Resource area

The productive use of wet bogs and fens is called paludiculture. The use of reedbeds for new insulation and building materials and the cultivation of peat mosses as peat substitutes in substrates for horticulture are examples for sustainable uses of peatland-based biomass. Bog plants such as sundew, valerian and dost provide raw materials for medicines. Sedges and cattails can serve as animal feed. Also, the rewetted peatland areas are the habitat of the water buffalo as a producer of foodstuffs such as meat, milk and cheese.

Wet peatland utilisation also helps protect the climate by reducing CO2 emissions and by evaporative cooling. It provides alternatives for fossil-based materials without adding to the fuel-versus-food dilemma.