News/All pieces
Acoustics, art and cardboard
All in this fresh issue of our NL
23/05/2025 The current issue of the Paludiculture newsletter tells how peatland is represented in the new “Land Use” focus of the Berlin Futurium and about new courses and training programmes on peatlands. It shares news about the new cardboard box of a large German DIY store produced with a share of paludiculture biomass. In the Paludiculture interview, scientist Alexander Drexler explains why he doesn't need to hear anything himself during bioacoustic monitoring. Also: newly launched projects, new publications and an overview of current events on peatlands, climate protection and paludiculture in the calendar. We hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and would be happy to receive feedback on it by e-mail to communication@greifswaldmoor.de.
Peatland & Futurium
Living plant installation "Superland"
22/05/2025 Just a few steps out of Berlin Central Station along the banks of the Spree and you can already see it: a living plant installation in front of the Futurium. Also integrated: Cattail and peat moss! They are intended to show that peatlands are important when it comes to land use. A joint event organised by Futurium, the Joachim Herz Foundation and the Greifwald Mire Centre on 9 October 2025 will focus on how we currently use peatlands, what problems this causes, what opportunities they offer us for the future and what conflicts there are over land use on peatland. At the Futurium's Family Day, already on 4 October 2025, we will present interesting and entertaining facts about peatlands and climate protection interactively for adults and children to participate in.
Detailed information will follow soon on the Futurium and Greifswald Mire Centre channels. Until then, just drop by if you get the chance, perhaps during a stopover at the main railway station.
Paludiculture in a garden box
New pilot product!
25/04/2025 "Achieving mo(o)re together" - this is the motto under which OBI Group Holding, a member of the „Alliance of Pioneers“ of the toMOORow initiative, launched its first paludi pilot product in April: a plant transport box made from 10% reed canary grass. From the “field” to the OBI store, the box passes four different stations:
At the Swabian Donaumoos-Zweckverband, the reed canary grass is harvested on rewetted peatland in the Donaumoos. The company Fiber365 processes the paludiculture biomass into fibers using an innovative, environmentally friendly process. The LEIPA Group uses a mixture of these fibers, among others, to produce a cardboard base. Leopold GmBH Verpackungen then uses this to produce the actual cardboard.
This is intended for customers to transport small plant pots from the markets to their homes. In Germany alone, the DIY and garden market sells around 46 million plants every year.
See peatlands and estimate greenhouse gas emissions
New GEST course
04/04/2025 Looking at peatlands and ... estimating greenhouse gases? Being able to do this is not a bad thing and is increasingly in demand. Recording greenhouse gases is a decisive step towards reducing them and thus combating the climate crisis. The Greifswald Mire Center not only has the right method, but also the training - the GEST course from July 2-4 in Greifswald!
GEST stands for Greenhouse gas Emission Site Type. The idea is to determine the greenhouse gases produced by water levels, land use and vegetation.
Participants will learn:
- to record water levels in the field
- to create a greenhouse gas balance sheet and determine the potential savings
The practical application takes place in two mapping exercises:
- in a degraded grassland in the Ryck lowlands and
- on the unused wet site
In addition, the following questions, among others, will be discussed:
- How can the GEST approach be classified in the climate policy framework and what other areas of application are there?
- How trustworthy are carbon certificates and what criteria are needed for them?
The course is aimed at anyone who would like to be involved in the planning or implementation of peatland and climate protection projects. There is currently a waiting list and the course fee is 370 Euro (reduced rate 220 Euro). Knowledge of botanical species is a prerequisite, previous knowledge of peatland and climate protection projects is desirable.
Register now to actively contribute to peatland and climate protection with the GEST approach!
Ground-breaking ceremony & Sernitz
Rewetting has started
01/04/2025 A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony marks the start of the establishment of a wet meadow paludiculture by the toMOORow initiative - wet mires for a sustainable future. The peat meadows in the Sernitz Mire serve as a model project: drainage ditches are now being filled in, sills are being built in the flow to retain water and a sustainable use through paludiculture covering an area of around 80 hectares will then be established with local farmers. The measures help to keep water in the landscape, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1,200 tons of CO₂ equivalents per year and enable the reintroduction of typical peatland plant and animal species.
The initiative is thus continuing years of work to restore natural conditions in the Sernitz Moor in the “Schorfheide-Chorin” biosphere reserve as part of the LIFE project “Lesser Spotted Eagle”. In consultation with local residents and land users, measures for water retention were developed, pastures for water buffalo were established and a mire experience trail was designed, to name just a few examples of the successful project.
The Federal Ministers Steffi Lemke and Cem Özdemir attended the launch, as they see the activities in the Sernitz as a strong signal for sustainable peatland use by the toMOORow initiative of the Succow Foundation, partner in the Greifswald Mire Center, and the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation.
Mire for Minister
Current research presented
01/04/2025 We were able to present the current status of research and databases to Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (BMUV) during her visit at the Greifswald Mire Center.
Mire research plays an important role in the research strategy of the University of Greifswald, explained Vice-Rector Peter Michalik in his opening speech. The minister was interested in the measurements of plant biomass and greenhouse gases in the mesocosm facility, the reed collection and the oldest book in the bog library explained by Franziska Tanneberger, Gerald Jurasinski, Sebastian van der Linden and Hans Joosten, but she was also particularly impressed by our peat mosses, which Greta Gaudig showed her.
Paludiculture, biodiversity and peat formation were among the other topics part of the exchange - as well as the outlook for future research, as it will take place in the Collaborative Research Center of the German Research Foundation (DFG) WETSCAPES 2.0. Therefore, the GMC representatives were very pleased that the Minister was accompanied by Nathalie Niederdrenk and Ulf Hauke from the Department of Soil and Mire Protection.
Kicking off WETSCAPES 2.0
with people on a 2-day event
01/04/2025 WETSCAPES 2.0, a large, interdisciplinary science consortium dedicated to researching rewetted fens started today with a 2-day meeting at Rostock University of more than 50 scientists from diverse fields, including 22 Principal Investigators (PIs) leading various subprojects, along with many Early Career Researchers (ECR).
Their diversity highlighted just how complex and ambitious this research programme funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is, aiming to investigate approximately 100 screening sites, 5 core sites, and two landscape-level experiments in rewetted peatlands of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This federal state has rewetted already more than 10% of its peatland area and is frontrunning in developing solutions for wet peatland use (paludiculture, carbon credits, nature tourism, peatland photovoltaics). Now, the CRC will add a massive effort in fundamental research in rewetted fens.
The kick-off included a trip to one of the planned screening sites, where installed the first of our 1,000 sensors used for the project’s data collection! For some of us, it was the first visit of a North-German fen. They are almost everywhere and look often like 'normal' grassland!
Besides the funding of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation, the Transregio Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 410 is additionally supported by Universität Greifswald Universität Rostock, Leibniz Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Books n‘ Bogs
Long open Night of Libraries on April 4th at the Peatland Library
21/03/2025 Peatland pope Prof. Hans Joosten invites all interested - no, not to the peatland - but to a library where inspiration drips from the walls and thousands of books in all genres and languages are available on one topic only - peatlands. In its new home, the former lecture hall of the “Alte Chemie” in the courtyard of Greifswald's Soldmannstraße 16, the renovation work has been completed. Boxes and boxes of books are currently moving into the listed building and filling the shelves of the barrier-free, high-ceilinged room with two galleries. With a collection of 50,000 publications, the special collection on moors is an important part of the Greifswald Moor Centrum and is of international significance. Statics, financing, contaminated sites - there were and still are many challenges to overcome on the way from the vision of a library to its realization.
On April 4th, the Long Night of Libraries, Hans Joosten will give a guided tour of the 1905 wing of the building in German from 9 p.m. and talk about its history, the extensive decontamination and the new boggy contents.
Afterwards, there will be English samples from “Books n' Bogs”, a project by the collective re-peat earth. International, young and creative, its members are committed to restoring and conserving peatlands and raising public awareness of their importance. For the book project, they documented the relationship between people and bogs around the Irish town of Abbeyleix. They are also driving forward the “Mapping Peatland Justice” project in the Greifswald Peatland Library and are using the occassion to discuss it with visitors. In English and (almost) open end.
Free of charge, but with registration at: bibliothek@greifswaldmoor.de
Newly translated into English!
Guide to Implementing Paludiculture
20/03/2025 Our Guide to Implementing Paludiculture is now available in English - good news for people in sustainable agriculture and climate initiatives, in eco-aware businesses and other!
If you're looking to manage peatlands sustainably but unsure of where to begin, this comprehensive guide is your go-to resource. From assessing site suitability to navigating permits and optimizing biomass utilization, we've compiled practical insights to support your efforts.
This newly translated and formatted version is part of our GMC publication series, making it even more accessible for all stakeholders involved in sustainable land management. It is based on the original publication Leitfaden für die Umsetzung von Paludikultur, released in 2022.
MoorPower
Solar on peatland feasible?
17/03/2025 Competition for land in Germany is fierce, but is it possible to combine uses such as photovoltaics and the rewetting of peatland? The newly launched MoorPower project is taking a close look at the general feasibility of solar pan elson peatland with simultaneous rewetting. It is also investigating whether this concept makes rewetting more attractive for farmers.
Since the beginning of 2023, the German government has been promoting the construction of solar systems on peatland that was previously drained for agriculture if it is permanently rewetted. The concept is new. So far, there is only one PV system on rewetted peatland known in Germany and none abroad. TThus, there is considerable need for testing and research in order to be able to assess possibilities and effects.
“It is important to develop only drained and heavily degraded peatlands, i.e. peatlands currently used for agriculture, for the dual use of carbon storage in peat and the production of renewable energy via photovoltaics. It must be prevented that peatlands are used for the installation of photovoltaic systems without being rewetted, because then the greenhouse gas emissions from the peatlands would continue,” said Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kreyling from the University of Greifswald. “Peatlands and peat soils of nature conservation value within legally protected areas are excluded.”
And this is what the research looks like in practice: On an experimental site in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the scientists are building system designs on a total of six hectares of fen that is still used for agriculture, with different mounting heights, solar module types and foundations. They then combine each PV system variant with three different water levels and examine their ecological impact. The project team is testing different materials, coatings and methods for the foundations of the special PV systems on a material test area in Baden-Württemberg. As shade from the solar modules can have an impact on the growth of typical peatland plants, they are also investigating this in pot experiments. The scientists at the Thünen-Institute are analyzing the impact of peatland PV on the greenhouse gas balance on a practical scale on around 200 hectares of rewetted peatland with photovoltaics in Lower Saxony.
Research for MoorPower is jointly conducted by the Universities of Greifswald and Hohenheim Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.