Conference 2020

With taking strategic action to deliver peatland conservation and restoration in mind, over this four day event we explored the vital role that healthy peatlands play in society’s adaptability, resilience and recovery as well as sharing progress made towards the UK Peatland Strategy goals. 

•  Welcome to our 10th IUCN UK Peatland Programme Conference: Stuart Brooks (National Trust Scotland and IUCN UK National Committee)
•  Keynote address: Minister Rebecca Pow (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
•  An overview of the UK Peatland Strategy: Emma Hinchliffe (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)

This session shared four country updates on delivering the UK Peatland Strategy goals.

• Country update: Wales: James Cooke (Welsh Government)
• Country update: Scotland: Andrew Coupar (NatureScot) and Ben Dipper (Scottish Government)
• Country update: Northern Ireland: Sara McGuckin (Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Natural Environment Division)
• Country update: England: David Hunter (Defra) and Naomi Oakley (Natural England)

• Delivering a soil map - addressing climate threats to peatland in the Falkland Islands: Jim McAdam (Falkland Islands Trust and Queen's University Belfast)
• Values & dynamics of groups for peatland restoration; a protocol for Deliberative Monetary Valuation: Marie Ferre, Emmanouil Tyllianakis, Julia Martin-Ortega  (iCASP (Intergrated Catchment Solutions Programme))

This session, the first of two, shared international peatland action in the UN Decade of Restoration and links to the biodiversity and climate crises.

• International peatland action in the UN Decade of Restoration: Dianna Kopansky (Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI), UN Environment Programme)
• The role of UK peatlands in climate mitigation: Peter Coleman (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
• Nature based solutions and biodiversity policy - Actions to address mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity loss and community resilience and well-being: Ashton Berry (BirdLIFE International)

This session explored balancing the benefits of peatlands and continue to share international peatland actions.

• Balancing the many benefits of peatlands: Hans Schutten (Wetlands International)
• An update from South East Asia's peatlands: Faizal Parish (Global Environment Centre)
• Peatlands in Europe - state and condition: Franziska Tanneberger (Griefswald Mire Centre)
• Review of peatland policies across Europe: Niall O'Brolchain (National University of Ireland, Galway)

• Welcome to Day 2 of the conference: Emma Hinchliffe (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)
• Keynote address: Andrew Millar (Scottish Government)
• Standardising the collection of peatland monitoring data to enable more evidence-based policy and practice: Mark Reed (Scotland's Rural College and IUCN UK Peatland Programme)

• Conserving biodiversity - UK approach to assessing conservation status or rare, threatened or endemic habitats, animals & plants: Stephen Grady (Joint Nature Conservation Committee)
• Peatland habitats & plants : Annex 1 inventory on the ground: Iain Diack (Natural England)
• Monitoring species level indicators - birds: Simon Wotton (RSPB)
• Bugs on Bogs - Integrating species and habitats data for nature conservation: Craig Macadam (Buglife)
• Inside the black box - Towards a microbial process-based understanding of the resilience of UK peatland systems: Martin Evans (University of Manchester)
• Carbon and Nature, Trees and Peat - the RSPB mapping project: Olly Watts (RSPB)

• Monitoring peatland restoration - using data at different scales to track changes in peatland condition: Becky Trippier and Paul Robinson (Joint Nature Conservation Committee)
• Rapid Satellite Method: Jenny Williamson and Alan Radbourne (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UKCEH) and Rachel Harvey (Welsh Peatlands SMS)  
• Mapping peatland extent and condition, aiding restoration planning, and monitoring effects into the future - a suite of remote sensing tools applied to Dartmoor: Naomi Gatis & David Luscombe (University of Exeter)
• Practical application of InSAR techniques to peatland management, carbon accounting and loss prevention: David Large (University of Nottingham) in collaboration with Andrew Bradley (University of Nottingham); Roxane Andersen and Chris Marshall (University of the Highlands and Islands) and Andrew Sowter (Terra Motion Ltd.)

• Long-term condition monitoring initiative - Eyes on Bog: Jack Clough (University of East London & Eyes on the Bog Champion)
• The Peat Data Hub - a data repository for Eyes on the Bog data and more!: Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez (University of Leeds)

Peatlands have taken centre stage as a nature-based solution in our climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. As a result, there is increasing demand for reliable and robust peatland science to inform evidence-based policy, strategy, and practice. This spans multiple peatland management outcomes and consequently the range of scientific disciplines. More than ever, there is a need for better coordination of research resources to build the required evidence base more efficiently and effectively.

In this session we provided an overview and understanding of research coordination efforts, or lack of, across the British Isles. Using these as food for thought we then had an interactive session to address two questions:

1)  What are the priority outcomes (or benefits) that better coordination of peatland research could deliver? (the why?)

2)  What are the priority actions we can take for the better coordination of peatland research to realise these benefits? (the how?)

Presenters in this session included:

• Jonathan Walker (Swansea University)
• Cindy Froyd (Swansea University)
• Roxane Andersen (University of the Highlands and Islands)
• Richard Lindsay (University of East London and IUCN UK Peatland Programme) 
• Florence Renou-Wilson (University College Dublin)

• Welcome to Day 3 of the conference: Sarah Proctor (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)
• Keynote address: Christopher Dean (Moors for the Future Partnership)
• Welsh Peatlands Sustainable Management Scheme - A case study including Q&A session: Rachel Harvey (Welsh SMS) and Martin Clift (RSPB)

This session explored the peatlands of Scotland and the work that the Peatland ACTION project is doing to help restore them.

Speakers included:

• Andrew McBride (NatureScot / Peatland ACTION) 
• Russell Hooper (Peatland ACTION)
• Hywel Maggs (RSPB Scotland)
• Julia Quin (NatureScot / Peatland ACTION)

This session explored the peatlands of Northern Ireland and the work the Collaborative Action for the Natura Network (CANN) and the National Trust are doing to restore and conserve them.

Speakers included:

• Trish Fox (Ulster Wildlife)
• Melina Quin (National Trust)
• Patrick Lynch (National Trust)
• Eimar Reeve (DAERA)

This session explored the blanket bogs of the Peak District and Pennines in England and raised bogs of Wales with EU LIFE funded projects: MoorLIFE2020, Pennine PeatLIFE and New LIFE for Welsh Raised Bogs.

Speakers included:

• Chris Dean (Moors for the Future Partnership)
• Alistair Lockett (North Pennines AONB Partnership)
• Dana Thomas (LIFE Welsh Raised Bogs Project / Natural Resources Wales)
• Patrick Green (LIFE Welsh Raised Bogs Project / Natural Resources Wales)
• Ben McCarthy (National Trust)

This session explored the peatlands of the South West of England - Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor - and the work that the South West Peatland Partnership is doing to restore and conserve them.

Speakers included:

• Morag Angus (South West Water / South West Peatland Partnership)
• David Smith (South West Water / South West Peatland Partnership)
• Dr Emma Hinchliffe (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)

This session explored the sustainable and adaptive management of productive lowland peatlands and wetter ways of farming.

Speakers included:

• Tom Smart (Natural England)
• Adam Briggs (National Farmers Union NW Environment)
• Neal Wright (BeadaMoss)
• Jack Clough (University of East London)
• Dr Chris Field (Manchester Metropolitan University)

This session explored the historic environment of England's Ilkley Moor and the wetland archaeology research that is helping us understand more about importance of the wider benefits of peatlands.

Speakers included:

• Ben Jennings (University of Bradford)
• Benjamin Gearey (UCC)
• Dr Abbi Flint (University of Bradford)
• Clifton Bain (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)

• Welcome address: Chris Woodley Stewart (North Pennines National Landscape)
• The cost of restoring vs. not restoring peatlands: Hazel Trenbirth and Adam Dutton (Office for National Statistics)

This session explored the Peatland Code: an innovative finance mechanism.

• An overview of the Peatland Code: Renée Kerkvliet-Hermans (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)
• The Peatland Code in action: George Hepburne-Scott (Forest Carbon)
• The Peatland Code in Wales - Highlights from the Welsh Peatlands Sustainable Management Scheme: Rachel Harvey (Welsh Peatlands SMS)

Peatland partnerships share their journeys from the original framework in which they were created through changing funding and finance landscapes, including examples of integrated public and private funding opportunities, and share their vision for a sustainable future.   

• Integrating ecosystem markets to deliver landscape-scale public benefits from nature: Mark Reed (SRUC)
• A case study from the Welsh peatlands Sustainable Management Scheme: Liz Lewis-Reddy (ADAS)
• Moors for the Future Partnership - A case study from the English uplands: Christopher Dean (Moors for the Future Partnership)
• Meres and Mosses - A case study from one of Britain's largest lowland raised bogs: Robert Duff (Natural England)

European researchers shared their experiences of quantifying carbon & other ecosystem benefits from peatlands.

• Carbon farming on peatlands: remuneration and new job profiles with paludiculture: Susanne Abel (Greifswald Mire Centre
• Experience from the carbon credit scheme in the Netherlands and a brief overview of ecosystem service payments ('blue-green assets') through regional water authorities and governments: Christian Fritz (Radboud University) 
• GEST and IPCC-based calculation of carbon credits: Jasper van Belle (Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences)
• Modelling GHG fluxes at the peatland atmosphere interface: Laurent Andre (BRGM - French Geological Survey)

• Peatland training resources & embedding peatlands in education: Richard Lindsay (University of East London and IUCN UK Peatland Programme)
• Peatland restoration training - Entry level Lantra approved course for officers: Oliver Mackrill (Yorkshire Peat Partnership and Welsh SMS)
• Training peatland for restoration contractors: Emily Taylor (Peatland Action and Crichton Carbon Centre)
• Conference Closing Address: Sarah Proctor (IUCN UK Peatland Programme)

Strategies and plans matter – they help provide direction, coordination and focus and release funds and staff time. The UK is progressing its strategic country level plans in line with the UK Strategy, but policies rapidly need to be put in place to deliver restoration and meet targets. Restoration work has started across the UK, but we need to scale up and at a faster pace to meet our goals in the face of the declared climate change emergency and biodiversity crisis.  

The UK Peatland Strategy goal is that 2 million hectares of peatland is in good condition or under restoration management by 2040. We are currently half-way there and now have ambitious net zero emissions targets to meet for the land use sector. Peatlands have been recognised in the Sixth UK Carbon Budget and were identified as one of the most cost-effective ways of reaching net zero for the land use sector in the Committee on Climate Change’s 2020 land use report. Conferences such as this provide a stimulus to efforts directed towards achieving net zero and together with our Four Country meetings are helpful in sharing experiences across the UK. It is also important to include the international community to learn from other countries progressing well with strategic action, and to offer advice and knowledge to those countries in the early stages of developing peatland policies and strategies. However, in the rush to restore peatlands to meet net zero targets, it is important not to forget the biodiversity benefits of peatland conservation and restoration. As we start the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration it is an important time to ensure biodiversity and ecosystem diversity is given high profile alongside climate change discussions. 

Delegates asked if we are fast and ambitious enough in our peatland restoration aspirations. To provide the level of sustained investment needed, conference sessions considered the role of both public and private sector contributions. They emphasised the importance of maintaining public funding support for land managers through e.g. agriculture policy and grants for peatland restoration (including replacements for EU funds), and addressing policy conflicts that harm peatlands e.g. built development (wind farms), forestry, burning and commercial peat mining. The drive for climate action in other sectors could drive more such conflicts, so there is a need for a better managed approach that doesn’t compromise one climate solution for another. This may involve regulation around peat in horticulture, tree planting on peat and rotational burning practices. There is also a need to extend our peatland focus to shallow peats as a large overall carbon store capable of rapid emissions loss. These sites can also be important for biodiversity, and often include former deep peat areas capable of restoration as well as providing buffers for adjacent deep peat.

Issues discussed include:

• Capacity to deliver: there is a need for more practitioners and contractors on the ground. A co-ordinated approach to training is required to build capacity to deliver restoration targets and sustainable peatland management, for example by sharing the Lantra training schemes of Yorkshire Peat Partnership with other UK countries to train up the next generation of contractors, practitioners and scientists. IUCN UK PP was encouraged to run a seminar (as planned in our work programme) to pull key training stakeholders together with an emphasis on peatland learning and training.
• Good Practice Guidance from statutory agencies is needed to guide the techniques used in peatland restoration.
• Peatland archaeology: needs urgent effort to ensure that a) lessons learned from paleoecology are applied to management and policy decisions; and b) archaeological good practice guidance is developed for peatland restoration work, for example building on work by Natural England with English Heritage to avoid unintentional damage to archaeological sites and deposits in restoration/rehabilitation programmes.
• Government funding support is needed for a partnership approach to delivery, working with established partnerships and helping create new ones where needed to get engender landowner support and enable large areas of restoration.
• Securing more restoration projects: land managers need confidence to change practices. There is a role for Government to reassure them that they won’t lose out on agriculture payments if they restore now under the Peatland Code, Peatland Action or other existing schemes. Businesses are rapidly gaining interest. The private sector needs the assurance of the Code but also need projects to support with returns on investment in time for net zero targets.

Issues discussed included:

• The need for behaviour change among land managers, developers and the peat buying public to prevent damage to peatlands, and together with a change in attitudes among the tax paying public and businesses in order to help people recognise peatland benefits.  
• Demonstrating success – to show where our nature-based solutions are working in the UK and internationally.
• Cultural aspects of peatlands (including history archaeology and paleoecology, literary and artistic representations and folklore are important in terms of public perceptions of peatlands and can be better utilised to communicate and illustrate the peatland conservation and rehabilitation.
• The forthcoming COP26 is a key moment to highlight the importance of peatlands and their role in mitigating climate change. COP26 provides an opportunity to showcase peatland restoration achievements bringing together examples from across our partners in the UK and around the globe. If the UK is to provide leadership and good practice examples to other nations we need our policies and funding proposals in place or well advanced before the end of 2021.  The IUCN UK Peatland Programme is coordinating among partners to assemble examples and is prepared to provide virtual resources for the event if it is mainly run online.
• A mix of public and private funding is needed to meet the scale and urgency of the peatland restoration challenge. This needs to be developed in a coordinated way to ensure synergies rather than generating competition. Funds should ensure support for the administrative side of projects staff, surveys, management plans and other key aspects.
• We need an urgent discussion to develop a funding model that works through a partnership approach, allowing long term financial and management decisions and able to be applied at a coordinated, landscape scale.
• A replacement for EU LIFE funding available across the UK is needed for peatlands to ensure biodiversity and ecosystem objectives are delivered.
• We need to demonstrate the benefits of peatland restoration in the context of green recovery, jobs, the economy, and well-being.

Issues discussed included:

• Where, when, why and how are UK peatlands’ extent and condition assessed?  
• Peatland mapping across UK, including extent, state and condition needs to be publicly available as GIS, as open-access data free of charge.
• Are we effectively accounting for peat losses from development and management including trees, peat cutting, grazing and rotational burning?
• We need to consider looking beyond just reporting hectares restored to also determining GHG emission reductions and biodiversity benefits. We also need to start looking beyond emissions avoidance accounting to sequestration benefits where possible.
• There is an urgent need for sound science, based where possible on evidence synthesis and meta-analysis, to inform peatland policy and practice, and better research coordination. A number of conference delegates belonged to organisations who are partners in the Global Peatlands Initiative, which has a Research Working Group co-ordinating research on peatlands internationally.
• There is international recognition of the need for a green recovery and growing prominence of nature-based solutions to environmental and economic problems. The role of peatlands as a prime example needs to share good illustrations of the benefits for carbon, water, biodiversity and the economy.  Are we quantifying these benefits effectively to enable us to demonstrate peatlands key role?
• Monitoring and survey is essential to reinforce the evidence of benefits from sustainable peatland management, help secure additional public and private funds and to allow progress against our multiple goals to be assessed.  However, there is a need for a core set of outcome measures that should be monitored wherever possible to standardise data collection as far as possible, increasing the likelihood of future evidence synthesis to inform policy and practice. To help with this, it may be worth investigating the creation of a body to set standards, collate and store data, fund partners and projects to gather data and better communicate the benefits and relevance of monitoring and survey to ensure it is given sufficient funding and attention.
• To better quantify the benefits of peatland restoration and the impact of damaging activity we need more long term monitoring plots for GHG, biodiversity and water data, and a wider range of plots that reflect the diversity of peatlands in the UK.