Lemke: Project for climate protection with moors in Brandenburg
Moors are to be reactivated in Brandenburg and increasingly serve as CO2 reservoirs. However, many of the areas have been lost, having been drained mainly for agricultural purposes. This Monday in Eberswalde, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) is awarding the "Klimamoor Brandenburg" project of the State Environment Agency. As a pilot project, it is intended to provide positive examples of how agricultural use in low moorland areas can succeed without releasing greenhouse gas emissions and drying out the landscape, as the State Ministry of the Environment announced in Potsdam.
Lemke honored the initiative with an award as a so-called UN Decade Project. The United Nations has declared the years 2021 to 2030 the UN Decade for the Restoration of Ecosystems.
The aim of the project is to rewet moors, which are mostly used as grassland and farmland, and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these areas are to continue to be farmed, for example by converting them to paludiculture. This means that reeds and bulrushes can grow on wet moorland for later use as building materials, for example, but it should also be possible to keep water buffalo.
In March, farmers reacted sceptically to the state government's moorland protection program because farms would have to adapt and investments would be necessary. According to the state environment ministry, Brandenburg is one of the federal states with the most moorland. The majority of the 264,000 hectares of moorland were drained for agriculture and are now mainly used as grassland, arable land and forest.
Moors store large quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and therefore play an important role in climate protection. However, they only fulfill this storage function when they are wet - drained and dry moors release a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere instead.
The "Klimamoor Brandenburg" project, being awarded by Lemke, aims to demonstrate how nature conservation in low moorland areas can coexist with agriculture, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving the landscape. The United Nations has designated the period from 2021 to 2030 as the UN Decade for the Restoration of Ecosystems, emphasizing the global importance of preserving environments like moors, vital for climate mitigation due to their carbon dioxide storage capabilities. When well-managed through practices like paludiculture, agriculture can thrive in these wetlands without harming their climate conservation role.
Source: www.dpa.com
