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From Kolkheti to Hankhausen

Georgians get informed about paludiculture

12/10/2016   The Kolkheti Lowland in Georgia is one of the smallest mire regions in the world with unique mire types like the ‘percolation bog’. Currently the management plans of the Kolkheti National Park and Kobuleti Protected Areas, harbouring the largest, most important and largely pristine mire areas in Kolkheti, are revised and will be updated with scientists from the Greifswald Mire Centre being involved.

Therefore a delegation of five Georgians sought information about paludiculture at the sphagnum farming pilot sites at Hankhausen, Lower Saxony, to discuss opportunities for implementation in Georgia and to assess its potential to support protection of Kolkheti mires. Delegates were Lasha Moistsrapishvili (chairman of the Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia, APA, at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia), Khatuna Tsiklauri (main specialist of Scientific Research and Monitoring, APA), Aleksandre Khabeishvili (director of the Kolkheti National Park, APA), Mamuka Gvilava (focal point of Integrated Coastal Zone Management of Georgia) and Izolda Matchutadze (head of Department of Conservation of Kolkheti Mires and Water Ecosystems, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University).
Besides the 13 ha sphagnum farming site they visited the heating plant for fen biomass in Malchin, surrounding harvest areas as well as cultivation experiments of cattail near Ueckermünde in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.