Title : Paludiculture as a win-win option for future agriculture use of peatlands
Abstract:
Peatland soils are the most carbon-rich soils in the world, storing ca. 600 Gt of carbon. However, recent human activity and observed climate change have transformed these ecosystems from long-term carbon sinks into carbon sources, thus altering global carbon cycling. The use of peatlands for agriculture is connected with drainage, which lowered the water table and make these ecosystems more suitable for cultivation. In Central and Western Europe, up to 90% of peatlands have been exploited for agriculture which may have led to peat subsidence and release of GHGs to the atmosphere, what together affects the carbon pools depletion. Thus, in view of the recent international agreements on climate action, the wise use of peatlands (including restoration activity) is of crucial importance. Therefore, future agriculture on peatlands must apply climate smart activity which maintains low carbon emission by maintaining high water level. One of the recently discuss method for sustainable peatland management practices is paludiculture, especially in the context of re-used of degraded peatland ecosystems. Paludiculture, as generally been defined is using biomass from wet and rewetted peatlands under conditions that maintains the peat body, facilitate peat accumulation of organic matter and provide the ecosystem services associated to natural peatlands. This method allow to produce biomass from rewetted peatlands under conditions that maintain the peat body, sustain peatland ecosystem services, and encourage carbon accumulation. However, rewetted peat soils are less suitable for agriculture and dairy farming, as common agricultural crops are not adapted to such wet conditions and the limited load-bearing capacity of wet peat soils restricts their accessibility for agricultural machinery. The aim of this review study is to assess the effect and potential benefits of paludiculture and peatlands restoration in climate change mitigation. Additionally, the adaptation and bottlenecks for the development of paludiculture in food crops in temperate climate zone will be discussed.
