Precious peat bogs of the Hebrides

The importance of protecting the Western Isles peat bogs was highlighted in a ground breaking new report released today (Friday)

The study, written by Richard Lindsay, an international authority on peatlands, was commissioned by the RSPB with financial support from the Countryside Council for Wales, the Forestry Commission, Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and the IUCN-UK Peatland Programme.

“Areas of bare peat”

Despite their wild and barren appearance, the UK’s peat bogs are of international importance and are a national asset.

As home to a variety of special plant and animal communities these areas of land have been accumulating peat, over thousands of years.  The resultant deposits, made from the preserved remains of Sphagnum moss, extend over huge tracts of land and comprise the largest store of terrestrial carbon in the UK.

However this carbon store is extremely sensitive to human distrubance, leaving the land vulnerable to the effects of climate change and the way they are used and managed.

The report, written as a discussion document, reviews the impacts of both historic and current land use and management activity including drainage, burning and peat extraction.

A number of major peatland restoration initiatives are underway across the UK.  These mainly involve reducing livestock numbers, blocking drains, removing plantation trees and re-vegetating areas of bare peat.

“UK’s peatlands”

The report reviews the impact of restoration on the carbon balance and concludes that intact peatlands are generally climate change beneficial, whereas degraded peatlands are likely to have negative effects on climate because they release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The report argues that while some peatlands can release methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, the impact is short term and has less global warming impact than damaged peatlands.  Healthy peatlands are also considered to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Stuart Housden, Director RSPB Scotland said “This report highlights that restoring our peatlands may be a cost-effective way to lock up stored carbon thereby preventing further loss of this damaging greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

“It is imperative that we invest now to save this vital carbon store. It is certainly not just the climate that will benefit from restoring these areas; biodiversity, landscape and water management all improve too – making this a cost effective action for Government.”

The report also highlights that further research is urgently required to asses the overall extent and condition of the UK’s peatlands.

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