News/All pieces
Attaché visit to the GMC
From Japan to Paraguay interest in peatland expertise in MV
30/08/2019 About 30 agricultural and environmental attachés from 14 countries from Japan to Paraguay, together with Dr. Till Backhaus, Minister of Agriculture and Environment in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, visited the Greifswald Moor Centrum on 29 August. A great opportunity to show what Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Greifswald peatland science have to offer: During a guided tour of the Karrendorfer Wiesen, a successfully revitalised coastal flood mire owned by the Michael Succow Foundation, the attachés were able to see and understand the significance of wet peatlands for biodiversity, climate protection and regional development "on the ground". At the research plots of the WETSCAPES project, part of the MV Excellence Initiative, and the mesocosm facility of the University of Greifswald, GMC representatives showed the current research. One week earlier, Elisabeth Aßmann, Chairwoman of the Agricultural Committee of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, had gained an impression of successfully combined peatland, climate and coastal protection, including innovative value creation, on the same site. Here it became clear that peatland protection and paludiculture must be part of a sustainable agriculture in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Obstacles were also addressed: Rewetting is progressing too slowly in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Planning and approvals take a long time.
Peatland conservation: Solutions on 84 pages
Report comprises all results of the MoorDialog project
29/08/2019 The MoorDialog project was funded by the German government’s National Climate Initiative from 2016-2019. Many important stakeholders of peatland and climate protection were reached and involved by events and publications within the project – building a #peatlandsmatter network in Germany. Another result of MoorDialog is the report Klimaschutz auf Moorböden - Lösungsansätze und Best-practice-Beispiele (“Climate protection on peat soils – solutions and Best-practice-examples”, German only), published within the Proceedings of the Greifswald Mire Centre. It recommends a possible transformation path for peatlands in Germany, as it would be necessary to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Now it is necessary to further develop this transformation path in dialogue and to bring the solutions more rapidly into society, politics, the economy and on the ground itself.
Revised RSPO Manual
Efforts to make palm oil more sustainable
06/08/2019 The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has revised ist manual on best management practices (BMPs) for management and rehabilitation of peatlands. The review and updating process has been facilitated by Global Environment Centre. The manual includes text and maps provided by the Greifswald Mire Centre.
Peatlands in the desert
Data from Uzbekistan for Global Peatland Database
01/08/2019 There are peatlands in the desert state of Uzbekistan! Researchers of the Succow Foundation, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, found them in the high mountain range of the Tian Shan, in the foothills of the Nuratau and along the Syrdarya river. These peatlands with peat layers of 30-70 cm have been largely unknown and are threatened by high-intensity agricultural use and degradation. The data collected during field work in July will be fed into the Global Peatland Database (Link) and will thus expand the global knowledge on peatland distribution. The research was part of the CAViF project of the Succow Foundation and financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
New: Paludiculture newsletter
Subscribe now!
28/06/2019 The Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC) would like to raise your awareness on the first issue of its paludiculture newsletter. With this newsletter the GMC aims to keep a growing community informed on peatlands and paludiculture. You will find news from research, practice, politics, as well as announcements of conferences and other events and recommended publications. The newsletter is issued at irregular intervals in German and English. If you wish to subscribe, please write an e-mail to communication(at)greifswaldmoor.de. It’s sufficient to put ‚Subscription for paludiculture newsletter‘ in the mail’s subject header. News on paludiculture send to this email address are also very welcome!
The newsletter is currently provided by the BOnaMoor Project.
Paludiculture studies for the Baltic States
Feasibility discussed in three workshops
24/06/2019 During the last two months stakeholders met in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to discuss the feasibility of paludiculture in the Baltic States. These workshops were organised by partners within the project ‘Paludiculture in the Baltics’, funded by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). For each state a feasibility study and land classification for paludiculture was discussed. Representatives from agricultural and environmental ministries, other authorities, stakeholder associations (farmers, foresters) and the civil society acknowledged the relevance of adapted peatland management for the protection of organic soil carbon and mitigation of GHG emissions. They also discussed the agricultural policy framework for paludiculture and opportunities to overcome current regulatory obstacles by reforming EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Despite the lack of ready-made business schemes and marketing options for paludiculture products participants were eager to push paludiculture further. And enjoyed tasting a typha snack and other gourmet paludiculture products…
2627‐910X
New GMC proceedings
04/06/19 The Greifswald Mire Centre publishes the GMC proceedings for better accessibility and citation of own reports and other project results. Two new volumes are now available. In the first volume 2019, emission assessment for peatlands in Greifswald, management recommendations and other results of the MORGEN project are summarised; in the second volume, the current status and new ideas for voluntary finance instruments for peatland protection are presented. This study was carried out within the MoorDialog project. The Proceedings of the Greifswald Mire Centre with its own ISSN (2627-910X) already include two earlier publications (2018) and appear online at irregular intervals.
PRIMA puts paludiculture into practice
New project on Cattail and Reed
20/05/19 From May 2019, paludiculture on fen sites will be studied in depth by the new Project Bringing paludiculture into practice: integration – management – cultivation. 'Paludi-PRIMA' investigates the cultivation and profitability of Cattail (Typha latifolia, Typha angustifolia) and Reed (Phragmites australis). A demonstration site of approx. 10 ha will be established in NE Germany to gain large-scale experience, including machine planting and harvesting of Cattail. A mesocosm experiment investigates the influence of genetics, water level and nutrient availability on the development of plants and their biomass quality, e.g. the suitability as thatching reed. In addition, PRIMA aims at improving the framework conditions of paludiculture, organises field days and develops practical guidelines and recommendations. The three-year joint project is carried out by four working groups of the University of Greifswald in cooperation with the Research Centre for Agriculture and Fisheries Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).
Breakthrough for the Aquatic Warbler
Translocation in restored peatland successful
16/04/19 Already three Aquatic Warblers translocated in 2018 from a large breeding site in Belarus to a restored site in Lithuania have returned in the first days of May to Lithuania from the winter areas. This has proven for the first time that such conservation measure is possible and successful in this species. The translocation was part of a LIFE project. Details and pictures can be found here. The GMC supports the LIFE project as advisor and currently prepares a similar LIFE proposal for this global threatened mire species.
Nile basin peatlands seriously threatened!
Result of 3 weeks fieldwork + fact finding in 5 African countries
16/04/19 Three weeks of fieldwork in five countries within the Nile basin project of Greifswald Mire Centre and Wetlands International revealed worrying facts on conditions of peatlands there. Agriculture, farming, peat extraction and infrastructure projects seriously threaten peatlands in this transboundary region stretching over ten countries in total. For example, the scientists stated accelerated depletion of peatlands by burning and farming in Southeastern Uganda during the last 10 years. In Southeastern Rwanda peatlands are on the edge of disappearance: A new peat fueled electricity plant is being built in Gisagara and planned to start working in 2020. It is expected to threaten 8,000 ha of peatlands. There are also large peat extraction sites in Gishoma. The Nile basin project, conducted by the Greifswald Mire Centre, Wetlands International and further partners, assesses the potential of avoiding carbon emissions in the Nile basin wetlands. Based on mapping distribution and status of peatlands in the region recommendations for technical and political discussions will be developed.