Western Morning News (Saturday)
West peatland projects to cut carbon and boost wildlife
CONSERVATION work will be carried out at dozens of sites across the Westcountry as part of a major scheme to restore thousands of hectares of England’s peatlands to a natural state.
Landmark projects from Cornwall to Northumberland will benefit from more than £16 million in funding, awarded through the first round of Natural England’s Peat Restoration Grants.
Protecting England’s peatlands is considered important because they are the country’s largest land-based store of carbon, as well as being home to rare wildlife, and can provide clean water and protect against flooding.
But only 13% of England’s 1.4 million hectares of peatlands – which range from upland bogs to rich productive farmland – are in a near-natural state, with the rest degraded, drained, planted with trees or used for grazing or agriculture. The UK’s 2.6 million hectares of peat are estimated to be emitting around 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
The Government says its peat action plan aims to secure England’s carbon store to meet the contribution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall – known as net zero – by 2050.
The Government intends to invest over £50 million in restoration, with the aim of restoring 35,000 hectares of peatland in England by the end of this Parliament.
Those selected for grants as part of the programme’s first phase include sites in Northumberland, Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester.
Some 42 sites in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset will also benefit from the scheme, aiming to restore approximately 2,634 hectares of peatland. Led by South West Water, this project will restore some of the UK’s most southerly blanket bogs on sites including Bodmin Moor, Penwith, Dartmoor and Exmoor.
In Yorkshire, Manchester and Durham, work will be carried out across 15 sites in a collaboration called the Great North Bog Initiative, which expects to deliver 3,510 hectares of peatland restoration.
Environment minister Rebecca Pow said: “The projects being awarded funding today will bring about muchneeded peatland restoration across the country.”
Natural England chair Tony Juniper added: “Our peatlands exemplify the multiple benefits society can reap from healthy natural systems.
“They store a vast quantity of carbon, captured from the atmosphere by plants living long ago, they purify and store water, enabling rivers to run steady and clear while at the same time reducing flood risk.
“They are also wonderful wildlife habitats, supporting some of our most iconic species, and peat covers some of our most beautiful landscapes, including in the National Parks that we hope even more people will enjoy during the years ahead. By restoring peatlands, we can protect and increase all of these valuable benefits.”
Applications for the first round of restoration grants opened in April, with the second round expected to be launched in early 2022.