Climate Change & Technology led Peatland Restoration

Protection and Peatland Restoration will prevent a catastrophic escalation of climate change.

Peat is the remains of dead and decaying plants that are preserved from decomposition by the wet, acidic environment in which they form. Peatlands are found in all continents except Antarctica. Whilst they occupy only 3% of the land surface, they store 25% of global soil carbon; twice the amount stored in the Earth’s forests.

This huge store of carbon in peat is at risk of being released into the atmosphere which will accelerate climate change. Exposing peat to air causes the plant materials to decay and release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). As peat dries, wind and water remove the peat, exposing more peat to erosion; gullies and hags quickly form and the erosion continues to accelerate.

In the UK, when peatlands are damaged they can lose up to 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year. Each year, every hectare of damaged peat is emitting the same CO2 as 10 cars doing an average mileage of 10,000 miles, with 1.5 million hectares of damaged peatland in Scotland alone this equates to 10.8 million cars. So yearly damaged peatland in Scotland alone is equivalent to a third of all emissions from cars in the UK. Unless action is taken now to prevent the world’s peatlands from deteriorating, then, by the end of this century, they are predicted to emit up to 10 times the amount of carbon than all other forms of human activity are collectively emitting at present.

Protection and peatland restoration ensures we have fresh, clean water to drink and that the valuable biodiversity of peatlands is maintained.

90% of peat is formed from sphagnum moss which is able to hold 20 times its own weight in water. Peatlands have a unique and rich biodiversity, they contain insectivorous plants such as sundews and are a habitat suited to wading birds, such as dunlin and curlew. They are beautiful, remote and expansive landscapes, but easily damaged.

Peatlands have been used by people for millennia. However, in recent centuries this usage has intensified and the peatland has been modified from conversion to agriculture or forestry, burning to maintain game bird populations for shooting, and grazing by livestock and wild. These fragile habitats are also damaged by atmospheric pollution.

It is not just the carbon store and the unique biodiversity that peatlands support that are important. 70% of UK drinking water comes from upland areas, which is where peatlands are most commonly found. The capacity of peatlands to hold huge amounts of water, which are released gradually after rain, helps prevent flooding downstream. In addition, intact peatlands give us clean water, but once damaged, small particles of organic matter are deposited into water and this can affect its quality as drinking water.

Each country in the UK has committed to supporting and prioritising peatland restoration.

The IUCN Peatland Strategy calls for the 2 million hectares of peatland in the UK to be maintained in good condition, under restoration or managed sustainably by 2040.

The English Peat Action Plan targets restoration of 282,000 hectares by 2050 and the Plan is supported by funding for restoration projects. There is carbon rich agricultural land in the fens in East Anglia, where paludiculture (e.g. growing coppice willow on continually wet peat) is being explored as a way to maintain carbon in these low-lying agricultural landscapes.

In Wales, the National Peatland Action Programme commits to tripling the area of peatland restoration by 2040 and seeks a ban on domestic horticultural peat products by 2024. A ‘peatland portal’ has been developed so that an online platform is available to share what is currently known about peatland and where restoration activity is being carried out.

The Northern Ireland Peatland Strategy is being consulted on. Here, there is a strong focus on the prevention and containment of wildfires and ensuring agri-environment payments are available for peatland restoration. LiDAR is being used to map the hydrology of catchments nationally.

Scotland’s National Peatland Plan: Working for our Future is being consulted on. Scotland holds 60% of the peatland in the UK and peatland in poor condition is the source of 15% of GHGs for Scotland, so peatland management is extremely important for delivering emissions reductions. In the last 30 years, just under 2,000 ha of peatland have been restored (on average) each year. To meet the target of restoring 250,000 hectares by 2030 upwards of 30,000 hectares of restoration is needed annually. This requires a step-change in the levels of restoration activity. This will be challenging as the policy context is very complex with barriers to overcome, such as land reform, the need for land for woodland planting and onshore wind energy to contribute to reductions emissions, deer management and grouse moor management.

In order to meet these ambitious restoration targets, both public and private finance is necessary.

All countries have allocated funding packages from national budgets for peatland restoration. Mechanisms for support from countries include agri-environment schemes, direct grants and project funding (e.g. via nature-based solutions) Northern Ireland is in the ‘Peace Plus’ EU scheme which provides financing for peatland restoration.

For the private sector, there is a voluntary UK carbon market that allows landowners to sell carbon credits from peatland restoration to businesses. The carbon credits must be used by the private sector to invest in reaching ‘net zero’ and this contributes to, and is reported against, the UK’s net zero target.

In order to obtain the credits, there is a requirement to demonstrate ‘additionality’, which involves taking peatland from a degraded condition (which emits GHGs) to a restored condition and then keep it that way for at least 30 years. The IUCN’s UK Peatland Code is the standardisation mechanism in the UK for this purpose. It provides protocols to track, measure and monitor restoration in a way that means the carbon emissions being prevented by the restoration can be turned into carbon credits and bought by private investors. Currently, the UK Peatland Code can only be used to restore either actively eroding peat (which saves up to 23t/ha carbon a year in emissions), or uncropped peatlands which have been drained (which saves 4.56t/ha carbon a year). It provides detailed instructions on how to map and establish the condition of peatland features, record and monitor their restoration to ensure success in maintaining peatland in good condition. Selling carbon credits from peatland restoration is an emerging market mechanism. To date, over 100 restoration projects have been registered with the Peatland Code in the UK; with 18 of these having been approved.

Although the Peatland code provides a clear structure against which trading in carbon can operate, there are still many barriers to overcome. There is limited awareness of how carbon credits work and how they can be transacted. The tax situation for carbon credits has yet to be confirmed and there is uncertainty over who is responsible for ongoing costs to keep peatland in good condition for the full 30 years. The new markets are seen as complex and still evolving so many landowners are awaiting the outcomes of this. Land managers can be nervous about becoming associated with unknown investors who may subsequently be found to have poor environmental credentials. Where land is owned and managed by different people, there is no set mechanism yet of how the carbon credits are given out.

In addition, in order to apply for carbon credits significant work must be done to map and describe the site, the peatland condition and the restoration schemes. These upfront costs are often difficult for land owners and managers to meet as payment for carbon credits will only be available years in the future. There is a limited amount of equipment and skills for undertaking the restoration and many more contractors with skills in peatland restoration are needed to meet the targets.

Bigger investors, such as pension funds, require very large restoration schemes to make investment worthwhile. One solution set up is to allow these larger schemes to be established over multiple land holdings using a Community Interest Company (CIC). The CIC delivers the work, managing all the processes and distributes payments. There are a number of companies who act as intermediaries to help land owners and managers through the system.

Where does technology fit in with Peatland Restoration?

Environment Systems together with partners, Tweed Forum and Land and Habitats are working with Scottish Government and CivTech to develop the ‘Prioritisation Peatland Restoration’ portal which will be released in April 2023.

In common with the online portal for Wales, the platform provides information on location, depth and condition of peatland. However, for Scotland, the ‘co-benefits’ arising from peatland restoration are identified and calculated. So as well as establishing likely reduced carbon emissions, the benefits of enhanced flood mitigation, water quality, recreation, biodiversity, health and wellbeing are identified where they occur. The portal is also organised to meet specific user perspectives, reflecting the information needs of four key user groups:

The Scottish Government
Landowners and managers
Advisers
Investors

So for example, the information that Scottish Government access helps them understand national or regional peatland resources, their condition and the co-benefits of restoration at scale in Scotland. Those advising on peatland restoration can make initial calculations of restoration potential in terms of reduced emissions to help prioritise restoration and prepare for on the ground surveys. Investors can compare a number of restoration schemes to gain insights for building the business case for investment.

Remote sensing, geospatial data analysis and ecological knowledge have been key to modelling peatland status and restoration potential. This is driven by SENCE, the Environment Systems natural capital evaluation tool. Future planned development for the portal includes recording the area registered for restoration (through public and private investment schemes) and ongoing monitoring of the progress of restoration.

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