This chapter identifies the key paludiculture (swamp cultivation) plant species from various commodity categories, including food (fruit, nuts, vegetables, beverages, spices, oils, and fats), medicines, other non-timber forest products (utensils, dyes, weaving, latex, resins, and so on), as well as a range of wood products such as species producing timber and pulp. 512 useful peat swamp plant species are recognized, including 81 species with a major economic use and 379 non-timber forest product species, representing a cornucopia of paludiculture options. However, although 380,000 ha of degraded peatland has been rewetted by mid-2018, less than 2000 ha has been converted for true paludiculture, i.e. with full rewetting and using peat swamp adapted species for economic benefit. While a range of technical challenges exist, the main reasons for not carrying out true paludiculture are a lack of examples to follow and a lack of information about paludiculture species (their performance, markets, growth, and so on).
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- Authors: Giesen, W.
- Author Affiliation: Euroconsult Mott MacDonald
- Subjects: paludiculture, cultivation, revegetation, rehydration, peatlands, plant species, nontimber forest products
- Publication type: Chapter-R
- Source: Osaki, M., Tsuji, N., Foead, N., Rieley, J., (eds). 2021. Tropical Peatland Eco-management. 411-441
- Year: 2021
- ISSN: 978-981-334-654-3
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4654-3_14