{"id":6971,"date":"2026-09-01T09:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T07:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/wetlands-and-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:35:59","slug":"wetlands-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wetlands-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Wetlands and politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Members of the Bundestag Britta Ha\u00dfelmann and Niklas Wagener reached out to us at Mission to Marsh<\/em>. They wanted to engage in a dialogue with us and see firsthand how bog conservation is carried out on the ground. Since our executive director, Ann Christin, is already working on her doctoral dissertation on this very topic as part of the MOOSland project, we decided to team up right away. The idea: We\u2019d bring politicians straight from the plenary chamber to the Barver Moor in Lower Saxony to visit a paludiculture test site. <\/p>\n\n

But wait a minute\u2014Paludi-what?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with the term yet: paludiculture (from the Latin \u201cpalus,\u201d meaning \u201cswamp\u201d) simply refers to agriculture and forestry on wet or rewetted peatlands. Why is this such a game-changer? Until now, agriculture has deeply drained bogs\u2014causing the peat to oxidize when exposed to air and resulting in significant CO\u2082 emissions. <\/p>\n\n

If we stop drainage and rewet the wetlands, we\u2019ll solve the problem at its root: Wet wetlands no longer release CO\u2082 and regain their superpower to store carbon over the long term. And this is exactly where paludiculture comes into play: Instead of growing crops that need dry soil, we plant species that love wet conditions! These can include reeds, cattails, or even our beloved sphagnum moss. The brilliant thing about this is that it revitalizes the bog and preserves all its superpowers! It once again stores enormous amounts of carbon, soaking up water like a giant sponge that holds moisture in the landscape, thereby protecting us from droughts. The water is filtered, and the nutrients it contains help the plants grow. And the bog once again provides a habitat for rare, endangered species. At the same time, however, farmers can continue to use the land. So it\u2019s a true win-win situation that helps secure our future. <\/p>\n\n

\"DSC09151\"<\/figure>\n\n

Experience the Superheroes Up Close<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Out in the field, we showed Britta Ha\u00dfelmann, chair of the Green Party\u2019s Bundestag caucus, and her colleague Niklas Wagener exactly that. We examined the peat mosses up close, squeezed them together, and marveled once again at what incredible superheroes these plants actually are. We explained how they\u2019re grown, how they\u2019re harvested, and why this wet cultivation method is a crucial part of the solution. <\/p>\n\n

The visit also had a very specific political context. The members of parliament intend to introduce a new resolution in the Bundestag. The document bears the apt title \u201cStrengthening Water Retention and Resilience\u2014Creating Income Opportunities for Farmers and Accelerating Peatland Conservation Procedures.\u201d It clearly states that water retention in the landscape is an absolute prerequisite for agriculture and forestry. After all, peatland farmers no longer have too much water\u2014instead, they increasingly have far too little! Sustainable agriculture cannot function under these conditions. <\/p>\n\n

The proposal\u2019s ambitious goal: By 2045, 50,000 hectares of peatland are to be rewetted and managed as wetlands each year. Since corn, grains, or potatoes can no longer be grown on these wet areas, this is precisely where paludiculture comes into focus\u2014the biomass from which can later be used to make, for example, peat-free potting soil, packaging material, or even insulation. And what\u2019s even better: Take a look at my jacket\u2014this is paludiculture in action! Instead of down feathers, it\u2019s filled with cattails! It really doesn\u2019t get any more innovative than this. We love stuff like this! <\/p>\n\n

To support farms through this major transition and give them planning certainty, the motion calls for, among other things, substantial support for agriculture: a rewetting subsidy and targeted economic assistance to develop new markets for these Paludi products.<\/p>\n\n

\"DSC09272\"<\/figure>\n\n

Everyone at one table<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

After all that input in the field and a light snack, we got down to business. We sat together in a large, diverse, and incredibly warm group with various stakeholders from agriculture, peat extraction, and academia. We had an in-depth discussion about how we can now put peatland rewetting into practice in the field and what specific policy measures are still needed to make that happen. <\/p>\n\n

It was an incredibly productive day. A huge thank you goes to Greta Gaudig and Matthias Krebs from the Greifswald Moor Centrum<\/em>, who took us on a fantastic guided tour of the site, and to Laura Herzog from the University of Osnabr\u00fcck<\/em>, who so wonderfully structured and led our discussion session afterward. You all helped make this day a complete success, filled with new ideas and lots of fun! <\/p>\n\n

When science, practice, and politics come together on equal footing in the moor, real progress is made. Let\u2019s shape change together! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Bundestag Britta Ha\u00dfelmann and Niklas Wagener reached out to us at Mission to Marsh. They wanted to engage in a dialogue with us and see firsthand how bog conservation is carried out on the ground. Since our executive director, Ann Christin, is already working on her doctoral dissertation on this very topic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Wetland Conservation in Politics","description":"Wetland Conservation in Politics with \u201cMission to Marsh\u201d and Britta Ha\u00dfelmann, Chair of the Greens\u2019 Bundestag Caucus"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[91,114,127],"class_list":["post-6971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-climate-protection","tag-renaturation","tag-wetland-protection","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6975,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6971\/revisions\/6975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missiontomarsh.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}