{"id":291443,"date":"2025-06-11T13:21:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=291443"},"modified":"2025-07-22T08:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T07:49:23","slug":"wetland-restoration-a-nature-based-solution-for-europes-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/opinion\/wetland-restoration-a-nature-based-solution-for-europes-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Wetland restoration: a nature-based solution for Europe’s security?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now into its third year, changed geopolitical reality in Europe dramatically. While Europe is rethinking its defence strategy, both conventional military strategies as well as more synergetic measures are being proposed. Among the more surprising measures currently under discussion by the EU, is the restoration of drained wetlands, particularly the rewetting of peatlands, as they hinder movement across terrain in the event of military conflict. A European Wet Defence Line could contribute to both Europe’s military security and its climate and nature conservation efforts, but it must be handled with due responsibility and poorly planned rewetting must be avoided. <\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Header photo: Wetlands in Slovenia \u00a9 Dragoncello via Getty Images<\/em><\/mark><\/em><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Legitimacy of wet defence strategies<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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While undoubtedly thought-provoking and innovative, the proposal to restore wetlands, and in particular peatlands, as a military strategy raises profound political and ethical questions. Politically, it compels us to think what it means when ecosystems like wetlands are incorporated into military strategy. Does this imply an implicit endorsement of militarised thinking within environmental policy? And to what extent should military considerations influence conservation priorities? Ethically speaking, the idea of instrumentalising nature solely for defence purposes is contentious. Valuing wetlands primarily for their strategic utility risks reducing them to mere tools of protection, overshadowing their ecological, cultural, and intrinsic significance. This framing may ultimately prove counterproductive: if a landscape loses its military relevance, might its protection also lose priority?  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Departing from this tension, the following opinion explores policy pathways for wetland restoration, and particularly the rewetting of peatlands, as part of a broader de-escalating defence strategy for the EU. This perspective does not advocate for the military exploitation of wetlands; rather, it introduces a new argument for their protection, grounded in both ecological value and strategic resilience. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Wetlands as a military\u2019s obstacle for ground troops <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Wetlands have long helped in military defence along the Russian border. As a prime example, Napoleon\u2019s army struggled in Russia\u2019s peatlands and marshes. During World War II, major military operations through the wetlands were only carried out in winter, when the soil and water were frozen. These operations also relied on the help of peatland experts to navigate through the challenging terrain[1]<\/sup><\/a>https:\/\/www.aeco.earth\/blog\/peatlands-as-natural-defence-an-innovative-approach-to-europes-security<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>