News/All pieces
Buckwheat cultivation earlier than thought
Finds of pollen from prehistoric times
The notion is widespread that buckwheat (Fagopyrum) first arrived in Europe in the Late Medieval through trade with the Middle East. Yet, there are numerous finds of pollen and seeds of much earlier time, as research team from the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe and Greifswald University (Greifswald Mire Centre) announced in a press release. The experts studied these finds and conclude that it is very likely that buckwheat was present already in Prehistoric times. These finds were recently published in the scientific journal “Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology”.
How the palm oil industry might go green
GMC-experts among scientists setting standards
01/08/2015 GMC-experts are among 50 scientists who are currently drafting the new "High Carbon Stock Study" supposed to make the palm oil industry switch to more sustainable ways. They are defining which sort of lands should be considered off-limits for palm oil cultivation, as for example and first and for all, peatlands. The study commissioned by the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto group met high media coverage including reports of The Economist , nature , Reuters/yahoo news and The Economist/youtube. The spread of oil-palm plantations in recent years has destroyed swathes of tropical forest in low-lying tropical areas of south-east Asia and Africa, releasing much of their trapped carbon into the atmosphere, chasing off indigenous communities and putting migrant workers under appalling conditions. To set green standards GMC-member Dr. Alexandra Barthelmes, in charge of the GMC's Global Peatland Database, contributed to the Practical guidance to locate and delineate peatlands and other organic soils in the tropics. Prof. Hans Joosten is member of the Technical Committee and co-author of the main report.
MoorFutures
Paper now in English
01/08/2015 New – the English publication “MoorFutures” has now been made available online by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. “MoorFutures” are the world`s first voluntary carbon credits from peatland rewetting developed with the expertise pooled in the Greifswald Mire Centre (GMC). The pilot project demonstrates how additional ecosystem services including biodiversity can be integrated into financing mechanisms for climate change mitigation.
Guardian reports on "Swamp power"
How the world’s wetland can combat climate change
20/07/2015 After touring paludiculture projects in Germany and Poland guided by experts of the GMC Guardian-correspondent Arthur Neslen now issued his report on peatland rewetting, paludiculture and climate change mitigation. For an entertaining read on all aspects between reed crop and Ramsar Convention go to Swamp power: how the world's wetlands can help stop climate change.
Paper in Nature Climate Change
Indicators for climate change in the tundra
09/07/2015 Data from 37 sites in 9 countries were collected by Prof. Martin Wilmking (Greifswald University) and other researchers to find sound explanations for climate sensitivity of shrub growth in the tundra biome. Climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at the boundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrost is thawing and most of the global permafrost soil carbon pool is stored. The results have now been published in the paper „Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome“ in Nature Climate Change. This work will improve future projections of climate change impacts across the tundra biome.
Open for public comment
Palm oil industry present a draft synthesis report
3/7/2015 A Draft Synthesis Report of a „High Carbon Stock Study (HCSS)“ of the palm oil industry is now online and open for public comment. This study on carbon stocks is commissioned to independent experts to make the upcoming massive expansion of palm oil cultivation in Southeast-Asia as well as West- and Central Africa ecologically more sustainable and socially more compliant. The protection of carbon sinks in vegetation and soil is one of the key issues. GMC member Dr. Alexandra Barthelmes is in charge of the GMC's Global Peatland Database and contributed to a report on practical guidance to locate and delineate peatlands and other organic soils in the tropics. Prof. Hans Joosten is member of the Technical Committee and co-author of the main report.
Regional parliament calls for more paludiculture
Across all political parties for more support
3/7/2015 The Parliament of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern decided unanimously about the proposal of the leading parties (the social-democratic SPD and the christian-democratic CDU) on supporting paludicultures today (03.07.3015). All speakers stressed the need for more basic and applied research on agriculture and forestry on wet peatlands, building on the current works at the Greifswald Mire Centre.
“Peatlands and Forests in the Climate Architecture”
DEHSt puts presentations online
29/6/2015 Silvestrum VoF und DUENE e.V.,partner im GMC, presented results of their joint research project „Peatlands and Forests in the Climate Architecture” at a workshop of the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the 4th of June 2015 in Bonn during a side event at SBSTA42 to the UNFCCC . The DEHSt has now put the report and presentations online. “Peatlands and Forests in the Climate Architecture” describes political and economic possibilities for regulating climate change mitigation from peatlands and forests. The research project was financed by the Federal Environment Agency.
Taking GEO journalists into the wet
Latest edition reports on Greifswald peatland experts
29/6/2015 For an article in the current GEO edition the magazine’s journalists accompanied the GMC scientists on an excursion into peatlands of Karelia. Text: The current edition of GEO provides an entertaining read and brilliant pictures on GMC experts’ research in Karelian peatlands. The magazine’s journalists accompanied the scientists into the North-West of Russia last summer. Despite wet feet and dry comments the reporters got plenty of information on peatlands and their potential for climate protection. Read about thinking peatlands, comparisons to whiskey on ice and plants as skilled starvationists – unfortunately in German only.
Small bird, great dissertation
Doctor’s thesis on the Aquatic Warbler
29/6/2015 End of June Cosima Tegetmeyer has successfully defended her dissertation „The Aquatic Warbler in the Djoudj National Park area – Aspects of its wintering ecology”. The globally threatened Aquatic Warbler is breeding in fen mires of Eastern and Central Europe and wintering in West-Africa. Tegetmeyer’s dissertation is a good example for linking science and practice at the GMC: Her scientific results yielded four publications in peer-reviewed journals and at the same time helped improving the land management for Aquatic Warbler protection by the Djoudi National Park Administration.