Joosten, H. & Clarke, D.: WISE USE OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS

1. Joosten, H. & Clarke, D.:WISE USE OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS PowerPoint-presentation by Anni Takko University of Helsinki

2. Peatlands are often the subject of conflicts, as they provide many different goods and services and have various functions and values Polygon mires, Russia. Photo by M. Succow Ruff, Finland. Photo by M. Aikioniemi

3. International Peat Society (IPS) • International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) • The IPS/IMCG approach is a joint effort to identify, analyse and resolve possible conflicts in order to plan, design and implement the best management option for any mire or peatland.

4. PREMISES • There are no rules or doctrines, which are accepted by all human beings • Universally, human beings share only a few attributes, like: • absolute needs (drink, food, warmth…) • a hereditary tendency to develop specific preferences (wants) • an ability to approach choices rationally • Therefore the IPS/IMCG approach is built on widely accepted premises, like international Conventions and UN resolutions

5. The IPS/IMCG adopt an anthropocentric approach: all responsibilities with regard to non-human beings are based solely on the realisation of human happiness • The wisdom of decisions is depending on the circumstances: • what is wise here, may not be wise there • what is wise for you, may not be wise for the society • what was wise in the past, may not be wise now

6. WHAT IS WISE USE? • Those uses of mires and peatlands for which reasonable people now and in the future will not attribute blame • The challenge is to develop mechanisms that can balance the conflicting demands on the global peatland heritage to ensure its continued wise use to meet the needs of humankind • ‘Use’ includes conservation and non-use

7. WISE USE REQUIRES • Knowledge of characteristics and functions of mires and peatlands • Understanding of vital issues of peatlands • Understanding of one’s own point of view • Willingness to understand the others’ point of view • Fair compromise between conflicting preferences Sphagnum species, USA. Photo by J. Päivänen

8. SOME BASIC FACTS AND DEFINITIONS • A peatland is an area with naturally accumulated peat layer at the surface • Suo is an area with or without a peat layer dominated by vegetation which in pristine stage is accumulating peat • A mire is a peatland where peat is currently being formed • Peat is sedentarily accumulated material consisting of at least 30% (dry mass) of dead organic material

9. There are over 400 million ha of peatlands on Earth, 80% of this extent is still virgin, 60% still accumulates peat • Human activities have disturbed 80 million ha of mires: 50% by agriculture, 30% by forestry, 10% by peat extraction • The global mire area decreases with 0.1% per year • The global peat volume decreases with 0.05% per year

10. Relationship between peatland, wetland, suo and mire Non-peatlandPeatland World Wetland Suo Mire

11. Photo from Argentina by H. Joosten Photo from Ireland by Bord na Móna Photo from Finland by J. Päivänen

12. VITAL FUNCTIONS OF PEATLANDS:(are expected to be non-substitutable) • The maintenance of problem-solving capacities • The regulation of global climate • The maintenance of food production capacity • The availability of drinking water • The availability of habitable land • The insurance of health conditions • The preservation of peoples’ value systems All relate to climatechange and biodiversity

13. VALUES • Intrinsic value • Instrumental values: material and non-materiallife support functions Cloudberries, Finland. Photo by A. Torvinen

14. MATERIAL FUNCTIONS: • Production: food, raw materials, energy, genetic materials • Carrier: space and substrate for many different uses • Regulation: good climate, water, soil, other ecological conditions

15. NON-MATERIAL FUNCTIONS: • Amenity: home, affection, company, respect, employment • Recreation: recuperation, stress mitigation • Aesthetic: beauty • Signalisation: indicators, status, price, taste • Symbolisation: mascots, status symbols, money • Spirituality: religion, spirituality • History: cultural continuity, heritage • Existence: notions of connectedness • Cognition: satisfaction of curiosity, science • Transformation: change of preferences and character • Option: insurance, heritage

16. This leads finally to the consideration of "conservation" and "economic" values, the most common cause of environmental conflicts There are complex relationships between value types and the same value type may often operate in favour of both conservation and exploitation Indonesia: Mega Rice project. Photo by J. Rieley & S. Page

17. RIGHTS, NEEDS, WANTS • Rights: are “boundary conditions” that may not be violated • Needs: absolute needs have to be fully met • Wants: the satisfaction of wants is a comparative concept but the satisfaction of needs prevail over that of wants

18. CONFLICTS • The wise use approach identifies six types of conflicts that must be resolved in different ways • Conflicts dealingwithfacts:true ↔ not true • Conflicts dealing with choices:agree ↔ not agree Photo from Canada by J. Päivänen

19. CONFLICTS DEALING WITH FACTS: • Different understanding of terms and concepts • Different judgementswhat are the most suited means to achieving a particular end →Solution:effective communication and sufficient information exchange

20. CONFLICTS DEALING WITH CHOICES: • Different preferences:is there a way to rank different preferences e.g. cultivated orchids ↔ wild orchids in a mire → Solution: • In the absence of other premises, no preference is better or worse than others • Preferences more related to needs prevail over those more related to wants • All means of meeting preferences should be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is to the advantage of the least favoured

21. Different precedences:conflicting rights of human beingsvital local ↔ vital global human interests → Solution: • People must be allowed to give more weight to their own interests than to those of others • People also have a duty to sacrifice their interests for the sake of larger benefits to others • People do not need to accept great losses to secure a small increase in the aggregate good

22. Different priorities:intergenerational justicepresent generations ↔ future generations → Solution: • Some problems for the future generations will be less important than the same problems right now • In question of vital functions of peatlands (= essential and non-substitutable): progress will not solve the problems associated with their decrease → no discounting • In question of normal functions of peatlands (= non-essential and substitutable): progress will not solve the problems associated with their decrease → discounting

23. Different positions:different conceptions which entities have intrinsic valueanthropocentrism ↔ ecocentrism • Moral positions relate to the fundamentals of people’s value systems →Solution: • Conflicts cannot be solved through compromise • Conflicts can only be mitigated by acknowledging and respecting the other’s position, so long as the positions do not fundamentally clash

24. THE MONETARISATION OF PEATLAND VALUES • Instrumental values and preferences can be monetarised • Monetarisation is useful to get a minimum value, not for getting the value • Every determination of monetary value is marginal, due to: • Some ecosystem functions cannot be valued • The order of peoples’ preferences changes • Evaluation by future generations is impossible • There are failures in the market: • Market failure: “third party costs” • Intervention failure: “perverse incentives” • Global appropriation failure: “global financial system for those functions that exceed national boundaries”

25. WISE USE GUIDELINES • A framework within which conflicts between different values and uses of mires and peatlands can be resolved • Two stages: • Decision in principle • Implementation decisions Tropical agriculture in Indonesia. Photo by J. Rieley & S. Page

26. System of: • Basic criteria • General considerations • Guidance principles • Modifiers (for special conditions) • Instruments (on all operational levels)

27. Stage 1 Criteria for decision General considerations Stage 2 Principles Modifiers • Instruments: • based on countries • based on enterprises

28. Decision in principle (stage one): • Assesses the permissibility of interventions in mires and peatlands • The assessment takes place by considering the basic criteria and general considerations

29. Basic criteria: • The use of a peatland resource or service is basically permissible: - when the resource or service is non- substitutable and essential for the maintenance of human lifeOR - as long as that resource or service is abundant • In the latter case, the side-effects have to be taken into account

30. With respect to side-effects an intervention is basically permissible: - when no negative side-effects occurOR - the affected resources and services remain sufficiently abundantOR - the affected resources and services are easily and completely substitutableOR - the impact is easily reversible • In all other cases a complete cost-benefit analysis is necessary

31. General considerations: • All human beings have rights that may not be violated • The satisfaction of needs prevail over that of wants • A smaller amount of good equally distributed should be preferred to a larger amount of good disproportionately shared • Preference should be given to those with fewer native assets and less favourable social positions • There is no single set of concepts or principles, which can govern every situation

32. ADVANTAGE N NOT GO Y ESSENTIALITY Y N Integrated cost-benefit analysis IMPACT N Y ESSENTIALITY ABUNDANCE N Y SUBSTITUTABILITY Y N SELF-MAINTENANCE Y N GO ABUNDANCE Y N Y N

33. Implementation decisions (stage two): • If a decision comes through the stage one (decision in principle) process with a clear “yes” then it must be examined further in stage two • Stage two assesses the implementation of the intervention through guidance principles and effecting modifiers and instruments

34. Guidance principles: • Clarity: use terms clearly and consistently • Access to information: provide the public with understandable information • Public participation: consult all stakeholders • Motivation: motivate the interventions by a greater advantage for society • Careful decision-making: decide on the basis of all available information • Responsibility: take the effects on other levels into account

35. Plurality: look at cases from different perspectives • Distributive justice • Minimum intervention: limit interventions to the minimum necessary • Re-location: relocate activities to where they cause least impact • Precaution: don’t risk possible serious damage • Avoidance: adapt the intervention to the natural characteristics of peatlands • Species integrity: protect species • Compensation: let the responsible party repair or compensate damage in case of violating these principles

36. Modifiers: • In practice, guidance principles may be modified - Space: location, spatial scale-Time: point of time, period of time Photo from Russia by M. Succow

37. Instruments: • Mechanisms which facilitate the application of the modifiers of time and place to the guidance principles -International level: international law, cooperation, certification… -Regional level: regional law, transboundary protected areas…

38. -National level: public policy, land use planning, education, legislation... -Sub-national level: integrated catchment management… -The level of the enterprise: corporate governance, cost-benefit- analysis, technology improvement… -The level of the individual person:civic responsibility, information gathering…

39. CONCLUSIONS: The most important: • General consideration: parties may have different moral positions and they have the right to have different preferences • Principles: are those of clarity, information, motivation, responsibility • Instrument: is dialogue

40. Modifiers take into account that local and momentary conditions may modify the principles • Different perspectives can reveal things which are overlooked when only a single perspective is used • The wisdom of a decision is judged by balancing pros and cons of the effects on human beings • For this Wise Use Framework to succeed it will need to form the basis of continuing co-operation between those who have helped to create it

41. An almost pristine percolation peatland in South Africa, threatened by inundation for hydro-electricity. Photo by J. Sliva