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Sundew and a pink bog cranberry flower

Peatland vegetation including sundew and bog cranberry. Credit Steven Barlow

Peatland Code Executive Board

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The Executive Board

The Executive Board makes all management decisions regarding the Peatland Code and is responsible for strategic development of the Peatland Code in line with the objectives of the IUCN UK National Committee Peatland Programme.  

The Executive Board is made up of members with relevant expertise from the wider steering group and has a close working relationship with the Woodland Carbon Code. The board meets two times a year (as a minimum) and then as frequently as required.  

Members: 

  • Stuart Brooks, IUCN UK National Committee - Chair
  • Rob Stoneman, Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts - Steering Group
  • Vicky West, UK Woodland Carbon Code Manager
  • Renée Kerkvliet Hermans, IUCN UK Peatland Programme - Peatland Code Co-ordinator
  • Mark Reed, Scotland's Rural College / IUCN UK Peatland Programme - Steering Group
  • Emma Hinchliffe, IUCN UK Peatland Programme - Director 

Actions and Agreements from Executive Board meetings

June 2025

  • OF&G Backlog: Suspend new project intake for OF&G. EB to issue a formal letter detailing suspension and monitor progress over the next three months.
  • SAC Consulting: Following good progress with their UKAS Accreditation journey: EB agreed to allow SAC to proceed with restoration validation for existing projects and to reassess pending accreditation status after September head office review.
  • Annual verification Methodolgy:  was discussed  which would allow projects to have an optional annual verification after the initial Y5 verification for more detail see May 2025 TAB papers. The EB discussed the TAB Feedback which was mixed raising concerns about sampling bias and cost. The EB agreed with the TAB that more piloting and refining of the methodology was needed. 

 

Feburary 2025

  • Recruitment update: Interviews to be held in the next couple of weeks (Feb 25) for Peatland Code Officer role, with the hope of additional funding to recruited a second officer role.
  • Capacity contraints: Dicussed the impact of having no peatland code officer in post and how to manager workloads in the interim, development lead to take on validation&verification in the meantime. 

September 2024

  • Update meeting. EB agreed to the new grievance process. 

June 2024 

  • Fens: agreed to lower min Fen peat depth. The EB accepted the TAB recommendation of 30 years.
  • Reversal rates: In the Field Protocol, 75% of Assessment Units must have moved to the next category to be a success. In most risk buffers, 5% is stated as a reversal.  The EB decided to switch to a 95/5 reversal.
  • Risk Buffer: Increasing from 15-20%. EB agreed with TAB recommendation of 20%
  • Peat Depth Survey: EB agreed that it should be extended to 5 years, but for heavily eroded sites they are strongly recommended to re-survey. 

March 2024

  • Executive Board gave approval for Version 2.1 to proceed to consultation. 

December 2023

  • Risk buffer: TAB has been overridden; variable risk buffer suggestion not accepted. Renée will go back to the consultant to draft our own tools. The risk buffer will increase to 20% but the framework will need to be simpler.
  • Shallow Peat Ruling: We are keen to work with scientific community for better data around shallower peat, until then the shallow peat ruling stays. Also include in the clarification: We will take a cautionary approach around deciding what is too shallow.