Transitional Land Use
In some cases, high intensity paludiculture with maximizing production as its main goal, is not a desirable option, but some production is still desired. In these cases, transitional land uses such as low intensity use of wetlands, can be applied. These low intensity uses can cover large areas that, with limited management, still provide big improvements in terms of ecosystem services and some biomass yield. These areas can function as buffer zones around natural peatlands to limit pollution of the natural areas with nutrients and/or pesticides (Hinzke et al., 2021). These areas can also provide a transition period, allowing farmers to transform their business while the land is made ready for full rewetting and optimal GHG reduction in the future.
The GHG reduction potential of these land uses is not as big as some of the other paludiculture or restoration practices, but compared to traditional agricultural land use, they still provide a positive effect on GHG emissions. Simultaneously, the higher water tables in these areas helps to preserve, and in some cases even from new peat layers and create a habitat for a multitude of species (Tanneberger et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2023).
Two main types of transitional land use exist, that of grazing cattle with some milk production and one with periodic mowing for biomass with multiple uses. Cattle grazing allows for a maximum water level around -30 cm leading to a limited increase in methane emissions from the field. The cattle do however increase the farmyard emissions of methane and N2O resulting in an annual emission of about 22 tCO2e per hectare (Liu et al., 2023). The manure excretion of cattle also leads to the input of nitrogen into the system, making this land use less useful as a buffer zone. Periodic mowing allows for a slightly higher water table at around -20 cm but also introduces ‘shunt species’ that transport methane to the atmosphere, resulting in an annual GHG emission of around 8 tCO2e per hectare (Liu et al., 2023).
We distinguish two categories of transitional land use: