Living labs can help to drive sustainable peatland transitions

A living lab can help to put transdisciplinary collaboration into practice in challenging land-use contexts by bridging the gap between high-level sustainability ambitions and their practical implementation. In the case of agricultural peatlands in Finland − where climate change mitigation, food production, and rural livelihoods intersect – the living lab created a structured space for mutual learning, shared problem-solving, and the co-creation of socially accepted transition pathways. These pathways describe different approaches and action plans for moving towards more sustainable peatland management.

Agricultural peatlands are one of Finland's most complex sustainability challenges because they are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. The JustFood project used a living lab to co-create policy measures and actions to mitigate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from drained agricultural peatlands by including interdisciplinary scientists and practitioners from outside academia. The transition pathways developed through the living lab process can provide a foundation for defining national goals and identifying actions needed to ensure the sustainable management of agricultural peatlands in Finland.

The pathways demonstrate that agreement among diverse food system actors is possible, despite differing perceptions and interests. They also identify concrete entry points for addressing the peatland challenge in Finland. However, although a shared understanding was developed, the process did not fundamentally alter prevailing mindsets and values regarding the perceived necessity of cultivating productive peat fields to safeguard national food and nutrition security. Nevertheless, farmers expressed a willingness to consider alternative measures – or even to cease cultivation on less productive peat fields – provided that appropriate incentives are available.

How shared understanding can support policy change

At present, Finland lacks sufficient political will to address the issue of drained peatlands under cultivation. This limits opportunities to reform elements of the EU Common Agricultural Policy that currently sustain the cultivation of drained peat fields. Addressing such complex sustainability challenges requires transdisciplinary, community-based, interactive, and participatory research approaches. While top-down policy reforms remain essential, bottom-up approaches can foster the mutual learning, trust, and social acceptance needed for systemic transformation and supporting the transition towards sustainable development.

While top-down policy reforms remain essential, bottom-up approaches can foster the mutual learning, trust, and social acceptance needed for systemic transformation and supporting the transition towards sustainable development.

Pursuing transformational solutions requires reconsidering both how knowledge is produced and how solutions are put into practice. Practitioners in the public and private sectors who work directly with sustainability challenges, such as the agricultural use of drained peatlands, are often deeply familiar with the complexity of these systems. Consequently, actors beyond academia play a crucial role in identifying and framing problems and in developing socially acceptable solutions. When supported by key stakeholders, such solutions may eventually strengthen political will and expand opportunities for policy reform.

Opportunities and limitations of transdisciplinary co-creation

The co-creation of knowledge beyond academia is increasingly recognised as an important way to bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners. However, it cannot be assumed that all stakeholders have the interest, time or capacity to participate throughout long-term research processes. Transdisciplinary projects that bring together scientists, stakeholders and local communities often span several years, and stakeholders may initially underestimate the time and resources required for meaningful engagement. Others may be unable to participate from the outset. This represents a key limitation of the living lab’s transdisciplinary process. Such approaches require significant amounts of time, financial resources, and institutional commitment. Therefore, effective mechanisms are needed to strengthen both the capacity and motivation of stakeholders and researchers from multiple disciplines to engage in sustained co-creation.

Another challenge in transdisciplinary research is the risk that collaboratively produced outcomes become vague or ambiguous in order to avoid conflict among stakeholders. In this case, no consensus emerged around highly ambitious targets because farmers and local community members frequently emphasised that productive peat fields are essential for ensuring food and nutrition security. 

In addition, interviewed farmers have expressed concerns about farm profitability in Finland, being blamed for the environmental impacts of agriculture, and the future of farming more broadly. The living lab explicitly facilitated mutual learning between science and society through iterative knowledge exchange, joint problem framing, and the co-development of socially acceptable solutions. These processes helped address concerns surrounding the transition towards carbon-neutral production among farmers and local community members, who play vital roles in ensuring that changes in farming practices and land management are socially viable and locally legitimate.

The need for a just transition

The challenge is particularly acute for certain farmers living in regions with high shares of drained peatlands, where peat soils play a central role in animal feed and food production. As a result, the issue is both economically and socially sensitive. There is a need to move beyond merely compensating for losses and instead develop restorative policy measures that acknowledge existing structural injustices. These injustices are rooted in the long history of peatland use, supported by decades of subsidy schemes and regulatory frameworks that encouraged cultivation on drained peat soils. Consequently, additional policies are required to ensure a fair transition in regions with high shares of drained peatlands in Finland such as Ostrobothnia and Lapland.

Safeguarding livelihoods and maintaining rural viability must be integral components of any sustainability strategy.

Ensuring a just transition for farmers and rural communities is therefore essential. Safeguarding livelihoods and maintaining rural viability must be integral components of any sustainability strategy. In this context, the mutual learning fostered through transdisciplinary research is particularly important because it creates space for stakeholders to openly exchange perspectives, challenge assumptions, and jointly navigate tensions between competing objectives. Strengthened communication among diverse stakeholders – particularly in the co-creation of immediate and key actions – can support the gradual transformation towards sustainable management of agricultural peatlands in Finland.