I knew about peatlands before starting my MSc project, but I'd never really dived into the details, or realised just how significant their role actually is. Over the course of my project, that changed, and there were quite a few moments along the way that genuinely surprised me.

A bit about me

To introduce myself, my name is Poppy and I have recently finished an MSc in Business and Sustainability at University College London (UCL). Before doing my master’s I studied BSc Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. During my geography degree, I learnt a lot about the impacts of climate change, so what drew me to do my masters was to further my understanding of how the impacts could be addressed and the role business plays in this.

What I did

As part of the MSc Business and Sustainability at UCL, we had to complete a Capstone Project. The project was an opportunity to apply the concepts and skills from the course to a real-world sustainability problem, and to research a topic I was interested in. When I was deciding what topic to do, I knew I wanted to do something that related to geography, so I researched various nature-based solutions and I remembered a lecture I once had on peatlands. After further research, I knew I wanted to base my project on peatland restoration.

I think what drew me to peatlands was how many important roles peatlands play, not only for carbon storage, but for biodiversity and water management. Before I started my project, I could not understand that despite the significant opportunity peatland restoration provides, it is not happening everywhere in the UK.

For my project I decided to do a study looking at peatlands in England, focusing on spatial priority and barriers to action. To do this I used a mixed-methods approach combining GIS analysis and interviews.

Mapping the opportunity

To answer the first part of my research question I produced three maps to demonstrate where peatland restoration should be prioritised. My first map displayed the areas of peatland in England and classified them into areas of low, medium and high environmental priority. This was based on variables including peat depth and greenhouse gas emissions data. Each variable was scored, and combined into an overall rating of low, medium and high environmental priority. The key result of this map was that the majority of England's peat is classified as high priority (69%). Map 2 presented land-use constraint of peatlands, showing whether a peatland unit was low, medium or high constraint. It worked in a similar way to Map 1, but scored land-use, factoring whether land was developed or left natural, what crops were grown where farming was the main use, and whether the area had any protected status, which was understood to support restoration. The majority of peatland was classified as low constraint (86%). 

To bring together the findings from the first two maps I made a third map that displayed where peatland restoration is both most needed and most feasible. The map below demonstrated that areas that are high priority and low constraint (making them areas that could be the first targets for restoration) were focused in upland areas. This then highlighted the question to me: if this peatland could be restored, why has it not happened? To address this, the interviews filled in the gaps. 

However, not all high priority areas featured low constraint. In Map 3 the Fens stood out as one of the most significant areas of high priority and high constraint, and here too the interviews further delved into the specifics of this constraint and why restoration has yet to happen there at significant scale. 

Talking to the people involved

From the interviews I gained a wide range of different perspectives, from the role of private finance markets to how different land uses in the uplands affect restoration. However, one topic that surprised me the most was that for many landowners and managers, they are interested and want to restore their peatland, but there's a lack of opportunity for individuals to apply for various schemes and grants, due to small application windows and specific requirements. When I was doing my project, I found this quite contradictory to a lot of the literature I'd read, which spoke about needing to encourage landowners to want restoration, when in fact for some that's already the case, but current practices don't support this. When I think about the significant role the Fens play in UK food security, but also the impact production has on the peatlands, I do feel that land managers are facing a lot of the blame, when actually they aren't being as supported as they could be.

Many of my interviewees highlighted the importance of collaboration between multiple stakeholders, with one describing how everybody needs “to get around a table.” This wasn’t just one perspective either, it came up across almost every sector I spoke to, from funding to farming to policy. In areas of upland common land, restoration can’t even go ahead without unanimous agreement from everyone with grazing rights, which makes getting projects approved a lot harder. It’s a similar issue in lowland areas, where water table management often affects multiple landowners at once, so if they don’t agree, restoration can end up stalling completely. Overall it felt like policy expects this kind of collaboration to happen, but doesn’t really provide the support to make it easier.

Frequently my participants discussed the opportunities available with approaches that consider both restoring and maintaining peatland quality, while also understanding a production perspective. Multiple participants discussed developments in paludiculture and wetland agriculture; however, a few individuals highlighted that the grants and schemes supporting these methods come with strict rules they must comply with. I found this a bit contradictory, as the goal of these schemes is to support the development and innovation of wetland agricultural practices, but if there are such tight rules to follow, how does this allow room for innovation and testing of potentially more productive methods?

What it all means

My project answered my research question by highlighting which peatlands should be spatial priorities, but it also highlighted the barriers that spatial analysis alone can't capture. I felt that policy tends to focus on upland restoration, which was reflected in my research, but there's a lack of acknowledgement that areas that seemed to be greatly constrained by land-use may not be as constrained as assumed.

As part of my project’s conclusions, I outlined some potential recommendations that could help increase the uptake and success of peatland restoration projects in England. These were as follows:

• Funding design – Policymakers and funders should prioritise the certainty and accessibility of funding over its overall amount.
• Restoration in practice – Planning should combine spatial prioritisation with stakeholder perspectives, as mapping alone misses key barriers.
• Where to focus efforts – Efforts should target financial and policy barriers rather than identifying more suitable land.
• Green finance and emerging solutions – Policy should do more to support the development of carbon and private finance markets and emerging practices such as paludiculture, rather than relying on them to deliver restoration before they are mature enough to meet what policy expects.

Reflections

When I was doing my project, having a background in geography meant I had a basic awareness and understanding of peatlands and their role. But when discussing my project with my peers on my MSc (Business and Sustainability), everyone had quite different professional and academic backgrounds, and some had no idea how important peatlands are, despite an interest in sustainability. This surprised me quite a bit, as I feel that in England, but also globally, this is a topic that really needs to be part of mainstream sustainability conversations.

Building on this, while doing my research, especially my interviews, I found it really inspiring speaking to individuals who were so passionate about the opportunities peatland restoration can bring. It's left me with such a significant interest that I'll carry with me as I start my career.

Looking back, this project has taught me just how much complexity there is behind peatland restoration, as when I started it looked simpler on the surface. This is just a snapshot of my project, so I haven't been able to cover everything here, but I've now submitted it and I'm awaiting my final grade. I'd love to hear any thoughts or questions you have on it.