Resources

‘Global Peatland Restoration – Demonstrating Success’, from the Peatland Programme and CEM Thematic Group on Peatlands, showcases successful restoration projects across the world. 

A selection of case studies from the UK have been brought together in ‘UK Peatland Restoration – Demonstrating Success’ to showcase the delivery of peatland restoration and share learning.   

'Peat-free Horticulture – Demonstrating Success' showcases examples of organisations who have demonstrated the high-quality results that can be achieved without the use of peat in horticulture.

Due to the wealth of recent advances in the shift to peat-free horticulture, the original document above has been supplemented with an addendum.

'Forest to Bog Restoration - Demonstrating Success' examines how the practice of forest to bog restoration has advanced significantly, thanks to the collaborative nature of the restoration community. 

'Networks of change: Tracks and roads on peatlands', is a technical companion to Briefing Note no.12 ‘Tracks across peatlands’, focusing on upland peatlands, and includes points for policymakers.

'Wildfire resilience: why rewetting peatlands must play a key role', explores recent evidence demonstrating the importance of peatland restoration in increasing resilience to wildfire.

‘Peatlands and Methane’, discusses the natural processes that lead to methane production and compares greenhouse gas emissions from intact, drained, and rewetted peatlands.

There are currently challenges in reaching mutually beneficial outcomes for peatlands and agriculture. Agricultural Issues: Key Recommendations shows how these challenges can be addressed.

‘Principles for Sustainable Peatland Paludiculture’, details how multiple benefits of peatlands can be realised when transitioning to paludiculture as a sustainable management practice. 

'Use of Peat Depth Criteria: Accounting for the Lost Peatlands' explores the context of depth-based definitions, and emphasises the importance of shallow peat in supporting wider ecosystem function.

'Peatlands and Development' details the need for monitoring the impacts of development on both biodiversity and function and outlines recommendations for development on peatlands. 

'Peatbogs and Carbon: a critical synthesis' looks to inform policy development in peat bog conservation and restoration in the context of climate change.

The 'Peatlands and Climate Change' Issues Brief from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) explores the global issues facing peatlands and what can be done to address them.  

'Natural Capital Financing for Peatland' aims to raise awareness of the opportunities for financing peatland restoration and conservation, and proposes a framework for structuring such finance.

'Assessing the Opportunity Costs Associated with Peatland Restoration' aims to reflect evolving understanding of the issues surrounding opportunity costs in relation to peatland restoration.

Position Statement: Burning on Peatlands

'Position Statement: Peatlands and Trees' summarises the scientific evidence on the impact of trees and their removal from peatlands and sets out current forestry policy relating to peatlands and peatland restoration.

The UK Peatland Strategy aims to drive and co-ordinate action across the UK, supported by country level plans. 

We have a vision for healthy, wildlife-rich peatlands in the UK that provide multiple benefits for people.

Remote Sensing of Peatlands is a technical review of the potential, and applicability, of remote sensing technologies for ecological monitoring of UK peatlands.

The review aims to act as a summary and reference document for peatland restoration practitioners, which outlines a range of specific metrics required for peatland assessment and assesses whether existing remote sensing technologies are applicable. It is also intended to provide background information for: landowners prior to judging capabilities and specifying services to be contracted; those undertaking their own 'in-house' survey work, and contractors offering services.

The document provides an introduction to optical mapping of land cover and the components of remote sensing; mapping peatland typography and physical features from elevation data; burn mapping, and potential future applications of remote sensing technologies.

Conserving Bogs: The Management Handbook is a practical manual of methods and techniques to help people effectively manage and conserve bogs. This edition has been updated to reflect advances and evolution in both understanding and techniques. The ambition is for this resource to evolve with a clear process set out to submit revisions or additions to the text including where restoration good practice is currently evolving at some pace e.g. forest-to-bog restoration. 

Should you wish to recommend any additions to ‘Conserving Bogs: The Management Handbook’ please contact info@iucn.org.uk. Additions will be at the discretion of the authors and the IUCN UK Peatland Programme.   

The Peatland ACTION Technical Compendium provides an overview of the procedural and technical requirements for peatland restoration in Scotland, alongside an introduction to the types of restoration interventions that have been applied to date by Peatland ACTION, since its inception in 2012, in applying peatland restoration techniques and assessing their outcomes.  

The compendium identifies ‘families’ of techniques with shared restoration objectives and describes best practices associated with individual techniques, conditions of applications, machinery requirement, intended outcomes and practical issues likely to impact on success.  

A brief overview of the basic principles of restoration of peatland hydrology is also provided to help explain the impacts, and aims, of the various restoration techniques on the water table.   

The information gathered here comes from the experiences of Peatland ACTION, with the intention that the document will be kept up to date throughout the government ambition to accelerate and transform design and delivery of peatland restoration in Scotland. This version was produced in November 2022.   

For further information please contact the Peatland ACTION team at peatlandaction@nature.scot. 

Part 1 of the Peatland Training Programme introduces key peatland concepts, the implications of these for peatland policy, and more in-depth information on selected topics. Whilst it does not seek to be comprehensive in terms of addressing all aspects of peatland science, policy and practice, it does aim to focus on key issues relevant to the UK while also offering insights into wider European and global perspectives. 

The training programme consists of published documents, slides and 3D animations that are almost all accessible through the University of East London Open Access Repository, specifically within Richard Lindsay’s area, or via the IUCN UK Peatland Programme website. Unfortunately, since the resources were published, Springer has chosen to hide the main content for many links behind a paywall, leaving only the summaries freely available. Richard is therefore working to create replacements for these items and the document will be updated as these materials become available. 

Peatland restoration is a growing vocation within the conservation sector yet there has been no nationally recognised accredited training programme to date. Developed by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in partnership with the Welsh Peatlands Sustainable Management Scheme (SMS) Project, the Peatland Restoration Practitioner training course now provides this validation with support from the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. 

The Peatland Restoration Practitioner course is for those who are interested in and motivated by managing and conserving peatlands, such as land managers and restoration officers who would like to develop or diversify their skillset in peatland restoration and management, or peatland restoration practitioners who would like to gain formal proof of competence in peatland restoration and management. 

Attendees will gain accreditation in peatland restoration and acquire best practice from practitioners with substantial experience in peatland ecology, management and restoration. On completion, learners will be able to apply best practice in all aspects of planning, delivering and monitoring the restoration of degraded peatland sites.  

The programme consists of 8 topics covered over 2 separate 3-day sessions. Part 1 focuses on the preparation phase required before conducting peatland restoration. Part 2 focuses on the delivery phase of restoration. If you would like to attend, please register your interest with peat.training@yppartnership.org.uk. 

We have a range of education materials available for a range of ages on our Bog Day pages to help people understand why bogs are special.

Explore the world’s peatlands from the comfort of your own home with the Virtual Peatland Pavilions. They contain 3D tours with a wealth of inspiring peatland materials from around the world in a variety of formats to suit everyone. 

Find out what is so special about peatlands and the truth behind the bog. 

View NEW LIFE for Welsh Raised Bogs peatlands, including Carmel, Waun Ddu and Rhos Goch.

View Plantlife's Munsary Peatlands, Caithness iStaging training site.