| dc.description.abstract | Dutch peatlands have a long drainage history to facilitate agriculture, leading to relatively high greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Paludiculture, defined as cultivation on wet and rewetted peatlands, is often seen as a viable climate warming mitigation option to reduce GHGs and counteract land subsidence of peatlands, while at the same time providing a profitable agricultural business. The paludicrop cattail can be used for e.g. insulation material. There is a growing demand for eco-friendly thermal insulators as cattail, which are needed to equilibrate the trade-off between the reduction in energy demand for heating along with insulation materials and their related environmental impact.
The aim of this research is to give insight in the optimisation of 1 hectare agricultural Dutch peatland, from a climate and economic perspective. Two combined systems are compared, with the peatland provisioning either dairy or insulation material. This is done by performing a consequential one-factor lifecycle assessment (GHGs) and a cost-benefit analysis combined with carbon credits. The reference system implies dairy farming with drainage on peatlands and fossil-based insulation material (glass/stone wool). The alternative system implies dairy farming replaced to set-aside West-European land and cattail insulation produced from paludiculture on the peatlands. Biogenic carbon storage is excluded (ISO-standards) and included (PAS2050-methodology).
It can be concluded that, from a climate’s perspective, the switch towards cattail-focussed paludiculture is accompanied with a high GWP-reduction potential. In an optimal scenario, the system change could result in an almost positive GWP balance (incl. biogenic storage) compared to the current situation. The negative contributions in the Global Warming Potential (GWP) can be mainly attributed to the avoided GHG emissions from draining peatlands, followed by the biogenic C-storage in the cattail plates. Cattail-focussed paludiculture is not (yet) competitive with dairy farming, however, a relatively low carbon commodity price can result in an interesting business case and comparable income for paludiculture compared to dairy farming.
Cattail-focussed paludiculture has a high potential to reduce GHGs from peatlands and to achieve negative emissions, i.e. to actively reduce the CO2eq-concentration in the atmosphere, while at the same time building on the biobased economy. Further research should focus on gathering more empirical data, stakeholder analysis and optimising the business case (for producers/consumer). | |
