Paludiculture Newsletter 4|2024

Dr Franziska Tanneberger receives the German Environmental Award from the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) 2024, recognising the co-director of the Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC) as one of the world's most influential researchers on peatlands and their role in climate and biodiversity. She is regarded as a driving force in the revitalisation of peatlands and as a bridge builder between science, politics and agriculture. She shares the award with graduate engineer Thomas Speidel from Nürtingen near Stuttgart.

This is the third time in a short space of time that one of the most highly endowed environmental awards in Europe has gone to a representative of peatland research in Greifswald. In 2021, ‘Moorpapst’ Prof Hans Joosten was one of the two winners of the annual award, which is endowed with a total of 500,000 euros. In 2015, Prof. Michael Succow was honoured with the honorary prize as an exceptional personality in nature conservation. On 27 October, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present this year's German Environmental Award in Mainz.

‘As an excellent and globally recognised peatland researcher, Franziska Tanneberger and her team have worked tirelessly to place the importance of peatland protection and rewetting for a future worth living in political decision-making processes both nationally and internationally,’ explains DBU Secretary General Alexander Bonde.

A landscape ecologist by training, she completed her doctorate on the sedge warbler and wrote her post-doctoral thesis on ‘Biodiversity and ecosystem services of near-natural and rewetted fens in Central and Eastern Europe - between wilderness and paludiculture’. Today she teaches and researches at the University of Greifswald. Since 2015, Dr Franziska Tanneberger has headed the Greifswald Mire Centre together with Dr Greta Gaudig, a cooperation between the University, the Michael Succow Foundation and Duene e.V.. She is a member of the German Federal Government's Council for Sustainable Development (RNE).

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is hosting the multi-day celebrations for German Unity Day this year. An opportunity to present the state's moors and research with a look into the past and perspectives for the future - packed into a varied program. Entertaining, open to the public and free of charge on Thursday, October 3 from 15:15-16:45 on the Zukunftsforum stage in the inner courtyard of Schwerin Castle:

15:15 “Moor muss nass, oder was” - A play by the 9th grade of the Martinschule Greifswald: the moor researcher Prof. Dr. Hans Joosten from Greifswald manages to travel into the GDR past to the year 1958 with the help of Mephisto. There, thousands of young people are busy draining the Friedländer Große Wiese, a vast peatland in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Why are they doing this, will the professor succeed in convincing the young people to stop their work and what plans is Mephisto actually pursuing?

15:45 Back in the present, the students meet the bog professor in real life. They ask him questions: Why would Joosten have preferred to stay in the past and why did the enthusiasm of the past turn into the disaster of today?

16:00 What potential does paludiculture offer for agriculture and the economy? What needs to happen politically for more paludiculture and how can research contribute to this? Dr. Franziska Tanneberger (GMC Director/University of Greifswald), Dr. Till Backhaus (Minister for the Environment and Agriculture MV), Tobias Gruber (Division Manager Sustainability OTTO Group) and farmer Rembert Wellen will discuss these issues. The event will be moderated by Jan Meßerschmidt, Head of University Communications at the University of Greifswald.

Compared to agriculture on drained peatland, paludiculture promotes biodiversity, as the new information paper of Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development, Peatland Science Centre and Greifswald Mire Centre summarizes. It’s clear: typical peatland and peatland-specific species have no habitat on drained peatland soils. If and which they have on cultivated rewetted areas, is meanwhile shown by studies in several areas. For example, the number of Red List species of birds has doubled within four years on a cattail cultivation area in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. On a peat moss cultivation area in Lower Saxony, the number of dragonfly species typical to bogs almost equals that of near-natural bogs in the area after nine years of observation.

After rewetting, wetness-loving and rare species are found where previously widespread species of moist or dry conditions dominated. The intensity of use, mowing and harvesting time have different effects on these species. The mowing of areas creates a more species-rich vegetation due to less litter, more light incidence and leaching. In winter, however, this causes a lack of host plants and winter refuges for some animal species. The information paper addresses both negative and positive aspects, as well as possible conflicts with nature conservation and accompanying measures that can promote biodiversity

Germany’s few remaining intact peatlands are invaluable, serving as prime examples of the fine-tuned dynamics of these unique systems that offer sanctuaries for rare peatland plant and animal species. The urgent need to protect these areas and restore the vast stretches of degraded peatlands across the country remains a top priority.

That‘s what global peatland experts agreed on after the 20th Field Symposium of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) was held in Germany this summer. It brought together over 30 peatland experts and enthusiasts from 17 countries, including six EU Member States. Donning their rubber boots, participants embarked on a 10-day journey across Germany’s peatlands. The IMCG, an international network of experts, is dedicated to promoting and encouraging the conservation of mires and related ecosystems, while also facilitating the exchange of information and experiences globally. With over 550 contacts in nearly 60 countries, the network plays an important role in peatland preservation.

German peatlands, though covering a relatively small area, hold significant global ecological and environmental importance. Alarmingly, degraded peatlands account for 7% of Germany’s total greenhouse gas emissions, making them a major contributor to global peatland emissions. Drawing on expertise from across the globe, through observation, discussions, and exchanges with local experts during the excursion, participants drew up recommendations for peatland conservation and restoration in Germany and the European Union. The IMCG emphasised the importance of protecting Germany’s remaining mires and integrating these systems in to the broader landscape.

Key resolutions from the IMCG 2024 in Germany

• A proposal to grant protective status to the Pfrühlmoos in Bavaria

• A call to cease amber extraction in Ukraine where it threatens peatlands

• A resolution to the European Commission and EU Member States on strategic directions for peatland management

Travelling from southern to northern Germany, the IMCG explored a variety of peatlands, including some of the best-preserved areas in Germany such as the Pfrühlmoos in Bavaria. As the group travelled north into the lowlands, they encountered deeply degraded sites, areas of ongoing peat extraction, and promising locations where renaturation efforts are beginning to show success. They also visited sites putting paludiculture into practice, such as Sphagnum farming in Hankhausen (Lower Saxony), Typha fields in Neukalen (MV), and the wet meadows of the Klimafarm in Schleswig-Holstein—demonstrating the broad potential of paludiculture. Further stops included the Freisinger Moos (Bavaria), the Hannoversche Moorgeest and the Eider-Treene-Niederung (both in Neidersachsen) as well as the Peene Valley in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

What made this excursion truly special was the coming together of global and local experts, spanning generations and disciplines, united by their passion for peatlands. This enthusiasm was palpable in the long discussions, avid debates, and stories shared throughout the trip. Despite the occasional stuck boot and waist-deep dips in spring holes, the group emerged unscathed, finishing the trip on a musical note—singing from the Anklamer Stadtbruch observation tower, overlooking the peatland below.

This gathering of minds and exchange of ideas leaves a lasting impact, driving forward the urgent work of peatland conservation and restoration in Germany and beyond.

Background: the IMCG and its excursions

The International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) is an international network of specialists who promote and encourage the conservation of mires and related ecosystems. It also aims to enhance exchange of information and experience relating to mires internationally. The network currently has over 550 contacts in almost 60 countries. It was established 1984, in Klagenfürt, Austria, and officially registered in France as an association in 2001.

At irregular intervals, the IMCG gathers its members for an excursion to the peatlands of a country, in 2024 for the first time in Germany. Over nine days, the programme took the researchers to peatlands from the south to the north of the country, including intact peatlands with unique biodiversity, restored peatlands and rewetted areas used in paludiculture.

Previous excursions took us e.g. to South Africa (2022), Mongolia (2019), the Netherlands (2018), Russia (2018), Malaysia, Borneo and Brunei (2016), Belarus (2014), Austria (2014), Australia (2013), the Andes (2012) and Argentina's Tierra del Fuego (2005).

Autorin: Amelie Hünnebeck-Wells, Greifswald Mire Centre