Fries Veenweidegebied

The Frisian peat meadow area, covering over 90,000 hectares, is the largest contiguous peat landscape in the Netherlands. It is an area whose origins can be traced back to the post-glacial period, when rising sea levels and sediment deposition formed vast peat bogs and fens. Archaeological evidence reveals that Frisian communities began reclaiming these waterlogged areas in the Iron Age, transforming them into habitable land through drainage and the construction of terps: artificial dwelling mounds that elevated settlements above floodwaters. The Great Reclamation (Grote Ontginning), extending roughly from the tenth to the thirteenth century, radically transformed the Veenweidegebied through a systematic, large-scale drainage of peat bogs. More intense water-management practices were established to reclaim the land from the water. Peasant communities, settlers, and landless farmers were organized by local authorities to carry out the physical work of digging canals and constructing dikes. This era established the characteristic open landscape of ditches, pastures, and dispersed farmsteads that still shapes the region today.

Following this large-scale reclaiming of the land from the water, turf-rich wetlands were transformed into arable land and exploited as a source of energy for heating. Around the 1500s, turf cutting for fuel became widespread, fueling urban development and industrial growth. In recent times, turf cutting, intensive agriculture, and dairy farming have caused the area to dry out rapidly and subside. Frisian peat meadows are currently being restored to a higher groundwater level to counter climate-change-induced decline, slow biodiversity loss, and conserve their carbon-dioxide storing capacity. This, however, has a negative impact on current forms of agriculture and housing. To tackle these problems and enable just transitions, so that the interests of farmers and citizens, plants and animals, soil and water are all taken seriously, the national Veenweiden-programme was founded in 2020. Initiatives such as Commonland, an international not-for-profit organization, try to overcome polarization by restoring and revitalizing degraded landscapes through regenerative practices. This organization collaborates with farmers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, and researchers to create sustainable and resilient ecosystems, using community-supported regenerative agriculture for soil health and biodiversity.

K.J.