Blog written by Alfie, a member of the Young People's Forum:

Many peatlands across the Northern Hemisphere were formed in the aftermath of the Last Glaciation 12,000 years ago as glaciers retreated towards the poles. A lack of oxygen in waterlogged landscapes leads to a diminished rate of decay by aerobic bacteria and other organisms, enabling the accumulation of partially decomposed plant matter. This plant matter forms organic peat soils which allows the absorbance of more water leading to peatland expansion.

What is the link between peat and carbon?

The carbon storing potential of peat comes from the fact that it is composed of partially decayed vegetation. Vegetation sequesters carbon through photosynthesis and that carbon is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when the vegetation decomposes. In peatlands, the vegetation doesn’t fully decay because of the anoxic conditions so a significant quantity of carbon is stored in the peat. Peatlands tend to also emit significant amounts of other greenhouse gases, notably methane, but the climatic effect of that is counteracted in healthy peatlands by the inhibition of carbon dioxide emissions from decomposition. Peatlands are responsible for the storage of 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon in the UK alone.

Unfortunately, 80% of the UK’s peatlands are damaged in some way by human activity which limits their capacity for carbon sequestration. This damage is usually from drainage in order to convert the peatland into cropland or forest to make it more economically productive. Without waterlogging, decomposition returns to a normal rate and large quantities of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere.

Peat on our patch...

Our region of the UK has been particularly impacted by the conversion of peatland to arable agricultural land. Fens are a particular type of peatland that are fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. The water coming into the fen ecosystem carries the minerals of the underlying geology with it which creates mosaics of different plant communities depending on the mix of minerals and nutrients. Typically, the Fens in Cambridgeshire are more alkaline than other types of peatland found in the UK. As a result, they support more communities of sedges, reeds and brown mosses compared to the acidic blanket and raised bogs found in our uplands which support vegetation like cotton-grass, heather and sphagnum mosses. The ground/surface water input into fenland allows mineral and pH gradients to form which creates the characteristic mosaics of vegetation communities depending on mineral and pH levels and the process of succession in a particular area.

The Fens contain 50% of the grade 1 agricultural land in England and their exceptional fertility made them vulnerable to draining projects from the 17th century onward to convert the land for a more profitable crop producing purpose. The draining of the Fens compromised their carbon storing ability, ecosystem function, and flood protection capacity which has implications for global climate change in addition to more localised biodiversity and flooding issues.

What can we do to help?

The Wildlife Trust BCN is working to restore peatland habitats in Cambridgeshire at the Great Fen. 99% of the Fen was destroyed in draining projects to convert it to arable farmland and now only two small fragments remain in the form of Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen. The Wildlife Trust is linking these fragments with the purchase and restoration of Speechly’s Farm in a project called Peatland Progress. This project will provide an area large enough for threatened fen wildlife to thrive, encourage biodiversity, sequester more carbon, and increase flood protection.

What makes Peatland Progress unique is its wildlife-friendly farming suited to the Fen landscape. Farmers in the area still need to make a living and this pioneering project hopes to show that this can be done in a method that is less of a burden to nature. Peat degradation reduces soil health, increases soil erosion, and causes subsidence (increasing flood risk), all of which makes traditional arable farming less viable and profitable year on year. Peatland Progress decided to use the waterlogged nature of peatlands to its advantage through paludiculture in the hopes of rejuvenating the farming sector in the Fens while providing benefits for nature. It is the first paludiculture project of its size in the UK at 120 hectares.

The potential of paludiculture...

Paludiculture is farming on rewetted peat, cultivating crops that are appropriate for wetland habitats such as typha bulrush and sphagnum moss. So far, 88 native UK wetland species have been identified as having potential for paludiculture propagation such as bilberry, celery, cranberry, nettle, sedge grains, sweet grass grains, watercress, and water pepper. 2023 saw the first harvest of Speechly’s Farm’s typha crop which can be used for insulation, building materials, bioenergy and clothing. A workshop was held at the Great Fen with the East Midlands Master Thatchers' Association in March 2024 to explore the potential of commercial reed production for thatching. 97% of the UK's reed for thatching is imported so this would be a great opportunity for local production of the 5 million reed bundles required annually in the UK for this traditional industry.

Paludiculture is already an established practice in many tropical peatlands such as nut and sago plantations in Indonesia and other South-East Asian countries. Northern peatland crop cultivation is still a burgeoning sector and Peatland Progress has the potential to be a model for successful paludiculture across Europe and North America.

This blog was written (belatedly) in celebration of World Peatlands Day on the 2nd June. They are an important habitat that has been subject to extensive degradation as a consequence of human activity which, as well as having significant ramifications for wildlife, has worrying implications for climate change due to increased carbon dioxide emissions. The good news is that trailblazing projects such as the Wildlife Trust’s Peatland Progress are underway to help reverse the damage and provide new opportunities in the form of paludiculture. The diversity and dynamism of peatlands make them fascinating habitats while their carbon storing and flood protection capabilities are deserving of celebration. They provide humanity with essential services and in return, I hope that we continue to work to provide unique landscapes like the Fens with exciting futures.