News
Three weeks + art + tiny house
Three weeks + art + tiny house
First paludiculture artist’s residency launched
17/08/2020 Creating art for paludiculture in a tiny house built from climate-friendly paludiculture materials and located right beside the wet peatland - this triple combination is the idea of the paludiculture artist’s residences, which the Greifswald Mire Centre together with the BURG Giebichenstein University of Art in Halle are offering this year. Now the first fellow has moved into the mobile home currently located on a rare restored coastal flood peatland at the Greifswald Bodden coast: Graphic designer and BURG graduate Vreni Knödler will work in the tiny house for three weeks. The Greifswald Mire Centre is looking forward to see what an artist’s delving into the complex ecological issues of peatlands, climate protection and paludiculture will bring about. The results are intended to contribute to changing the social dialogue on peatlands and to raise more awareness on their significance for climate protection and their possible sustainable use in the current perception. The surrounding landscape as well as the building materials made from paludiculture provide plenty of inspiration. The mobile and energy-efficient tiny house features, among other things, plywood made from wet alder, wall insulation made from cattails and a roof made from reed.
Paludiculture in a twin pack
Paludiculture in a twin pack
Cattail and reed to optimise peat moss growth
31/07/2020 To provide purified water for irrigating Sphagnum farming sites OPTIMOOS project now planted filter basins with a total size of 3,200 m² with cattail and reed. This is intended to promote Sphagnum as the target species , but at the same time all three paludiculture plants produce raw material for horticultural substrates. In the joint project OptiMOOS the four partners (Universities of Greifswald, Rostock and Oldenburg, Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für Gartenbau Hannover-Ahlem) are researching the optimisation of Sphagnum farming with regard to water management, climate balance, biodiversity and product development. It is funded by the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Protection of Lower Saxony and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The OPTIMOOS-project was launched in 2019, but peat mosses have been successfully cultivated on 14 hectares at the peatland ‘Hankhauser Moor’ (near Oldenburg, Lower Saxony) since 2011.
All peatlands in M-V rewetted by 2050!
All peatlands in M-V rewetted by 2050!
State press conference on peatlands and climate in M-V
28/07/2020 All peatlands in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (M-V) are to be rewetted by 2050, Dr. Till Backhaus, Minister for Agriculture and Environment, stated during at state press conference “Peatlands in M-V and their importance for climate protection targets" on 28th July in Schwerin. According to the fact paper Peatlands in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the context of national and international climate protection targets – status quo and development potential (German only) presented by the Greifswald Mire Centre - the federal state could enable a huge potential for climate protection. Peatlands cover about 13% of its land area. The drained peatlands currently cause almost 30% of the state's total greenhouse gas emissions. Every minute an average of 11 tonnes of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere from the drained peatlands - considerably more than the carbon sequestration of the entire forest area in M-V. The preparation and implementation of peatland rewetting and paludiculture as an alternative source of income concerns departments in several ministries. An inter-ministerial working group shall therefore promote peatland climate protection in M-V. For more information see the press release (German only) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Why the Romans called peatlands “famicose”?
Why the Romans called peatlands “famicose”?
A mix of peatland ecology, philology and veterinary science solved the riddle
22/07/2020 The ancient Latin word "famicosus" occurs in the dictionary of Marcus Verrius Flaccus (approx. 55 BCE - 20 CE), the tutor of the grandchildren of Emperor Augustus, but cannot be found in any other traditional text. An extraordinary combination of peatland ecology, philology, and veterinary science has now been able to unravel its meaning: "Famex" denotes swellings of hooves of ungulates. These are caused, for example, by the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum. It often occurs in wet or moist habitats such as peatlands where hooves soften quickly, making them susceptible to microbial infections. The consequences can be hoof and claw diseases like interdigital dermatitis, bush rot, scald or footrot. Read more in the article by the scientists of the Greifswald Mire Centre and the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.
CAP ‘gamechanger’ webinar
CAP ‘gamechanger’ webinar
60 minutes, online, fully booked
04/06/2020 At 3rd June the Greifswald Mire Centre hosted a webinar on “Peatlands in the new CAP: potential and synergies for sustainable regional economies with climate and biodiversity benefits” organised jointly with Wetlands International – Europe and National University of Ireland. It raised awareness on the potential to mainstream EU climate, biodiversity, water quality and rural income objectives by effectively addressing peatland conservation, restoration and sustainable use (paludiculture) in the new CAP and other EU policies. Dedicated to MEPs, EC’s officials, farmer organisations, practitioners, NGOs and academics the 60 min webinar was fully booked. See the GMC's youtube channel for the full webinar contributions in one playlist.
GMC takes you where the peatland is
GMC takes you where the peatland is
Join our session at PeatFest 31st May
29/05/2020 At 31st May peatland lovers worldwide – artists, activists, scientists and others - contribute to a 24 hour online peatland festival, the PeatFest of the activist's group re-peat.earth. At 12:45 (CET) the peatland scientists and conservationists of the GMC show their engagement for #Peatlandsmustbewet or #Moormussnass. They take you to five different places – drained and/or restored peatlands or paludiculture pilot sites. See why we cultivate typha and peat mosses… Hear about drainage damages and greenhouse gas measurements... Come with us to the beautiful Baltic coastal peatlands! And – follow Swantje Furtak on her way discovering peatlands and paludiculture. With tangy ideas and lovingly crafted animations the young filmmaker created a lively film – and path for others to understand why peatlands must be wet. There is no chance to miss out – all films will be available on our youtube channel, also after the PeatFest.