News/All pieces
A tonne of Typha
Insulation from the wetland next door
31/03/2016 Using cattail (Typha) from the area next door as insulation for housing is a showcase for paludiculture currently pursued near Anklam (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). That’s why the recent cattail harvest there was enthusiastically supported by GMC coworkers. In the end twenty big bags were stuffed to the brim. About a tonne of dry Typha biomass was the result of harvesting about half a hectare of peatland. This paludiculture flagship project was initiated by the Dutchman Aldert van Weeren. An entrepreneur in nature tourism he is currently turning an old country house into a holiday destination for nature lovers using mostly ecological building material. The passionate ornithologist and tour guide is particularly happy that the Typha from next door does not only provide local and renewable building material but also reflects nature conservation by peatland rewetting. Currently the Typha biomass is being processed for cavity wall insulation by a small factory in Prenzlau.
HCS+: reports of GMC-experts ready
How the palm oil industry might go green
07/12/2015 GMC-experts contributed to the new "High Carbon Stock Study" (HCS+), commissioned by the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto group. The study is supposed to make the palm oil industry switch to more sustainable ways while defining which sort of lands should be considered off-limits for palm oil cultivation, first and for all peatlands. Read and download the Consulting report 5: Practical guidance to locate and delineate peatlands and other organic soils in the tropics by. Dr. Alexandra Barthelmes, in charge of the GMC's Global Peatland Database. Also available now: the „Independent Report from the Technical Committee“ co-authored by GMC-expert Prof. Hans Joosten. There are two press releases on the publishing of the report, "HCS+ Proposes a New Pathway to Sustainable Oil Palm Development" and "HCS+ gets support from key players in the palm oil industry and the Sabah Forestry Department".
The HCS+ met high media coverage including reports of The Economist , nature , Reuters/yahoo news, author and journalist Jonathon Porritt and Economist/youtube. The spread of oil-palm plantations in recent years has destroyed swathes of tropical forest in low-lying tropical areas of south-east Asia and Africa, releasing much of their trapped carbon into the atmosphere, chasing off indigenous communities and putting migrant workers under appalling conditions.
Watch the wet
Youtube-video on peatlands and their potential for climate protection
1/12/2015 Draining a peatland area the size of a football field releases as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as driving three times around the world in an average sized car. Learn more about peatlands as carbon sinks, threats to their carbon storage function by drainage and promising examples of rewetting in the youtube-video “Peatlands – climate regulation and biodiversity“ by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Peatlands on the UNFCCC-Agenda in Paris
Side events on restoring and rewetting
1/12/2015 Lecturing at two side events GMC-expert Hans Joosten will be part of the UNFCCC COP21 in Paris.
At the high-level panel debate "Safe the Peat for Less Heat" organised by Wetlands International, GMC and other partners, Joosten will talk about "Peatland issues, potential and options for climate mitigation" at 1st December 15:15-16:15 o'clock at the Netherlands Climate Pavilion. For more information please see the "Briefing paper: accelerating action to Save Peat for Less Heat!"
The UNFCCC side-event ’Reducing GHG emissions by restoring and rewetting peatlands‘ is organized by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCMR)at Wednesday 2nd December 2015 between 12.15 - 13:45 o'clock at the Nordic Pavillion Hall 2B. Joosten’s lecture on ’The role of drained peatlands in GHG emissions and opportunities for accounting under the new activity ’Wetland Drainage and Rewetting‘ under the Kyoto Protocol‘ is one of the side event’s eight contributions.
Wetland Energy Closing Conference
New pelletline on the ground, new paludiculture-projects in mind
17/11/2015 Surely, the highlight of the EUaid funded Wetland Energy project's closing conference from 17th-18th November in Minsk/Belarus was the opening of the new processing line for pellets made of biomass from fens at Lida. It proved, that the project, which was mainly coordinated by the Michael Succow Foundation, successfully transferred knowledge and resulted in implementation on the ground. Here the conference's "Conclusions and perspectives" click here for the programme of the closing conference. Ahead of the conference the project held a workshop on "Biomass harvest and greenhouse gas balance of wet and rewetted fen peatlands". For an article on the project and its closing conference go to Настаўніцкая газета (Belarussian only).
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German Environmental Award
Michael Succow honoured for lifetime achievement
08/11/2015 The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) has bestowed GMC member Prof. Michael Succow with its “Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award”. The German Federal President Joachim Gauck presented the award at the award ceremony in Essen at 8th November 2015. As Deputy Minister for Environment, Nature Protection and Water Management of the GDR at the time of great political change in Germany Succow did grasp the historical chance for nature protection. He and his fellows managed to have the "Programme of National Parks" adopted in the very last concluding session of the GDR-Council of Ministers in 1990. Thus, 12.1% of the former GDR were put under temporary and 5.5% under permanent protection. For this coup Michael Succow received the Right Livelihood Award and used the endowment as a basis for his foundation. In the 20 year long history of the German Environmental Award the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award was granted only five times. It was for example bestowed upon Michail Gorbatschow and Prof. Heinz Sielmann.
Buckwheat cultivation earlier than thought
Finds of pollen from prehistoric times
The notion is widespread that buckwheat (Fagopyrum) first arrived in Europe in the Late Medieval through trade with the Middle East. Yet, there are numerous finds of pollen and seeds of much earlier time, as research team from the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe and Greifswald University (Greifswald Mire Centre) announced in a press release. The experts studied these finds and conclude that it is very likely that buckwheat was present already in Prehistoric times. These finds were recently published in the scientific journal “Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology”.
How the palm oil industry might go green
GMC-experts among scientists setting standards
01/08/2015 GMC-experts are among 50 scientists who are currently drafting the new "High Carbon Stock Study" supposed to make the palm oil industry switch to more sustainable ways. They are defining which sort of lands should be considered off-limits for palm oil cultivation, as for example and first and for all, peatlands. The study commissioned by the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto group met high media coverage including reports of The Economist , nature , Reuters/yahoo news and The Economist/youtube. The spread of oil-palm plantations in recent years has destroyed swathes of tropical forest in low-lying tropical areas of south-east Asia and Africa, releasing much of their trapped carbon into the atmosphere, chasing off indigenous communities and putting migrant workers under appalling conditions. To set green standards GMC-member Dr. Alexandra Barthelmes, in charge of the GMC's Global Peatland Database, contributed to the Practical guidance to locate and delineate peatlands and other organic soils in the tropics. Prof. Hans Joosten is member of the Technical Committee and co-author of the main report.
MoorFutures
Paper now in English
01/08/2015 New – the English publication “MoorFutures” has now been made available online by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. “MoorFutures” are the world`s first voluntary carbon credits from peatland rewetting developed with the expertise pooled in the Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC). The pilot project demonstrates how additional ecosystem services including biodiversity can be integrated into financing mechanisms for climate change mitigation.
Guardian reports on "Swamp power"
How the world’s wetland can combat climate change
20/07/2015 After touring paludiculture projects in Germany and Poland guided by experts of the GMC Guardian-correspondent Arthur Neslen now issued his report on peatland rewetting, paludiculture and climate change mitigation. For an entertaining read on all aspects between reed crop and Ramsar Convention go to Swamp power: how the world's wetlands can help stop climate change.