Editing Peat (section)

===Netherlands===
[[File: 500vc ex leg copy.jpg|thumb|left|Peat covered area (brown) 2,500 years ago in the Netherlands]]Two-and-a-half thousand years ago, the area now named the [[Netherlands]] was largely covered with peat. Drainage, causing compaction and oxidation and excavation have reduced peatlands (>{{cvt|40|cm|disp=sqbr}} peat) to about {{cvt|2733|km2}}<ref>Joosten, Hans; Tanneberger, Franziska; Moen, Asbjørn. 2017. ''Mires and peatlands of Europe''. Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany. 780 p. Chapter "Netherlands".{{ISBN?}}</ref> or 10% of the land area, mostly used as meadows. Drainage and excavation have lowered the surface of the peatlands. In the west of the country, dikes and mills were built, creating [[polder]]s so that dwelling and economic activities could [[Flood control in the Netherlands|continue]] below sea level, the [[Achtermeer|first polder]] probably in 1533<ref>Reh, W., Steenbergen, C., Aten, D. 2007. ''Sea of Land, The polder as an experimental atlas of Dutch landscape architecture''. 344 pp, Uitgeverij Architectura & Natura. {{ISBN|978-9071123962}}</ref> and the last one in [[Flevopolder|1968]].
Peat harvesting could continue in suitable locations as the lower layers below the current sea level are exposed. This peat was deposited before the sea level rise in the [[Holocene]]. As a result, approximately 26% of the area<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schiermeier |first=Quirin |year=2010 |title=Few fishy facts found in climate report |journal=Nature |volume=466 |issue=170 |page=170 |doi=10.1038/466170a |pmid=20613812 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and 21% of the population<ref>"Milieurekeningen 2008" (PDF). Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Accessed 4 February 2010.</ref> of the Netherlands are presently below sea level. The deepest point is in the [[Zuidplaspolder]], {{cvt|6.76|m}} [[Amsterdam Ordnance Datum|below average sea level]]. [[File:The Netherlands compared to sealevel.png|thumb|right|The Netherlands compared to sea level]]

In 2020, the Netherlands imported 2,156 million kg of peat (5.39 million m<sup>3</sup> [400&nbsp;kg/m<sup>3</sup> dry peat]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Common substances, materials, foods and gravels |url=https://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table |website=aqua-calc.com}}</ref>): 44.5% from Germany (2020), 9.5% from Estonia (2018), 9.2% from Latvia (2020), 7.2% from Ireland (2018), 8.0% from Sweden (2019), 6.5% from Lithuania (2020), 5.1% from Belgium (2019) and 1.7% from Denmark (2019); 1.35 million kg was exported.<ref>CBS (opendata.cbs.nl), [https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/81268ned/table?dl=2378F Goederensoorten naar land; minerale brandstoffen en chemie] (''tr. "Goods by country; mineral fuels and chemistry")''</ref> Most is used in gardening and [[greenhouse]] [[horticulture]].

Since the Netherlands did not have many trees to use as firewood or charcoal, one use the Dutch made of the available peat was to fire kilns to make pottery.<ref>Prins, Marcel & Steenhuis, Peter Henk, "Hidden," Arthur A. Levine Books, New York, 2011, p. 205.</ref> During World War II, the Dutch Resistance came up with an unusual use for peat. Since peat was so available in the fields, resistance fighters sometimes stacked peat into human-sized piles and used the piles for target practice.<ref>Ibid, p. 204.</ref>