You’ve probably heard of peat or peatlands. You may have even visited some of Avon Wildlife Trusts lowland peatland reserves, such as Weston Moor or Clapton Moor in the beautiful North Somerset Levels and Moors. In recent years, there has been a new focus to protect and restore peatlands across the UK. This includes calls for a government-based ban on sales of peat, and a raft of peatland conservation projects being announced.  

What is peat? 

There are two things it is essential to know about peat. Firstly, it forms very, v-e-r-y slowly (more on that below). Secondly, due to the particular way it forms, it is among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on Earth, storing twice as much carbon as the world’s forests.

Put simply, peat forms when waterlogged ground conditions prevent dead plant material from fully decomposing.  Yet these precious peatlands occupy only 3% of the global land surface, but cover a whopping 12% of the UK land area, meaning we have a lot of it!

Learn more about peat on our recent blog

People and peat 

Humans have recognised the value of peat for centuries. In many areas peatlands have been drained for agricultural use and extracted for fuel or as compost for gardeners. Whilst commercial peat extraction for fuel is quite rare nowadays, the UK does still have large-scale peat extraction for peat compost or peat-containing products, despite calls for a total ban.  

As peatland exists in areas which are prone to waterlogging, to keep it dry enough for use as agricultural land or for peat extraction it has to be drained. This is mainly achieved through digging ditches (known as rhynes in Somerset) and pumping out the water. 

Unfortunately, herein lies the problem. Draining the peat lowers the water table, allowing oxygen into the soil, and this restarts the process of decomposition. As the plant matter rots away, the stored carbon is released as CO₂, methane or nitrous oxide (N₂O), all of which are major greenhouse gasses and causes of climate change. 

Now that you know a little more about peatlands, and how important they are, we can move on to what is being done to protect them.  

Peat protection:

Somerset Moor Futures

Our new project, Somerset Moor Futures is one of 13 ‘Lowland agricultural peat water discovery pilot’ projects being delivered across the country, funded by the Environment Agency. Working alongside our partner FWAG SouthWest, the project will focus on five deep peat moors in the North Somerset, Axe-Brue and Parrett catchments.  

Our overall aim is to bring together farmers and landowners into groups known as Moor Associations. These farmer-led groups create a space for the members to discuss key issues and make decisions, as well as communicate with key partners across the farming, water and environmental sectors. With collaboration and consensus-building at the centre, the Moor Associations can explore how land management could change across a whole moor (or hydrological block), to enable farmers to access new public and private finance opportunities, with particular emphasis on peat preservation and emissions reductions. 

This will be a great opportunity for farmers and landowners to learn about new funding streams, develop techniques for collaboration that suit their needs, and most importantly, contribute to the national discussions about the future use of their peatland. 

If you are a farmer or landowner working within these catchments and you are interested in getting involved, please contact Nature and Climate Officer, Jen on the link below: 

Jen.robertson@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk