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Attaché visit to the GMC

From Japan to Paraguay interest in peatland expertise in MV

30/08/2019 About 30 agricultural and environmental attachés from 14 countries from Japan to Paraguay, together with Dr. Till Backhaus, Minister of Agriculture and Environment in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, visited the Greifswald Moor Centrum on 29 August. A great opportunity to show what Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Greifswald peatland science have to offer: During a guided tour of the Karrendorfer Wiesen, a successfully revitalised coastal flood mire owned by the Michael Succow Foundation, the attachés were able to see and understand the significance of wet peatlands for biodiversity, climate protection and regional development "on the ground". At the research plots of the WETSCAPES project, part of the MV Excellence Initiative, and the mesocosm facility of the University of Greifswald, GMC representatives showed the current research. One week earlier, Elisabeth Aßmann, Chairwoman of the Agricultural Committee of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, had gained an impression of successfully combined peatland, climate and coastal protection, including innovative value creation, on the same site. Here it became clear that peatland protection and paludiculture must be part of a sustainable agriculture in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Obstacles were also addressed: Rewetting is progressing too slowly in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Planning and approvals take a long time.