wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

VALUES AND FUCTIONS OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS61(cb) Wild plants as raw material for nonfoodproducts 81Peatland plants are harvested for human andanimal food, and also as raw material forindustrial products and energy generation 82(Table 3/9). For many centuries Sphagnummoss has been used as a building andinsulation material to fill the chinks betweenlogs and planks in log-cabins and in boats.The Lapps in northern Fennoscandia usedpeatmoss in children’s cots. 83Commercial harvesting of live Sphagnummoss from peatlands for horticulture,including the cultivation of orchids andbromelias, currently takes place in NorthAmerica, Australia, and Chile 84 .Harvesting and use of reeds from peatlandstakes place all over the world. The use ofPhragmites 85 , Cladium, and Cyperuspapyrus 86 is important for constructionpurposes, e.g. for thatching and matting, andfor making paper.Biomass with commercial potential can beharvested from both undrained and re-wettedpeatlands, which makes possible an economicexploitation combined with the conservationof many natural mire functions 88 . Phragmitesaustralis reeds, for example, represent thenatural vegetation of eutrophic flood andimmersion mires 89 . In such mires thick layersof reed peat can be found. Similar Phragmitesreeds with peat-forming potential maydevelop spontaneously or can be establishedartificially after rewetting of degradedpeatlands.In a number of countries the demand for reedas a roofing material and for the productionof mats cannot be satisfied by native reedharvests and imports 90 are needed to meetcurrent demand. In addition to thesetraditional products, new products made frompeatland biomass 91 are becomingeconomically interesting, e.g. form bodies aspackaging material 92 and vegetation- andplaster-porter mats 93 , insulation material andconstruction sheets 94 , pulp for paperproduction 95 , the bio-refinement of plant sapsfor the production of biotechnological rawmaterials 96 .(cc) Plants for medicine 97Mire plants are widely used for medicinalpurposes in all parts of the world, principallyin areas with large numbers of mires 98 . Thenumber of mire/wetland plants used formedicine on a world-wide scale can beconservatively estimated at some thousandspecies. The majority is used by local andindigenous peoples, and a few hundred plantspecies are more widely applied on anindustrial scale. This number may increaseas more knowledge about mire/wetland plantsfor medicine in tropical areas becomesavailable.Sphagnum plants – as excellent absorbentswith antiseptic properties 99 - were usedsuccessfully as a substitute for cotton insurgical dressings in the Napoleonic andFranco-Prussian Wars 100 , by the Japanese inthe 1904 – 1905 war with Russia, andextensively by both sides during World WarI 101 .In the former USSR about 40% of medicineswere made from medicinal plants, half of themfrom wild plants. 234 wild species were usedon an industrial basis, including 29 mire/wetland species (Table 3/10) 102 .About 230 medicinal preparations areproduced world-wide from Sundew (Drosera)species 104 . Quantities of various Droseraspecies on the European market are estimatedto range from some hundred kg year -1(Drosera intermedia, D. peltata) to 7-10tonnes year -1 (Drosera madagascarensis) 105 .In the period 1981-1994, the quantity ofDrosera rotundifolia collected annually from