Priority research questions in global peatland science

Peatlands are among Earth’s largest terrestrial carbon stores and are crucial for climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and water security. Yet peatlands worldwide are deteriorating under pressures from climate change and human disturbance. Strategic, globally coordinated research is urgently needed to protect, restore and manage peatlands so they can continue to deliver essential ecosystem services. To meet this challenge, we conducted a global research prioritisation for peatland science, based on a two-stage online survey and expert voting exercise involving 467 participants from 54 countries. We identified 50 priority research questions spanning carbon dynamics, climate impacts, restoration and management, technological innovation, and community and policy engagement. These questions provide a community-informed agenda to guide peatland research over the next decade. Addressing them will help close critical knowledge gaps, strengthen evidence-based decision making, and support the role of peatlands in achieving global climate and biodiversity goals.The repository includes:1) The full list of submitted questions to the online peatland community survey. The dataset includes all survey responses after translation, anonymisation and cleaning. Responses that consisted only of keywords, very general areas of study, or null entries were removed. Responses containing multiple questions were split into individual questions. Free-text comments were removed, and questions remain unaltered beyond minor spelling, punctuation and typographic edits for readability.2) The questions used in the expert prioritisation stage. These questions were derived from the full set of submitted questions after translation, anonymisation, sifting against predefined inclusion criteria, and merging of similar or overlapping questions, as described in the Supplementary Methods. The dataset includes the question text and the total number of points (votes) allocated to that question across all participants in the prioritisation exercise. Questions are ordered by total score (highest to lowest). The 50 priority questions in the main manuscript are derived from these questions and their vote scores, with closely related high-scoring questions merged and wording edited for clarity.No identifying personal information is included. The survey and participation was voluntary. Full details of the survey design, question processing and the prioritisation method are provided in the Supplementary Methods of Milner et al. (2026).