In 2019 we joined the 1% for the Planet initiative. Since then we have been donating 1% of our revenue from every product we sell to organisations working for environmental protection. For us this one percent should always translate into concrete action on the ground.

That is why for several years we have been supporting Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł, the Polish Wetland Conservation Centre. Together we work to protect wet and marshy areas and to raise awareness of the role that these ecosystems play in tackling climate change. Peatlands may not look as spectacular as alpine summits, but they are absolutely crucial for the climate and for biodiversity.

The Rospuda Valley is the largest valley peatland of its kind in Poland and one of the largest in Europe that still shows no traces of direct human impact. Rare plant and animal species live here, protected not only in Poland but throughout the European Union. This includes the only Polish site of the critically endangered orchid species Liparis loeselii.

This area is a unique remnant of the natural marshy landscape that once dominated river valleys in this part of Europe. Peatlands like the one in the Rospuda Valley take at least several thousand years to form.

Thanks to funds raised for example during the SAVE THE SWAMPS campaign, the first plots of land along the valley were purchased in 2022. Any interference in such an extremely sensitive ecosystem can have an IRREVERSIBLE impact, which is why securing these areas is so important.

As Magda Galus from Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł explains:

Thanks to the support from Cumulus in 2022 I was able to purchase the first four plots in the Rospuda Valley for Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł, with a total area of 3 hectares. This was the start of our programme to protect the most valuable peatlands in Poland.

Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł has also become the owner of Wilcze Bagno (Wolf Swamp), a peatland located in the buffer zone of Biebrza National Park:

Thanks to an earlier edition of Green Friday we managed to buy three plots at Wilcze Bagno with a total area of more than 10 hectares. This purchase gives us control over the main drainage ditch that used to dewater Wilcze Bagno and allows us to safeguard two beaver lodges and thirteen beaver dams built along the ditch.

The peatland at Wilcze Bagno, like many similar places in Poland, was drained decades ago with a system of ditches and converted into meadows and pastures. In recent years, thanks to the work of beavers, this degraded peatland has started to become wet again and to regenerate naturally. Since the current owners no longer use the land for agriculture, the plots are now covered by alder forest, willow thickets and reed beds. Why do these processes have such huge potential?

Restoring and protecting wetlands is one of those actions that

• slows down the outflow of water from the landscape, which helps during droughts and heavy rain events,

• stores carbon in peat and reduces CO₂ emissions that would otherwise occur with further degradation,

• provides refuge for many species of birds, amphibians and insects,

• allows nature to regenerate by itself, as long as we give it space and limit our interference;

Our yearly Green Friday campaigns play an important role in all of this. Instead of the usual rush for massive discounts we choose to support environmental projects. It is thanks to these actions that plots at Wilcze Bagno could be purchased.

Gaining control over key drainage ditches, protecting beaver dams, buying land that might otherwise be drained or converted to other uses. All of this is very concrete field work that leads to real change.