The 2nd of June is a day to celebrate our peatlands.
So, let’s consider all the many ways in which peatlands are a gift to us all.
Although throughout history, some people have seen peatlands as foreign or ‘waste’ places, this has never been true.
The abundant gifts that flow from wetlands gave rise to civilization – you would not be sat reading this if peatlands around the world had not nurtured early human agriculture with plentiful irrigation, hunting grounds and building materials (1).
Although burning peat for fuel is not sustainable with our present populations, in medieval era and later entire towns and cities depended on the abundant peat fuel known as ‘turf’ that was burned in most homes. Norwich needed the Norfolk Broads, Carlisle relied on the Solway Firth mosses, Cambridge was fuelled by the Fens and York took fuel from Askham Bog and Thorne Moors (2). In the 13 th century, around half the population of Macclesfield had the right to cut turf for fuel from Danes Moss (3, 4).
Today, peatlands are recognised for the incredible twin gifts of carbon storage and carbon sequestration. Through peat formation, wetland vegetation is preserved as carbon-rich peat for thousands of years. This draws down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and is one our best solutions to reducing the severity of climate change (5).
Our lives have always depended on peatlands. 70% of the UK’s drinking water comes from upland peatlands (6) and to maintain the quality of this water we need to keep these peatlands healthy and wet (7).
In the lowlands, drained peatlands can also be restored to wetlands and produce food and materials for the modern world.
Coppicing for firewood or crafts is a possibility on a rewetted peatland – willow and birch usually grow on the edges of bogs and fens. Perhaps coppice products from our local peatlands would look better in our gardens than mass-produced, chemically treated fence panels from forests hundreds of miles away?
But what about food, herbs and medicine? Yes, this is also possible on a rewetted peatland. The practice of growing food on a wetland is known as paludiculture. Crops can include celery, blueberries and lettuce. This is done very carefully and is being trialled in Lancashire by the local Wildlife Trust.
Here is a link to an interesting peatland cookbook – are you interested by the sound of onion and lingonberry soup?
So, we can see that we are truly blessed by peatlands. Far from being wastelands or ‘bog standard’, they are a priceless inheritance that we need to look after.
On that note, here is a link to some music that sounds to me like a fitting celebration of our planet’s miraculous peatlands.
Enjoy.
https://www .youtube. com/watch?v= Ev6ycVt5L_g
Credit: Squabbler / Oisin Scanlon.
Tom Eccles
Chair – Danes Moss Trust
References
(1) Scott, J.C. (2017) ‘Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States.’ Yale University Press. New Haven and London.
(2) Rotherham, I.D. (2020) ‘Peatlands: Ecology, Conservation and Heritage.’ Routledge. Oxford.
(3) Davies, S. (1976) 'The History of Macclesfield.' E. J. Morten. Didsbury.
(4) Leah, M. et al (1997) 'The Wetlands of Cheshire.' University of Lancaster.
(5) Griscoma, B. et al (2017) ‘Natural climate solutions’ PNAS. 114 (44) 11645 – 11650.
(6) IUCN Peatland Programme website. ‘Peatland benefits: water quality.’ Available at: https://www .iucn-uk- peatlandprogramme .org/about- peatlands/ peatland-benefits/ water-quality
(7) Yallop, R. et al (2010). ‘Increase in humic dissolved organic carbon export from upland peat catchments: the role of temperature, declining sulphur deposition and changes in land management.’ Climate Research. 45 (24), 43-56.
