#PeatConf21: Day 2

The role of peatlands and partnerships in landscape recovery

Day 2 – Peatland partnerships in action: restoring heavily degraded areas towards functioning peatland ecosystems

This session provides an introduction to the role of landscape and partnerships in peatland recovery including a Keynote address.

Welcome to Day 2 of the conference

Paul Leadbitter, North Pennines AONB

Keynote address: The EU LIFE fund made a difference for peatlands conservation and restoration in Europe

Sylvia Barova, EU LIFE Programme

The role of landscape in peatland recovery

Ruurd van Diggelen, University of Antwerp

Building successful peatland partnerships

This session shares insight into the role of partnership working in delivering landscape scale peatland restoration with case studies from EU LIFE funded projects Pennine PeatLIFE and MoorLIFE2020 as well as reflections on how collaboration has led to consolidating a larger Great North Bog partnership. The session also explores the role of land manager engagement in building wider partnerships and developing the peat agenda within the Environment Agency.

The continuous evolution of partnership working

Christopher Dean, Moors for the Future Partnership

Landscape scale peatland restoration in partnership: the Great North Bog

Tim Thom, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Building wider partnerships: Land Management Engagement

Matt Scott-Campbell, Moor for the Future Partnership & Alistair Lockett, North Pennines AONB

Developing the Peat Agenda within the Environment Agency

Katie Aspray & Katharine Birdsall, Environment Agency (EA)

Chaired by Chris Woodley-Stewart, North Pennines AONB

Peatland Restoration in action

This session explores: the necessity, existing principles and gaps associated with defining peatland restoration trajectories across different peatland habitats in the UK; establishing and assessing peatland restoration trajectories of blanket bog and results of restoration work from EU LIFE funded peatland projects

Defining restoration trajectories - necessity, existing principles and gaps

Richard Lindsay, University of East London & IUCN UK Peatland Programme

Establishing and assessing peatland restoration trajectories: blanket bog

Emma Shuttleworth, University of Manchester

Restoration in action: restoration results

Jenny Sharman, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Transitioning along the restoration trajectory: restoration results

Alistair Lockett, North Pennines AONB & Chris Fry, Moors for the Future Partnership

Hydrology LIFE Safeguarding Peatlands and small water bodies in Finland

Eerika Tapio, Hydrology LIFE

Chaired by Pete Jones, Natural Resources Wales

Monitoring peatlands on a landscape scale

This session will explore the use of UAVs in peatland monitoring, the role of peatland maping in accelerating peatland restoration in Northern Ireland and the peat mapping project across England.

Landscape monitoring: UAVs

Ben Clutterbuck, Nottingham Trent University & Adrian Yallop, Cranfield University

How useful are UAVs for monitoring peatlands?

Chris Osborne, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Accelerating restoration: mapping peatland in NI

Matt Aitkenhead, James Hutton Institute & Ian Garner, Ulster Wildlife Trust

Landscape scale peat mapping: England

Andrew Webb, Natural England

Chaired by Kate Morley, Moors for the Future Partnership

Peatland restoration: economics, financing mechanisms and carbon

This session shares an assessment of the economic value of peatland restoration in Northern Ireland and carbon assessment associated with the Peatland Code. It also explores the integration of other ecosystem system benefits within finance mechanisms, the carbon sequestration of recovering blanket bog and the potential to scale-up peatland restoration financing.