New call for banon peatland burning

ENVIRONMENT: The Governnment should act on promises to protect nature by banning deliberate burning on peatland in the run- up to next year’s UN climate talks, environmental bodies say.

Rotational burning takes place on upland moorland peat, as part of management for grouse shooting.

THE GOVERNMENT should act on promises to protect nature by banning deliberate burning on peatland in the run- up to next year’s UN climate talks, environmental bodies say.

Rotational burning takes place on upland moorland peat, including in National Parks, as part of management for grouse shooting. It produces new heather shoots for birds to feed on and older heather they can nest in.

A year ago, the Government said it was committed to ceasing the practice of burning on blanket bog and would set out its plans to restore and protect peat.

As well as being an important habitat for plants and wildlife, it can store water to prevent flooding and also carbon if it is in a healthy state. But when peatland is degraded, drained and burned, it releases carbon, worsening climate change.

A coalition made up of the RSPB, the National Trust, Plantlife, countryside charity CPRE, Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association and Wildlife and Countryside Link are calling on the Government to bring in a ban.

They say it would demonstrate climate leadership in the run- up to UN climate talks being held in the UK next year. A ban on rotational burning on peatland has also been recommended by the Government’s advisory Committee on Climate Change as part of efforts to cut emissions to “net zero” by 2050.

Jenny Hawley, Plantlife’s policy manager, added: “Only a fortnight ago, Boris Johnson pledged to protect 30 per cent of land for nature by 2030.

“Let’s start with the exquisite carbon- absorbing carpets of mosses, cotton grasses, sundews and wild flowers such as bog asphodel, cuckooflower and marsh violet that would thrive and support wildlife on healthy peatlands.”

Dr Pat Thompson, RSPB senior policy officer, said: “One year from now, the world will watch on as the UK hosts the United Nations climate conference, Cop26, where all national governments will be expected to present new pledges to cut emissions.

“To end burning in England’s uplands demonstrates both UK global climate leadership ahead of our Cop26 presidency.”

However Amanda Anderson, director of the Moorland Association, which represents grouse moor owners and operators in England, said burning was a “highly valuable tool”, which had to be “carried out in the right place, at the right time and for the right reasons”.

She said no one deliberately burned peat, instead “skilfully removing heather canopy leaves peat and moss underneath unharmed, benefiting a range of wildlife and peat- forming plants”, and also reduced the risk of wildfires.

She said much of the science around peatland protection was uncertain and complex, and the matter “is best resolved through local solutions, led by the most up- to- date science and practitioner observation and a ban on heather burning would be detrimental to the protection of our iconic heather moorland.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said they were looking at how legislation could be used to phase out rotational burning of protected blanket bog “to conserve these vulnerable habitats”.

A statement added: “Healthy peatlands have an important role to play in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and helping us reach our net zero target, which is why we are committed to restoring 35,000 hectares of England’s peatland through the Nature for Climate Fund.”

Healthy peatlands are important in cutting greenhouse gas. Statement from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.