COMMONLAND

An UN report from 2022 stated that 40% of the world’s land is already degraded. Landscape restorator Commonland is active in these degraded areas around the world and tries to regenerate land with their 4 Returns approach.

For their local Dutch partner Wij.land I documented the Western Peat Meadows in the Netherlands. Fewer things are more typically Dutch than watery peat meadows, with sweeping green landscapes dotted with windmills, dairy cows and migratory birds. However, decades of intensification of farming and systemic water drainage in these meadows have resulted in biodiversity loss, increased carbon emissions and reduced income for local farmers.

Together with film makers Jeppe van Pruissen and Joris van Egmond I was asked to document Commonland’s interaction in the Dutch landscape. Over the course of several months we met with farmers, nature organisations and companies that are joining forces to transform the ‘green dessert’ into a triving landscape again.