wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

VALUES AND FUCTIONS OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS83●●and nutrients by accumulating carbon,nitrogen and other nutrients in their peats.They therefore act as local sources forcarbon and nitrogen in a catchment.Groundwater-fed fens have a high potentialfor the transformation of in-flowingsubstances transported with thegroundwater. They are able to improve thewater quality in a catchment.In flood mires and many terrestrialisationmires, freshwater inflow is the main watersource. These mire types foster processeswhich reduce chemical concentrationssuch as denitrification, sedimentation orplant uptake. These wetlands act as sinksfor nutrients in the catchment.Because of these properties, peatlands havea capability for the advanced treatment ofsecondary municipal wastewaters. Resultsfrom several systems indicate reduction inB.O.D., suspended solids, nitrogen and tosome extent phosphorus.(q) Regulation of soil conditionsThe peat blanket of mires protects theunderlying soils from erosion. With respectto adjacent soils 209 , undrained peatlandsprevent concentrated/preferential water flowwhich would erode these soils. The insulationcapacity of peat retains permafrost far outsidethe zone of continuous permafrost, e.g. inparts of China and Mongolia.3.4.4 Informational functions(r) Social-amenity and history functionsSocial-amenity functions include attachmentto place and interactions with other people.The attachment to place is “the mostimportant and least-recognised need of thehuman soul” 210 . Human beings have alwaysbeen in close contact with wetlands andpeatlands. Ancestral hominids and earlyhuman beings appear to have lived at andaround wetland sites. The 1.5-million-yearoldTurkana Boy, the most complete skeletonever found of Homo erectus, was excavatedin what had been a lagoon near the edge of alake or an oxbow of a river 211 . Bog bodies,tools, ornaments, weapons, and otherarchaeological remains found in abundancein peat testify to the long and intenserelationship between people and mires 212 .This relationship was not unambiguous:peatlands were simultaneously seen as lifebringingand life-taking, as repelling andinviting, as “water and fire” 213 . In early 17thcentury England, fens were described as:“The air nebulous, grosse and full of rottenharres; the water putred and muddy, yea, fullof loathsome vermine; the earth spuing,unfast and boggy...” But other voices of thattime recognised their value in providingfodder for horses, cattle, and sheep, as storeof “osier, reed and sedge”, and as “nurseriesand seminaries” of fish and fowl, from whichthousands of people gained theirlivelihood 214 .Relatively few people lived or live entirelyfrom and in wetlands and peatlands 215 . Formany more people, peatlands were and arepart of their home area: the community theyshare with other human beings, with plantsand animals, and with familiar topography 216 .This notion of identity and continuity isexpressed in many poems 217 , novels 218 , myths,fairy tales and fiction 219 , songs 220 , films 221 , andother works of art 222 , in a myriad of booksand documentaries on local and regionalpeatland history 223 , in language andexpressions associated with peatlands 224 , innames 225 , in museums 226 , and on postagestamps 227 and on banknotes 228 . The veryremnants of mires and peatlands,anthropogenic peatland patterns, andcontinued traditional exploitation techniquesand folklore are reminders of former socioeconomicconditions 229 , and reflect some ofthe history functions of mires and peatlands.