. This study contributed to narrowing the gap between high-level sustainability ambitions and their practical implementation by demonstrating how a living lab can operationalise transdisciplinary collaboration in a contested land-use context. The living lab required collaboration between different scientific domains and the wider society by including interdisciplinary scientists and practitioners from outside academia. The living lab enabled mutual learning processes between science and society to promote a shared understanding between science and society for the co-creation of acceptable solutions and transition pathways. The dichotomy between the cultivation of drained peatlands for food production and the urgent need to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions could be solved by targeting interventions or leverage points that can change mind sets and values regarding the importance of productive peat fields in producing food to ensure food and nutrition security, farmers’ livelihood, and rural vitality in Finland. Restructuring agricultural policies in Finland as well as in the EU could be easier if there is a shared perception between science and society that removing drained peat fields from cultivation would not threaten these key aspects. This study revealed conditional openness among farmers to reduce cultivation on less productive peat soils if adequate incentives are provided, therefore resistance to change is not absolute but closely tied to concerns over fairness, livelihoods, and regional viability, thus highlighting the importance of just transition measures.