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CINDERELLA: Progressing paludicultures after
centuries of peatland destruction and neglect
Hans Joosten, Greifswald University
In living peatlands: • Production is larger than decay • Dead plants accumulate as peat
Kolkheti, Georgia
Peat accumulates through water saturation: Natural peatlands are wetlands!
Scotland
Lesotho
Peat accumulates during thousands of years and stores concentrated carbon in thick layers
Peat of 2 m deep
Very important but not appreciated: the Cinderella Syndrom
Ruoergai, China
Peatlands are the most effective carbon stores of all terrestrial ecosystems
Kyrgystan
While covering only 3% of the World’s land area, peatlands contain 500 Gt of carbon in their peat.
Germany
Germany
i.e. twice the carbon stock of the world’s total forest biomass
Problem: Our arable farming had a semi desert as a cradle…
…and has since the idea that productive land must be dry…
Qatar
…and soils continuously be moved…
Qatar
…illusions that we worldwide apply to wet, organic soils…
Greta Gaudig Germany
… with African desert plants on drained peat: Aloe vera…
Bostang Radjagukguk Kalimantan
Germany
… or semi-arid Maize on drained peat…
Palm oil can grow and produce well on peat … or with oil palm on drained peat…
Marcel Silvius Malaysia
…peatland use with problems that we start to see only now...
Sabine Wichmann Germany
…that often does not even allow harvest…
Jilin, China
… a land use that has desertified millions of hectares…
Ukraine
…and in continental areas creates soils like made of stone…
Ukraine
Mobilisation of the carbon stock by peatland agriculture and forestry leads to huge emisisons
Norway
Clear relation between mean water level and annual emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O)
Deeply drained grassland on peat in Germany emits 29 T CO2-eq ha-1a-1 = 145.000 km with middle class car
A potato field on peat in Germany emits 37 T CO2-eq ha-1a-1 = 185.000 km: every hectare, every year
Bavaria, Germany
Potatoes from peat are fossil resources…
Forests on drained peat generally loose more peat carbon than the trees sequester…
Jilin, China
Wood from peat is fossil …
Agricultural peatlands in Germany emit almost twice as much CO2 as Jähnswalde, the World’s 7th most dirty power station
Jähnswalde
Globally, degraded peatlands emit 2 Gigatonnes CO2 a-1
CO2 emission
Drained peatlands on 0.3% of the land emit 5% of all anthropogenic CO2
Indonesia leads the list of global top emitters…
The EU is a good second…
Denmark
In Germany peatland agriculture causes annually a climate damage of € 3 billion, and gets 300 million EU-grants (CC)
Sabine Wichmann
Per joule energy „biogas“ from mays from peat causes 8x more climate damage than burning lignite…
… and that with subventions under Renewable Energy Law
The ‘polluter pays’ principle is put on the
head:
We pay peatland agriculture for causing
massive climate damage
… and frustrate in this way sensible solutions
Drainage
Mineralisation & emission of N, P
GHG-emissions
Compaction
Peat oxidation
Loss of peat
Safety risks
Climate change
Moorsackung
Loss of peat landscape
Conflicts between functions
Desiccation of nature
Eutrophication of protected areas
Deteriorating water quality
Increasing drainage costs
Van de Riet et al. 2014
Climate damage is merely one of the societal damages …
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Peatland drainage causes even greater problems: subsidence!
1939
2013
Netherlands
drainage wetting
wet peatland
subsidence
… the “devil’s cycle” of peatland utilisation…
Bavaria: 3 m loss since 1836 UK: 4 m loss since 1870
Drainage subsidence (loss of height): 1 -2 cm annually
former land surface
Nether-lands …Nether-lands: bogged down: 1000 yr of peatland drainage,
now half the country deep under sea level…
Nether-lands …Nether-lands: bogged down: 1000 yr of peatland drainage,
now half the country deep under sea level…
In tropics
subsidence 5 times faster!
In NE-Germany, ten thousands of hectares have already been flooded as they could not be drained anymore economically
Germany
Many tropical peatlands are coastal and will - with continuous drainage and >2000 mm of rainfall - become undrainable …
The ‘ wave’ in oil palm plantations showing subsidence
Sabah
Oil palm plantation on coastal peatland will – in the near future - lead to the loss of substantial tracts of land
Aljosja Hooijer Sumatra
Whereas the sea level rises, we bog the peatlands down….
sackende Mooroberfläche
We are loosing land, now that we need it most: for more people, for less poverty and for replacing fossil resources
Kalimantan
flooding
salt intrusion
drainage subsidence
food security
acid sulphate soils
ghg emissions
fire
haze
fodder
land loss
fuel
fiber
biodiversity loss
productivity
That thing with the
Three gears cannot work.
Can it, daddy?
No girl, It can‘t…
Drained peatland use destroys its own subsistence base
corn (Zea mays) or intensive grassland on peatland
Photo: Gaudig
No Go!
If you need to use them, use them wet: paludicultures!
Poland
Arable use, drainage based utilization, peat extract
rewetting
0
20
40
60
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20
Alder
Reed, Sedges, Cattail
Reed Canary Grass
Low intensity utilization
Nature protected grasslands
Emissions-
reduction
-120 40
Water table [cm] (medium)
t C
O2-e
qu
. ha-1
a-1
(GW
P 1
00
)
Paludiculture
Uti
lizat
ion
Use of peatlands and GHG emissions
Low intensity
utilization of
peatlands
Drainage
based
peatland
utilization
after Jurasinski et al. in Wichtmann, W., Schröder, C. & H. Joosten (Editors) in prep.
Emission reduction by peatland rewetting (incl. CO2, CH4, N2O + DOC) after IPCC 2014)
Initial drained land
use
Emission reduction after rewetting
(t CO2-e ha-1 yr-1)
Temperate zone Boreal zone
Forest Land 6 2
Cropland 28 34
Grassland 20 25
Peat extraction sites 9 11
New concept Paludiculture*
• Cultivation of biomass on wet and rewetted peatlands
bog: peat moss
fen: common reed, reed canary grass, sedges, alder, ...
• Utilisation of biomass for industry and energy
peat conservation
reducing GHG emissions
replacing fossil resources
*„palus“ – lat.: swamp
Foto: W. Wichtmann
Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacia)
productivity: 3.5 – 15 t DM/ha*a
emissions: 12 t CO2eq/ha*a
Common Reed (Phragmites australis)
productivity: 3 – >25 t DM/ha*a
emissions: 10 t CO2eq/ha*a
Cattail (Typha spec.)
Productivity : 5 - 22 t DM/ha*a
Emissions: 10 - 15 t CO2eq/ha*a
Utilization of biomass from paludiculture
• Industrial use
• Energetic use
Harvesting
Ratrak mowing device with trailer
(Picture: L. Lachmann)
Caterpillar mounted mowing and baling
device (Picture: S. Wichmann)
Seiga based field chopper
(Picture: W. Wichtmann) Pisten-Bully with trailer
(Picture: W. Wichtmann)
CINDERELLA
Comparative analysis, INtegration anD ExemplaRy implEmentation of cLimate smart LAnd use practices on organic soils: Progressing paludicultures after centuries of
peatland destruction and neglect
CINDERELLA
Foto: S. Wichmann Foto: C. Schröder Foto: C. Schröder Foto: S. Wichmann
CINDERELLA Paludiculture
General aim of CINDERELLA
• to extend the scientific base for a sustainable use of wetlands and to make alternative uses accessible to farmers and land authorities. – give an overview on productive species, provenances and breeds;
– quantify GHG fluxes, C sequestration and nutrient retention as a basis for the assessment of ecosystem services;
– assess economic characteristics regarding ecosystem services;
– promote the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge;
– stimulate the cooperation among partners (countries and regions, private and public stakeholders);
– optimize synergies between regional climate change mitigation and adaptation;
– contribute to the necessary transformation of drainage-based peatland agriculture by best practice and stimulating acceptance.
Partner Role Responsibilities Specific contributions
University of
Greifswald
(GER)
General project
coordination
Micro- and macro-
economic assessments
Outreach and
dissemination of
project results
Ensurance of overall project
performance
Coordination of individual
research contributions
Economic monitoring and analysis
of land use concepts
Socio-economic aspects of CSA on
peatland
Biomass utilisation
Comprehensive knowledge on
paludicultures
Peatland library and databases
Expertise in economic, LCA and
sustainability assessment
Extensive network of national
and international stakeholders
Aarhus
University
(DK)
Provision of bio-
genetic expertise
Applied genetics of Reed
Selection of varieties for different
applications
Interaction of nutrient, soil and
water systems
Knowledge transfer
Expertise in selection of
genotypes of (mainly) Common
Reed, Cattail and Giant Reed
Halmstad
University (S)
Coordination of
studies on nutrient
retention
Nutrient fluxes in constructed
wetlands and peatlands
Interaction between nutrients
and harvesting/ site management
Expertise on constructed
wetlands for nutrient retention
Site specific ecological
parameters and biomass
utilisation options
Radboud
University
Nijmegen
(NL)
Study of crop-soil-
water-interactions
(biogeochemistry)
Coordination of
(corporate) fieldwork
Investigations on crop-soil-water-
interactions (biogeochemistry)
Coordination of (corporate)
fieldwork
Estimation of carbon balance
Modelling of water level and
nutrient input to minimise THG
emissions and nutrient leakage
Some activities 2015
• Kick off meeting with all partners in Greifswald • Regular meetings of project staff in Greifswald • Visit of partners in Nijmegen • Conjoint Field investigations • Analysis of framework conditions in partner countries • Regular internal information (updates) to all partners • Awareness raising and Propagation of paludiculture local
and abroad, eg. • Belarus • Italy • Poland • Canada • International organisations
Thanks for listening
Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa)
productivity: 3 – 10 t DM/ha*a
emissions: 0 t CO2eq/ha*a
Using peat as a
fuel
• finite fossil resource
• destruction of natural mires
• release of Carbon
from a long-term store
• net emissions of CO2
• is unattractive under
the Kyoto Protocol
Alternatives for energy from peat
106 t CO2 per TJ
Using biomass from wet
peatlands as a fuel
• renewable resource
• restoration of peatlands
• fixation of Carbon
into a long-term store
• emissions reductions of CO2
• is attractive under the Kyoto
Protocol and eg. VCS
- 130 t CO2 per TJ