Working Group
Climate, biodiversity, raw materials: For an integrated use of mires and floodplains
Fossil fuels are usually the center of public debate on causes of human-made climate change. However, in order to reach Germany’s emission targets, more attention must be paid to greenhouse gases arising from land-use change. The emissions from mires and floodplains threaten to increase further in the coming years.
Organic soils, including mires and grasslands growing on former mires, play an important role in the climate system, with mires storing more carbon worldwide than forestland. And in Germany, too, mires are the largest carbon stores, despite covering only five percent of the country’s landscape. Draining mires and cutting off of the floodplains from river courses makes soils drier, which means that air enters the soil and accelerates the natural decomposition of plant mass. As a result, large amounts of greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere. It is estimated that over seven percent of all German greenhouse gas emissions originate from mires.
“Mire protection is in the public interest.” This statement in the German Federal Government’s coalition agreement could pave the way for a climate- and bio-diversity-friendly use of mires and wet grasslands. But how can wet grasslands be used? How large is the carbon storage potential of floodplains? How will climate change influence future water availability? The working group seeks answers to these questions and will work on a statement and an accompanying digital dossier.
Spokespeople of the Working Group
- Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner ML, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt
- Prof. Dr. Bernd Hansjürgens, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Leipzig
Members of the Working group
- Prof. Dr. Daniel Hering, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Abteilung Aquatische Ökologie
- Prof. Dr. Johannes Kollmann, TU München, Professur Renaturierungsökologie
- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kreyling, Universität Greifswald, Lehrstuhl Experimentelle Pflanzenökologie
- Prof. Dr. Hermine Mitter, Universität für Bodenkultur, Wien
- Dr. Stefan Möckel, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Leipzig
- Prof. Dr. Annette Prochnow, Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie, Potsdam
- Prof. Dr. Ortwin Renn ML, IASS Potsdam
- Dr. Franziska Tanneberger, Universität Greifswald & Greifswald Moor Centrum
- Prof. Dr. Dörthe Tetzlaff, Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei, Berlin
- Prof. Dr. Florian Ziel, Universität Duisburg-Essen
ML = Member of the Leopoldina
