Protecting our peat bogs

Almost 20 years ago,

the government included in a list of 81 proposed SSSIs,

4 peat bogs, which meant that they could no longer be dug

.....people were up in arms..

.it would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs and a reduction in the availability of peat for gardeners

.......supposedly......

Nick Kirkbride is UK managing director of the Scotts company, a multinational American company which harvests peat from three of the four sites earmarked under the government's proposals.

He said: "We will continue to harvest peat because we do not believe we are harvesting from any sites of current conservational value.

"These are bogs of long standing use and are old bogs which have been worked for a considerable number of years," he added.

It turned out that being an SSSI gave them no protection because planning permission to extract peat predated their inclusion in the list of SSSIs.

So then the government paid £17m to buy them.......

but still gave the companies the rite to extract peat for a further few years.

Then, last year, there was this....

The UK Government has signalled a new era for peatlands with a long term commitment to their restoration and protection in today’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

The IUCN UK Peatland Programme has long highlighted the public services provided by healthy peatlands such as clean drinking water, climate change and flood mitigation, and welcomes the recognition of these from UK Government.

We can no longer ignore the loss of these services through damaged peatlands without huge costs to society now and in the future. Investment in conserving and repairing our peatlands and the people who manage them, as well as halting their destruction through extraction for horticultural peat is the right and most cost-effective way forward. The 25 Year Environment Plan brings good news and reassurance to farmers, conservationists and society as a whole by recognising the important benefits of healthy peatlands.

...but still, this was only an advisory measure and.......Should voluntary measures not prove successful, it will be necessary to look at statutory measures and regulations, which could include a ban on peat or fiscal measures to ensure the use of peat is more expensive than using peat alternatives. Government commitment to consider these measures should progress not have been made by 2020, will be essential.”