Managing Soil Carbon in Europe: Paludicultures as a New Perspective for Peatlands - Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits - page 297

25 Managing Soil Carbon
in Europe: Paludicultures as a
New Perspective for Peatlands

Hans Joosten*, Greta Gaudig, René Krawczynski, Franziska
Tanneberger, Sabine Wichmann and Wendelin Wichtmann

Abstract
Conventional peatland agriculture and forestry is based on drainage, which enhances peat oxidation,
causes massive greenhouse gas emissions and eventually destroys the peatland subsistence base. In
contrast, paludicultures use biomass from wet and rewetted peatlands under conditions that maintain
the peat body, facilitate peat accumulation and provide the associated natural peatland ecosystem
services. In the temperate, subtropical and tropical zones, i.e. those zones of the world where plant
productivity is high, peat is generally formed by roots and rhizomes, and peatlands by nature hold
vegetation of which aboveground parts can be harvested without substantially harming peat
conservation and formation.
Besides traditional yields of food, feed, fibre and fuel, the biomass can be used as a raw material
for industrial biochemistry, for producing high-quality liquid or gaseous biofuels and for further pur-
poses like extracting and synthesizing pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Some outstanding examples
are introduced, including low-intensity grazing with water buffalos, biofuels from fens, common reed
as industrial raw material and sphagnum farming for horticultural growing media.
Paludicultures may support substantial co-benefits, including the preservation and sequestration
of carbon, regulation of water dynamics (flood control) and quality, and conservation and restoration
of typical peatland flora and fauna. They can provide sustainable income from sites that have been
abandoned or degraded.
In many cases, paludicultures can compete effectively with drainage-based peatland agriculture
and forestry, certainly when external costs are adequately considered. Various technical and political
constraints, however, still hamper large-scale implementation of this promising type of land use.

Introduction

Drained peatland soils are subject to inherent
degradation, which burdens the environment
and continuously lowers their productive
value (Joosten et al ., 2012).
Since 1990, east and central Europe
have witnessed the abandonment of millions
of hectares of agriculturally used peatlands
through the combination of progressive soil

Drainage for agriculture and forestry is the
main cause of carbon losses from peatland.
Drained peatlands are found primarily in
the temperate zone and the (sub)tropics, i.e.
in those areas that are densely populated
and climatically favourable for agriculture.