We've made up our minds.

The battle over Grimsås bog has been going on for almost a decade. In 2013, the Finnish state-owned company Neova was granted a licence by the County Administrative Board to extract peat from the bog. A lot has happened since then.

The community of Grimsås, situated right next to the bog, has long protested against Neova’s and the County Administrative Board’s plans to turn the bog into a peat extraction site. Nexans, Tranemo municipality’s largest employer, has also appealed against the permit, as its fibre-optic cable production is threatened by the dust generated by peat extraction. 

Despite the appeals, plans for a peat extraction site went ahead, and in early 2024 Neova began draining the bog and emptying it of water. The peaceful climate movement Restore Wetlands responded by blocking the ditches with dams. On Ascension Day 2024, Restore Wetlands placed 68 plugs in Neova’s ditches. The water level rose significantly, the bog began to rewet, and the life that had been drained from it began to return. 

On 22 July 2024, Restore Wetlands began work on turning the bog into a nature reserve. Dedicated volunteers started laying boardwalks, building rest areas, bridges and a birdwatching tower. Neova responded the following day by sending out two excavators to remove the plug-ups and drain the bog once again. By standing in front of and climbing onto the excavators, members of the climate movement defended the plug-ups with their bodies. The following day, Restore Wetlands outmanoeuvred Neova by sneaking into Neova’s base camp early in the morning and gluing themselves to the machines. Police officers using nail varnish remover freed their palms and arrested the activists. After that, people continued to protect the bog from Neova’s destruction on a daily basis.

Peat is a material that has formed slowly, over thousands of years, in wetlands. Peat is formed from plant matter that does not decompose completely due to the lack of oxygen in these damp environments. Peat consists mainly of carbon, which is released when it is drained, thereby contributing to significant greenhouse gas emissions. Any use of peat, whether it is burned, used for cultivation or as bedding for animals, causes the carbon to be converted into the climate-damaging gas carbon dioxide. Peat emits more carbon dioxide than oil, coal and gas when burned.

Today, 70% of all Swedish peat is extracted by the Finnish state-owned company Neova AB, whilst Finland has received approximately 5 billion kronor in EU funding to phase out its peat industry.

Återställ Våtmarker demands that Neova AB be expelled from Sweden and that destructive peat extraction be banned.

As in all conflicts, it is the local population that suffers. Grimsås Moor naturally purifies the drinking water for local residents, and many obtain their water from their own wells. During the drainage of the moor, Neova has constructed sedimentation ponds to filter the water drained from the moor so that it does not contaminate the drinking water of Grimsås residents. But in its eagerness to drain the bog, Neova opened a new ditch through which contaminated water flowed straight into Grimsås stream. To protect the village’s drinking water, Återställ Våtmarker quickly rebuilt the dam that Neova had dug up. For several days, people then protected the dam with their bodies to prevent the excavators from digging it up again. 

Peat extraction provides neither jobs nor economic benefits for the local community. The money goes to Neova AB, whilst the local residents are left with a dusty and fire-hazardous peat extraction site where humus leaks out and contaminates drinking water and lakes.  

Read more on the Grimsås residents’ own website

Even today, the battle is far from over. Neova still maintains that peat extraction is good for the environment and the climate, and that the company has a lot to offer the local community. This is despite the fact that the water in Grimsås stream has turned black as a result of Neova’s drainage works. The future of the bog remains undecided. It is now up to you and all other socially engaged citizens to decide the future of Grimsås and the future of all life on our planet.

Restore Wetlands is funded entirely by generous private individuals.
We do not accept any money from companies or the government – we stand up to them!

Thanks to your support, we can continue to work independently.