Reflections from Bog Day 2021

August 25, 2021

 

As we enter the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) rapidly approaching, raising awareness of the importance of peatlands for the climate, people and the planet remains vital. Bog Day exists to do just that and is celebrated annually on the 4th Sunday of July, exploring the many benefits peatlands provide, the threats they face and the ways we can all help to protect them.

This year's Bog Day was celebrated around the world on Sunday 25th July and saw 322 posts on Twitter reaching 5.5 million people in the week leading up to and on the day of the event, bringing peatlands to the forefront of the conversation for many and providing an opportunity for people to learn and share their knowledge about all things peatlands.

Peatlands are the unseen lungs of the uplands, natural sluice gates against flooding, filters for our drinking water. But we diminish them when we think of them only in terms of the benefits that they afford us." — Lyndon Marquis, Yorkshire Peat Partnership

Little Fergus' Big AdventureThis year’s Bog Day celebrations also warmly encouraged people to explore their local peatland, whether virtually from the comfort of their own home or on their doorstep. Several partnerships across the UK celebrated the occasion from Moors for the Future Partnership's Bogtastic van engaging with their local communities to Northern Ireland’s Ulster Wildlife Trust who inspired their local politicians to get out on the bog; The Collaborative Action for the Natura Network (CANN) Project’s Peaty A-Z and Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) ‘Bog Tales’ event which took place in Scotland, with a focus on storytelling and the science behind it all.

Peatlands are home to sphagnum moss which not only holds huge amounts of water, it also sucks carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and locks it into the peat as carbon - so it's the perfect solution to combating climate change." — Sue White, Shetland Amenity Trust

Voices around the world also participated in this year’s new Bog Day ‘Peatlands are..’ video series, asking individuals to finish the sentence and to tell us what peatlands mean to them. For some they encapsulate time itself, for others it's the sheer power they have to store carbon when they are restored and protected and the home they provide for wildlife, particularly for threatened and declining species. Drawing from this year's video submissions, the following 'Peatlands are...' film compilation shows the different relationships and meanings peatlands have to many people across the globe:

 

Peatlands are the past and the future, they store the history of thousands of years of carbon accumulation and hold the key to solve the climate crisis. Let’s take action together and let’s keep the carbon locked in the peatlands.” — Patrick Scheel, Global Peatlands Initiative

We hope you will join us in celebrating the brilliance of bogs every day of the year and to ensure that peatlands will always have a seat at the table when it comes to combatting the climate crisis.

Windfarm on peatland site
National Policy Statements public consultationOpportunity to contribute to public consultation on National Policy Statements to support Clean…
Line of fire being set by a vehicle with people on the back as part of swaling. Credit Heather Lowther (Creative Commons)
Public consultation on heather and grass burning regulations in EnglandThe IUCN UK Peatland Programme has responded to Defra’s proposal to protect a greater extent of…
Cross section of bare peat
New Peat Map for EnglandThis week Natural England published the much anticipated England Peat Map which highlights the…
IUCN World Conservation Congress logo
Peatland motion headed to World Conservation Congress for considerationThe IUCN UK Peatland Programme-led motion to develop a unified definition of peatlands has…
Area of burnt vegetation on national park in Northumberland
A collection of three Natural England reports marks a step change for English peatlandsWe summarise three new reports from Natural England which have important implications for English…
Neolithic trackway on Hatfield Moors. Credit: Henry Chapman Uni of Birmingham
New publication: Tracks and roads on peatlandsThe IUCN UK Peatland Programme are pleased to publish our latest brief focusing on the impacts of…
Peatland landscape showing flux tower and solar panel with a blue sky and hills in the background. Image credit Hollie Cooper, UKCEH
Funding announced for greenhouse gas reduction solutions on peatlandsThe UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is seeking proposals for projects up to £75,000 to advance…
Hare's tail cottongrass on Humberhead levels
Committee on Climate Change (CCC) 7th Carbon Budget Report - a response from IUCN UK Peatland ProgrammeThe IUCN UK Peatland Programme welcomes this week the publication of the Committee on Climate…
Water vole sitting with blackberries
New species showcase - Water voleContinuing the spotlight on peatland biodiversity, our first Species Showcase of 2025 is the Water…
Digger being used to carry out peat bog restoration. Photo: Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust
Adoption of University of Cumbria PhD student’s carbon calculator brings national and international significanceThis week University of Cumbria and Barker and Bland Ltd.’s innovative carbon calculator has been…
Image advertising launch of the CivTech Round 10 Challenge
CiVTech innovators leading drive for advances within Peatland and Woodland Carbon CodesBringing efficiences to the Peatland Code and Woodland Carbon Code is the focus for three…
Interior of the Virtual Peatlands Pavilion, showing the information desk with a giant dragonfly and globe suspended above it.
Embark on a voyage of discovery with the Virtual Peatlands Pavilion 2025 world tour To raise awareness of the global distribution and importance of peatlands, the Virtual Peatlands…