Knowledge's influence on Danish landscape transformations

Danish agricultural production is responsible for more than 30% of national GHG emissions, considered a main contributor to the poor ecological conditions in Danish water bodies, and challenging the restoration of biodiversity in Denmark.

To address these issues, the Danish ‘green tripartite agreement’ proposes to, among other things, rewet 140.000 hectares of peatland soils. This is envisioned to lead to a historical transformation of the landscape, reversing the development over the last 200 years, where peatland soils and river valleys have been reclaimed and incorporated into agricultural production.

These historical landscape transformations have been guided by specific values and forms of knowledge while other forms of knowledge have been silenced or marginalized. A similar process of privileging and marginalizing certain forms of knowledge is predictable in contemporary land use change.

Included and excluded knowledge

Timely Knowledge centers on how different forms of scientific knowledge regarding peatland areas are included in or excluded from policy- and decision-making processes. This is explored at ministerial and municipal levels as well as among landowners, historically and today. It further explores how past practices, legislation and forms of reasoning influence which knowledge is requested in Public Sector Service (PSS). and how the inclusion of other forms of knowledge could ensure a more integrated management of peatland soils.

This translates into three specific research questions:

1) What forms of science and knowledge have been influential in ministerial, municipal and landowner decision-making processes in relation to management of peatland soils from 1970s until today, and what forms of science and knowledge have been marginalized?

2) How do past practices of inclusion or exclusion of different scientific knowledges in PSS influence what forms of knowledge are requested today?

3) Which forms of scientific knowledge would be required for an integrated approach to rewetting and land use change in peatland areas from the perspectives of municipalities, landowners and other local stakeholders?

The project will contribute to the development of integrated PSS solutions by exploring how the incorporation of a wider set of knowledge and scientific fields, such as history, law, landscape planning and anthropology, can provide better contextual understanding for policy-making and implementation. This will contribute to strengthening decision-makers’ knowledge about dynamics of change in green transition initiatives and formulate better future solutions related to peatland soils.