From the desert to the swamp: the role of reeds in the world of peatlands. Hans Joosten Greifswald University

Transcription

1 From the desert to the swamp: the role of reeds in the world of peatlands Hans Joosten Greifswald University

2 Caspar David Friedrich: Meadows near Greifswald (~1821)

3 Hans Joosten Me: Reedbeds near Greifswald (~ yesterday)

4 The Baltic, where reeds (and peats!) meet the sea Michael Succow

5 All the lands were sea Gilimma bound reeds upon the face of the waters He formed soil and poured it out beside the reeds He filled in a dike by the side of the sea He made a swamp, he formed a marsh and he brought it into existence Reeds he formed, trees he created Sumerian creation myth Enki and Ninhursanga c BC

6 703 BC He fled like a bird to the swampland. I sent my warriors into the midst of the swamps and they searched for five days'.

7 A region that established municipal reedbeds and harvested bulrushes for construction 1,000 yr BC

8 Sumerian map, early 5 th century BC and made the first map with reed marshes

9 A region with the Ma dan, the Marsh Arabs.

10 who live(d) in, with, through reeds

11 and constructed impressive dwellings of reed

12 a use of reeds that persist in many areas Hans Joosten

13 Middle East: the region where our agriculture originated

14 the cradle of our arable farming

15 that strongly differs from further East René Dommain

16 Hans Joosten farming with the idea that productive land must be dry

17 and soils must be continuously moved Hans Joosten

18 illusions that we also apply to wet, organic soils Greta Gaudig

19 Bostang Radjagukguk African desert plants on SE-Asian peatland: Aloe vera

20 S-American arid Maize on German peatland Hans Joosten

21 Sabine Wichmann land use with problems that we start to see only now...

22 The neglected carbon pool: SOC Soil Organic Carbon holds 6x more carbon than the entire global forest biomass

23 The SOC hotspot Peatlands (organic soils) on 3% of the land contain 30% of all Soil Organic Carbon

24 The land use emission hotspot CO 2 emission Drained peatlands on 0.3% of the land emit 6% of all anthropogenic CO 2

25 Compared to other lands, peatlands contain disproportionally much carbon (largely in their soil)

26 Wohlgemuth, J., 1962, Egon und das achte Weltwunder. Neues Leben, Berlin. Michael Succow When drained, peatlands become vigorous sources of carbon dioxide (and nitrous oxide)

27 Hans Joosten Globally, emissions from drained peatland have increased with +25% since 1990, especially in the tropics

28 Main drivers: drained agriculture Hans Joosten

29 drained forestry Hans Joosten

30 peat extraction for horticulture Hans Joosten

31 and energy generation. Hans Joosten

32 Peatland drainage causes problems Michael Succow

33 the devil s cycle of mainstream peatland utilisation wet peatland wetting drainage subsidence

34 Bavaria: 3 m loss since 1836 UK: 4 m loss since 1870 Hans Joosten Hans Joosten

35 Nether-lands Nether-lands: bogged down: 1000 yr of peatland drainage, now half the country deep under sea level

36 Nether-lands: bogged down: 1000 yr of peatland drainage, Nether-lands now half the country deep under sea level In tropics subsidence 10 times faster!

37 Many tropical peatlands are coastal and will - with continuous drainage and >2000 mm of rainfall - become undrainable

38 Marcel Silvius In Sarawak, 30 years of oil palm plantation on coastal peatland will lead to the loss of >10% of the entire land area

39 Hans Joosten In Germany, ten thousands of hectares of agricultural peatland have already been given up as they could no longer be drained

40 Hans Joosten In continental areas peat soils degrade irreversibly. In Belarus, Ukraine and Russia millions of hectares have been deserted

41 and burn, even under snow... Frank Edom

42 We can t continue like this! Many countries are huge potential peatland CO 2 -emittors

43 2012 Durban UNFCCC - KP IPCC Supplement IPCC 2013 GPG LULUCF Recent policy developments: rewetting Wetland drainage and rewetting is a system of practices for draining and rewetting on land with organic soil that covers a minimum area of 1 hectare. The activity applies to all lands that have been drained since 1990 and to all lands that have been rewetted since 1990 and that are not accounted for under any other activity as defined in this annex, where drainage is the direct human-induced lowering of the soil water table and rewetting is the direct human-induced partial or total reversal of drainage.

44 Recent carbon market developments Peatland conservation & rewetting Since March 2011 global standard Local standards Experiences summarized

45 Recent new policy attention UNEP UN-FAO UNESCO- SCOPE

46 Jakutien, RF FAO: Causes peatlands consequences Climate change mitigation food security Hans Joosten

47 Drained peatland use destroys its subsistence base That thing with the Three gears cannot work. Can it, daddy? No girl, It can t fodder fuel food security productivity fiber salt intrusion land loss subsidence acid sulphate soils flooding haze ghg emissions drainage biodiversity loss fire

48 FAO: Decision support tree Start Do you have organic soils? NO Are you sure? YES This report is not relevant for you YES NO Choose the relevant type(s) Use chapter Wet organic soils 7 Drained organic soils 8 Is productive use necessary? YES Paludiculture chapter Check paludiculture options 8 Is productive use necessary? NO NO YES NO Is the ecosystem pristine? NO Can a near-nature state be restored? Rewetting chapter 2.3 YES Is rewetting possible? YES YES NO NO 10 Conservation chapter 2.1 Restoration chapter 2.3 Check restoration options Best practice chapter 2.4 Hazard control chapter 2.5

49 FAO: Decision support tree Wet organic soils Is productive use necessary? NO Is the ecosystem pristine? YES Conservation chapter 2.1 YES NO Paludiculture chapter 2.2 NO Can a near-nature state be restored? YES Restoration chapter 2.3

50 Hans Joosten Non-used peatlands are not use-less: they provide vital ecosystem services and biodiversity

51 FAO: Decision support tree Wet organic soils Is productive use necessary? NO Is the ecosystem pristine? YES Conservation chapter 2.1 YES NO Paludiculture chapter 2.2 NO Can a near-nature state be restored? YES Restoration chapter 2.3

52 If you need to use them, use them wet: paludicultures! Lars Lachmann

53 Michael Succow Paludiculture is agriculture/forestry on wet peatland

54 FAO: Decision support tree Drained organic soils Check paludiculture options Rewetting chapter 2.3 YES Is productive use necessary? YES Is rewetting possible? NO Check restoration options NO Best practice chapter 2.4 NO Hazard control chapter 2.5

55 Rewetting to reduce emissions and to reduce drainage costs

56 Tiemo Timmermann Rewetting with paludiculture to reduce emissions and to produce renewable biomass resources: reeds!

57 Reeds: for food, fodder, fiber and fuel Hans Joosten

58 in Africa Hans Joosten

59 in Asia René Dommain

60 in Latin-America Hans Joosten

61 paludiculture - wet agriculture Hans Joosten

62 a way out of the desert Hans Joosten

63 and all you need is Michael Succow

64

65 Happy valentine!