An assessment of the potential for paludiculture in England and Wales
This comprehensive report assesses the potential for implementing paludiculture, or wetland farming, on lowland peatlands in England and Wales to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote biodiversity, and provide multiple ecosystem services. It highlights that England has about 325,000 hectares of lowland peatlands, a significant portion of which is intensively farmed on drained peat soils. Drained peatlands release considerable CO2, contribute to land subsidence, and have high environmental impacts.
The report explores various options for paludiculture, including cultivating native wetland plants such as Phragmites australis (common reed), Typha spp. (cattails), and Sphagnum moss for uses like bioenergy, growing media, fodder, and construction materials. It also considers other crops like Miscanthus and herbal plants, and niche products such as medicinal plants, fabrics from nettles, and alternative construction materials.
A key focus is on how rewetting peatlands and farming wetland species can cut greenhouse gas emissions—particularly CO2 and methane—while providing additional benefits like biodiversity enhancement, flood mitigation, and healthier ecosystems. The report details the technical, ecological, economic, and societal challenges, such as water management, weed control, mechanization, and scale adoption, emphasizing the need for developing suitable infrastructure, policies, and markets.
It discusses the impact of climate change, which is expected to increase the frequency of droughts and floods, possibly threatening both conventional agriculture and paludiculture. However, paludiculture's waterlogged conditions may be more resilient, and the potential to develop new crops adapted to future climates is highlighted.
The document identifies barriers including water management complexities within existing drainage systems, weed control issues, mechanization constraints, trafficability of wet soils, and regional food security concerns if high-value crops on peat are replaced. It advocates for incentives such as government policies, subsidies, carbon trading, and ecosystem service payments to promote adoption.
Overall, while paludiculture is not yet a large-scale, immediately viable solution, it offers promising opportunities to mitigate climate change, restore ecosystems, and sustain rural economies if technical, economic, and policy barriers are addressed. Further research, market development, and supportive frameworks are necessary to scale up these innovative land-use practices, making them an integral part of sustainable lowland peatland management.
An assessment of the potential for paludiculture in England and Wales (en)
Number of pages: 98
Target countries: UK
Key takeaways
- Paludiculture offers significant greenhouse gas mitigation potential in UK lowland peatlands.
- The assessment indicates that rewetting peatlands and adopting paludiculture could reduce CO2 emissions by avoiding deep-drainage oxidation, with sites potentially becoming net carbon sinks, thus contributing to UK's net zero goals.
- Economic viability of large-scale paludiculture remains challenging without policy support.
- High costs, market development needs, and infrastructural requirements currently limit commercial adoption; targeted incentives and innovative markets are essential to scale up the practice.
- Water management is the critical factor influencing the success and climate benefits of paludiculture.
- Effective water level control, including maintaining high water tables and managing drainage infrastructure, directly impacts GHG emissions, subsidence rates, and crop productivity under changing climate conditions.
- Sphagnum farming shows promise as a sustainable alternative to peat extraction, but faces technical and economic hurdles.
- Recent UK trials demonstrate good growth rates, yet issues like contamination, mechanisation, water quality, and cost-effectiveness must be addressed before scaling up production for commercial growing media use.
- Paludiculture can provide a range of ecosystem co-benefits beyond carbon mitigation, including biodiversity enhancement, flood regulation, and habitat conservation.
- Management practices such as rotational harvesting, high water levels, and habitat mosaics can support wetland species, improve landscape resilience, and synergise conservation with productive land use.
- Climate change presents both risks and opportunities for paludiculture development.
- Projected warmer, wetter winters may increase water availability, supporting crops and flood management, while drier summers could challenge water supply and crop yields, necessitating resilient design and landscape planning.
Sources
- An assessment of the potential for paludiculture in England and Wales - - https://lowlandpeat.ceh.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-07/Defra-LP2-paludiculture-report-April-2020.pdf
