The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has today published the government’s England Peat Action Plan setting out the government’s long-term vision for the management, protection and restoration of peatlands.

The English peatlands, often referred to as the ‘national rainforest’, are the country’s largest terrestrial carbon store – however , only 13% of England’s peatlands are in a near natural state which have gradually been degraded over decades and their hydrological status eroded.

A ban on the sale of peat by garden centres in England is among a number of measures set out in the Action Plan intended to reverse decline, prevent further loss of peatland habitats and to restore more peatland landscapes to their natural state.

Peatlands offer major benefits for water quality and flood mitigation

According to the government, wetting peatland areas and returning them to their natural state could make a significant contribution to achieving targets on reducing carbon emissions, as well as having other benefits for water quality, nature and flood mitigation.

The Action Plan says the peatlands provide a sustainable supply of high-quality drinking water - the Office for National Statistics estimates the annual value of the water supply from UK peatlands at between £208 million and £888 million.

However, over the last 30 years the quality of water has been deteriorating as degraded peatland releases dissolved organic carbon into the water, causing discolouration. Removal of colour from water represents one of the major operational costs of water treatment plants and can run into millions of pounds per annum.

In addition, peatlands can also intercept and store greater volumes of water, releasing it over a longer period of time and mitigating flood risk. The Action Plan says that management techniques including draining, burning and overgrazing have been implicated in both declining water quality and some of the larger flood events in England in recent years. For example, the floods in Fishlake, Doncaster in 2019 and the repeated flooding of the Calder Valley.

Essence of approach is to use new funds

The Plan says “the essence of the government’s approach is to use new funds”, like the Nature for Climate Fund and schemes that reward farmers and land managers for producing public goods, as well as private finance to support a change in the management of these landscapes.

The government intends to invest over £50million in peatland restoration by 2025. In areas like the Pennines, it will be developing incentives under the future agriculture policy to support projects that deliver both the capital required to achieve re-wetting of land coupled with maintenance payments to preserve it for the future.

It will also explore the role of Conservation Covenants, introduced in the new Environment Bill.

Northern England blanket bog early priority for restoration

Northern England’s blanket bog – an internationally rare habitat – will be an early priority for restoration. Alongside the Action Plan, the government is also announcing a number of early Nature for Climate Fund investments in 2020/21, including an investment in the Great North Bog, a landscape approach to restoration across nearly 7,000 square kilometres of upland peat in the Protected Landscapes of northern England.

The Action Plan also sets out measures to accelerate the switch to the use of alternatives to the use of peat in horticulture, beginning with bans on the sale of peat for amateur use by the end of this parliament, and a gradual move to alternatives for other commercial sectors over time. The government will publish a full consultation on phasing out the use of peat in horticulture in 2021.

“We recognise that the voluntary approach has not delivered” the paper says.

Key measures in the plan include:

• Developing a more up to date and detailed England peat map by 2024 to establish a clear evidence base
• Immediate funding at least 35,000 ha of peatland restoration by 2025, through the Nature for Climate Fund and other sources
• By Summer 2022, recommendations for a more sustainable future for lowland agricultural peatlands, developed by the Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force
• Consultation on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this parliament
• Phasing out managed burning and reducing the risk of wildfire.

According to the government, implementation of the measures set out in the Action Plan will:

• Secure England’s peatlands’ carbon store so they meet their contribution to Net Zero by 2050. This cannot be achieved by only restoring upland peat but will require significant changes to how we manage our lowland peat.
• Deliver Natural Flood Management and improve water quality, to increase drought resilience and the sustainability of our water supplies.
• Protect and restore peatland habitats so they are healthy, well-functioning ecosystems rich in wildlife.
• Drive private investment in peatland restoration through natural capital markets that allow the accreditation and sale of the ecosystems services that healthy peatlands can provide.
• Protect the historic environment of peatlands so the important evidence of our past can be preserved for the future, and ensure that restoration projects deliver cultural heritage, education and enjoyment, alongside other public goods.

The Action Plan is part of a series of announcements on nature and climate and sits alongside the England Trees Action Plan. The Plan has been developed to align with the broad principles of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) UK Peatland Programme’s UK Peatland Strategy.

Click here to download the England Peat Action Plan in full