Scientific contribution

The conservation project „Allgäuer Moorallianz“ aims to protect and develop the core areas of the peatlands within the German “Allgäu”. Dismantling drainage-systems, enhancing water tables and low-intensive agricultural management are approaches to realise the project’s targets. It is obvious that such measures, which are reasonable from a conservation point of view, will mean significant changes for the regional agriculture/forestry and will aggravate or at least change the economic situation of affected farms. At the same time it will not be possible to implement measures without the acceptance and participation of exactly these farms. Against this background the project will have to handle following questions: Which risks or chances does the project hold for regional agriculture/forestry? To what extend accept affected farms the measures? Which socio-economic and political frameworks must be developed to enhance the level of acceptance and the willingness to participate? Which are the costs to implement the measures? Which measures are to be preferred as regards cost-benefit-relations and acceptance-levels? Apart from choosing the optimal measures which allow realising the conservation targets and are at the same time acceptable for agriculture/forestry as well as economically reasonable as regards cost-benefit-relations, the project is faced by another challenge: the ecosystem “peatland” is of relevance for the climate. Agricultural/forestry use of peatlands in general has a negative climatic impact. Use of peatlands demands a lowering of groundwater tables which in turn leads to aerobe degradation of the peat. As a result emissions of CO2 and N2O take place; the ecosystems’ function as CO2 sinks gets lost. The climatic effect of different management strategies on peatland in combination with different groundwater tables differs significantly; the planed land use measures are most likely to change the climatic effects of the sites. In this respect the project must also consider following questions: Do the measures have climatic effects? How strong are these climatic effects and are they positive or negative? Are the measures sustainable at all from the point of view of climate-protection or, which measures are to be preferred from the point of view of climate-protection? To consider these questions and challenges a specific survey about the situation of agriculture/forestry is integrated into the planning process. The survey will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses, the chances and risks as well as the acceptance for the project from the perspective of the regional agriculture and forestry. It will give an estimation about potential conflicts and will develop recommendations, how these conflicts can be considered within the planning and implementation process. Furthermore, the survey will analyse the measures’ impact as regards cost-benefit relation and climatic effects – with the target to most efficiently use the project’s financial budget. On the basis of the survey’s results the chances of a complete and successful implementation of the nature conservation project will be evaluated. implement the project.