Burning on England’s deep peat banned | England

Burning on the deep peat of England will be prohibited in order to restore the habitats of rare fauna and reduce air pollution and floods, the government said.

The peat bogs of England are in bad shape due to having been drained, burned, emptying intensively and used as tetra moors. They act naturally as a sponge, with layers of foam and other vegetation, and store large quantities of carbon: about 3.2 billion tonnes in the United Kingdom.

When they are in a drying state, they do not hold water, which can contribute to the floods of downstream communities. They also release carbon in the atmosphere, rather than store it.

According to government data, 80% of peat bogs across England are dried and deteriorate. Vegetation on peat bogs is often burned to create a habitat for the tetra, which likes to feed on the fresh shoots of new plants that grow after burn. This increases the number of birds available to be turned for sport. Burning peat can also kill fauna, such as additional, toads and birds flowing on the ground.

The previous conservative government has announced rules to prohibit the fire of certain peat bogs. But the experts argued that the rules were not adapted to the objective and left precious habitats and carbon wells vulnerable to destruction.

The legislation has prohibited the fire of vegetation on areas of deep peat (more than 40 cm deep) on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) which is also a special conservation area or a special protection zone, unless a license has been granted or the land is steep or difficult. This has left many unprotected deep peat zones. Campaign groups complained at the time that the government “attacked tetra shots” and that the Countryside Alliance was put against a ban.

Under the new rules, which come into force from September 30, the burning ban will be extended to all peat bogs over 30 cm deep, not only on the SSSIS, and will cover 676,628 hectares of deep peat – against the 222,000 hectares.

The Minister of the Environment, Mary Creagh, said: “Our peat bogs are the Amazonian forest of England – which houses our most precious fauna, carbon storage and the reduction of downstream floods. Burning on Seatland releases harmful smoke rushing the quality of local air and damaging the precious ecosystems found in these emblematic landscapes. These new frames could reappear and rebalance the peats. are naturally protected from forest fires. »»

Beccy Speight, Director General of the RSPB, said: “Extending the ban on burning peat in the English highlands is an extremely positive step towards the protection of these precious habitats and the reduction of carbon emissions. Burning them is bad for nature, climate, water quality and flood risk management. ”