Peatland solutions

peat landscape

Peter Cairns/2020VISION

Precious peatlands

What are peatlands?

Peatlands are amazingly wild places, home to rare and unusual plants, birds and insects. They are wetland landscapes characterised by waterlogged soils made of dead and decaying plants, called peat. Peat forms at an incredibly slow rate, accumulating on average only 1mm a year - that means it takes 1,000 years for one metre of peat to form! The key component of peat is a moss called sphagnum, which forms multi-coloured carpets across the landscape and breaks down very slowly under the waterlogged conditions.

Why are peatlands important?

Our UK peatlands store an amazing 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon. When considered globally, this is even more impressive, as they cover just 3% of land area but in that pack 30% of all soil carbon! In a healthy state, they are also beautiful, dramatic landscapes, and provide homes for a range of rare and endangered wildlife.

But there is even more to peatlands, as they help to alleviate flooding, by slowing the flow of water and filter water, making it cleaner when it comes to our water processing plants - and eventually into our taps, with 70% of drinking water coming from upland areas dominated by peat.

Click below to hear Pete the frog talk about peat and why we should take notice in his short film, For Peat's Sake. 

Watch 'For Peat's Sake'

Sadly over 80% of the UK's peatlands are damaged - and when damaged, the peat becomes dried and exposed to the elements, and instead of storing and taking up carbon emits it back into the atmosphere as CO2. If just 5% more of our peatlands were to go, the amount of carbon lost would equate to the total annual UK man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore it's really important that we restore them back to health, so that they keep carbon locked up in the ground. 

The big driver for peat damage has been the drainage of peatlands in order to make them more productive for agriculture i.e. less waterlogged and better for growing crops. Other pressures on peatland include the extraction of peat for horticulture. This still continues today and Somerset, sadly, is one of the last places in England where commercial peat digging for compost continues. We are working hard with partners to bring about a complete ban on peat. 
 

Read our Peat Extraction statement

Soil and worms in an open palm

Peat has been a major ingredient of the compost used in gardening for many years. Image: CANVA/ Getty Images

Take action

Top tips on going peat-free

To find out how you can go peat free at home, read on, and get your FREE downloadable guide!

Go peat-free at home
gardening

Tom Marshall

Take action

Make the pledge to go peat-free

Join the growing movement of gardeners who say NO to peat!

Make the pledge

What are Somerset Wildlife Trust doing?

Somerset Wildlife Trust has long campaigned for an end to peat extraction, greater regenerative farming on peat soils and peat restoration so we can restore the precious wildlife on the levels and moors whilst ensuring the millions of tonnes of carbon they contain is kept safe. To this end Somerset Wildlife Trust is working with partners on the Local Nature Partnership to create a Somerset Peatland Partnership.

Role of The Somerset Peatland Partnership

The Somerset Peatland Partnership will bring together those that make a living from peat, farms on peat, conserves and restores peat or manages peat lands in Somerset and North Somerset whether on Exmoor or the Levels and Moors with the aims of

  • retaining the peat that remains
  • preserving the remaining peat safely
  • restoring the peat wherever possible

The Partnership will achieve this by...

  • Considering the DEFRA Peatland Action Plan, the Peatland Code and cognisant of the work of the IUCN-UK Peatland Programme in relation to delivery in Somerset.
  • Helping peat extractors transition to a peat-free compost product in line with potential future DEFRA peat sales ban and potential cost increases for imported peat relating to EU exit.
  • Promoting peat restoration on upland and lowland areas in relation to its benefits for carbon management, biodiversity, flood risk management, erosion control, water quality, fire risk management, landscape quality, natural beauty and recreation
  • Prioritising and facilitating upland and lowland peat restoration in Somerset
  • Seek and secure funding for peatland restoration projects
  • Share knowledge, information and research findings
  • Seek and secure funding for peatland monitoring projects

Read more

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