The Start of the Healing Process: Restoring Britain's Peatlands
In one of the most remote areas of southern England, Al West skillfully operates a small digger, meticulously lifting and placing turf onto dark brown peat. Under the shadow of Fur Tor's granite stack, he works across the vast, boggy expanse of northern Dartmoor, part of a critical project to reprofile the landscape and restore its natural springy bog conditions.
Personal Commitment to Environmental Restoration
For West, this work is deeply personal. His family has held common grazing rights on Dartmoor since 1904, and his great-grandfather once cut peat here for domestic heating in the early 1920s. Now, West uses his 40 years of experience to build peat embankments across ditches and depressions, aiming to capture rainwater and raise the water table. 'I just keep going every day that I am here. Bit by bit, every little helps,' he says, emphasizing the gradual progress. 'I feel like I am making history – I am helping the environment that is part of the life cycle.'
The Degradation of a Vital Ecosystem
Peat, formed from decomposing plant matter in waterlogged conditions, is a globally important wetland ecosystem. However, human activities such as tin mining, drainage for agriculture, deforestation, burning, and military testing have severely degraded Dartmoor's 8,500 hectares of blanket bog. This damage has led to water runoff, drying out the peat and causing it to crack and collapse. When healthy, peat bogs store twice as much carbon as all the world's forests, reduce emissions, provide clean water, alleviate flooding, and support biodiversity.
Large-Scale Restoration Efforts
Across Dartmoor, Exmoor, Bodmin Moor, and West Penwith in Cornwall, over 5,000 hectares of peat bog have been restored in the past 17 years. The South West Peatland Partnership, funded by organizations like Natural England, South West Water, and the National Trust, has restored 1,700 hectares in a £13 million project, with a target of more than 2,600 hectares. Morag Angus, the partnership manager, notes that peatland degradation has occurred over centuries due to human interventions. 'Peatland is a degrading system now and it will continue to degrade without the restoration work we are doing,' she warns.
Climate Implications and Urgency
Globally, about 15% of peatlands are drained, releasing greenhouse gases equivalent to 10% of annual fossil fuel emissions. In the UK, 80% of peatland is degraded, making it a net carbon emitter responsible for at least 3.5% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The Committee on Climate Change advises restoring 50% of upland and 25% of lowland peatlands by 2050 to meet climate targets. Justine Read, a communications officer for the partnership, highlights the urgency: 'We are a canary in the coalmine for the rest of the UK. Unless this restoration work is done, this blanket bog will really struggle to form and we will not see it past 2060.'
Positive Impacts and Future Challenges
The restoration work has already shown rapid benefits, such as increased dragonfly populations, which support the food chain for wading birds and mammals. Edward Adam, a monitoring officer, calls this 'the start of the healing process.' However, research from Exeter University stresses the need to accelerate restoration, identifying Dartmoor, the Flow Country in Scotland, and the Peak District as high-risk areas. With peat forming at just 1mm per year, the deepest bog on Dartmoor represents 9,000 years of natural archaeology, including rare tin streaming remains from the bronze age, which must be protected during restoration.
Despite the daunting scale, West remains optimistic. 'If we keep this up, year on year, we will be over the next valley, then over the next valley. It is quite remarkable what you can do in 12 months if you just keep going.' This project underscores the vital role of peatland restoration in combating climate change and preserving biodiversity for future generations.
