Paludiculture is the productive land use of wet and rewetted peatlands that preserves the peat soil and thereby minimizes CO2 emissions and subsidence. (Wetlands International)
The development of paludiculture as an option to restore peatlands whilst enabling the land to be productive has been driven by a research team at the University of Greifswald
Interest in the UK has grown steadily and is now coming to the fore. The Waterworks project started in 2020 by the Great Fen team was the first field scale trial in the UK.
In the Summer of 2022 Natural England announced the plans to open a Paludiculture Exploration Fund to support the development of the whole supply chain route, identifying the barriers that will be issues for the take up of paludiculture where it is appropriate to do so. NIAB are leading on the work to gather information and evidence. The first steps have been to send out a survey to everyone who has expressed an interest in Paludiculture to understand the constraints and opportunities for agriculture with high water tables and a two day workshop is to held in January 2023.
Survey Link https://docs.google.com/forms/... Completing the survey allows you to sign up for the community of interest and exciting developments next year.
Following the first Paludiculture event in January the new website for information and resources on Paludiculture is live. www.paludiculture.org.uk