JOHN CRAVEN
USING PEAT IN GARDENS THREATENS PRECIOUS WETLANDS
hey’ve been called the UK’s version of the rainforests because of the diversity of their rare and endangered wildlife and their ability – so vital in the battle against climate change – to soak up significant amounts of harmful carbon. But just like the rainforests, our peatlands are in big trouble.
They cover 12% of the nation’s land area, yet less than a quarter of them are classic undrained bogs and fens; many others are damaged or degraded and can actually emit greenhouse gases rather than store them. The cost of reversing that to help meet climate-change targets would run into billions. Yet extracting peat from ‘healthy’ bogs and selling it as compost to gardeners and the horticultural industry still goes on, despite pleas from both government and conservationists for it to stop. Much of it is imported from Ireland and eastern Europe but I’m told that almost a third – that’s many thousands of tonnes over the years – comes from our own wetlands.
In 2011, DEFRA set a target of 2020 for gardeners to phase out peat voluntarily. Nine years is ample time, you might think, for suppliers to get organised. But that deadline has been missed. People anxious to stock up their gardens after the lifting of some coronavirus restrictions will have seen peat-based products piled high when they shop.
Now, the botanical charity Plantlife (its own 1,238 hectares of protected bog in the Flow
TExtracting peat has a negative knock-on effect on local wildlife, flood risk and water quality, as well as our carbon stores
Country of Northern Scotland traps two million tonnes of carbon) is calling for an immediate and outright ban on extraction. Policy manager Jenny Hawley tells me: “The Government’s failure to meet its target is not only lamentable but also entirely inconsistent with its purported ambition to act as a world leader on climate. If we are to get serious about tackling the climate emergency, we must keep peat in the ground not the growbag,” she adds. “Domestic gardening accounts for 69% of peat compost used in the UK and if we all commit to going peat-free now – even if the Government won’t – we can pave the way towards a brighter future for the remaining peatlands and their exquisite carpets of mosses, cotton grasses, bog asphodel, sundews, cuckooflower and marsh violet.”
DEFRA has also set another target: professional growers of fruit, vegetables and plants have been told to stop using peat by 2030, or else.