5.3 Paludiculture
An example of innovative agricultural practice is farming on peatlands. Historically,
peatlands were considered unusable for crop farming, due to wet conditions and the
low fertility. Large areas of peatland were therefore either exploited for their peat as a
fuel or drained and transformed into still inefficient cropland, grazing areas or forest
plantations. With the destruction of peatland, carbon emissions increased as oxygen
caused large amounts of organic mass—accumulated through centuries under anoxic
ad wet conditions—to decompose. As this led to an ongoing chain reaction, the loss
of peatland led to more peat loss. This also leads to land subsidence in peatland
around the world (Pronger et al. 2014), often with severe consequences for inhabitants of these areas, who need to coop with structural damage of buildings and
increased impacts of weather extremes and sea level rise (Gambolati et al. 2005).
Paludiculture may offer a good alternative. Here well-adapted crops are grown on
wet soils. By rewetting peatlands, both soil subsidence as well as carbon emission
may be halted, even turning the system into an efficient carbon sink with a rising soil
which may even counter problems caused by sea level rise, salinization and extreme
drought events. Current research programs are focussing on the cultivation of crops
as sources of biomass and building materials such as reeds, moor-grasses and peat
mosses (Sphagnum) or even, through forestry, alders for application in cardboard,
paper of isolation material. But also edible crops may be cultivated through
paludiculture in the future, such as Wild rice in Northern America. In addition,
due to climate change more peatland will become available. Peat, which is stored in
permafrost, will start to melt and decompose under rising temperatures. Rewetting
these systems may limit the effects of permafrost loss and may compensate losses of
agricultural lands on a global scale.
6 Concluding Remarks
As the global population grows, the need for food security increases. However, the
depletion of resources and the immense impact agriculture has on our world’s
landscapes, climate and biodiversity is beginning to reach its limits. Therefore,
new ways of agricultural practice is necessary to ensure our future: a form of
agriculture in which nature and farming are much more interlinked and where the
resilience of food production relies on the capacity of our natural capital to coop with
the increasing threats of climate change and urbanisation. Therefore, we need to
protect our current biodiversity. New approaches such as multifunctional land use,
where cropping and nature conservation go together, are interchangeable or even
support natural ecosystem functions. Ecosystem functions, such as natural pollination of crops, need to be protected. The genetic capital that incorporates the adaptations to climate change is already present in our nature and should be protected.
Production and food supply chains can become more efficient, so production does
422
J. H. J. Schaminée and N. M. van Rooijen
An example of innovative agricultural practice is farming on peatlands. Historically,
peatlands were considered unusable for crop farming, due to wet conditions and the
low fertility. Large areas of peatland were therefore either exploited for their peat as a
fuel or drained and transformed into still inefficient cropland, grazing areas or forest
plantations. With the destruction of peatland, carbon emissions increased as oxygen
caused large amounts of organic mass—accumulated through centuries under anoxic
ad wet conditions—to decompose. As this led to an ongoing chain reaction, the loss
of peatland led to more peat loss. This also leads to land subsidence in peatland
around the world (Pronger et al. 2014), often with severe consequences for inhabitants of these areas, who need to coop with structural damage of buildings and
increased impacts of weather extremes and sea level rise (Gambolati et al. 2005).
Paludiculture may offer a good alternative. Here well-adapted crops are grown on
wet soils. By rewetting peatlands, both soil subsidence as well as carbon emission
may be halted, even turning the system into an efficient carbon sink with a rising soil
which may even counter problems caused by sea level rise, salinization and extreme
drought events. Current research programs are focussing on the cultivation of crops
as sources of biomass and building materials such as reeds, moor-grasses and peat
mosses (Sphagnum) or even, through forestry, alders for application in cardboard,
paper of isolation material. But also edible crops may be cultivated through
paludiculture in the future, such as Wild rice in Northern America. In addition,
due to climate change more peatland will become available. Peat, which is stored in
permafrost, will start to melt and decompose under rising temperatures. Rewetting
these systems may limit the effects of permafrost loss and may compensate losses of
agricultural lands on a global scale.
6 Concluding Remarks
As the global population grows, the need for food security increases. However, the
depletion of resources and the immense impact agriculture has on our world’s
landscapes, climate and biodiversity is beginning to reach its limits. Therefore,
new ways of agricultural practice is necessary to ensure our future: a form of
agriculture in which nature and farming are much more interlinked and where the
resilience of food production relies on the capacity of our natural capital to coop with
the increasing threats of climate change and urbanisation. Therefore, we need to
protect our current biodiversity. New approaches such as multifunctional land use,
where cropping and nature conservation go together, are interchangeable or even
support natural ecosystem functions. Ecosystem functions, such as natural pollination of crops, need to be protected. The genetic capital that incorporates the adaptations to climate change is already present in our nature and should be protected.
Production and food supply chains can become more efficient, so production does
422
J. H. J. Schaminée and N. M. van Rooijen