For Peat’s Sake – Enhancing Carbon Storage in the Peak District

This story was told in a story circle at the Learning History workshop in February 2008.

What have degraded peat moorlands to do with climate change? Read how work to re-vegetate this land is important for increasing carbon storage potential and so all part of the rich pattern of addressing climate change.

For Peat’s Sake – Enhancing Carbon Storage in the Peak District

A story told in the  “Down with Carbon” story circle

I was in Derbyshire for a long time as a Councillor and a member of the Peak National Park Authority. One of the most interesting features of the Peak is the Kinder plateau which if you have ever been up there, you may know is a totally degraded landscape.  It is just lots and lots - square meter after square meter - of peat basically, which is actually Sphagnum moss over many years degraded into this sort of brown-fryable substance.  There has been a problem in that, the rainfall in the area has been channeled down through the peat and is therefore not providing any present sort of nutrition on the plateau.

So, the National Park got a grant to do a number of things on the moors, it was actually called moors for the future.  And one of the things that they were doing was to try to replace some of the vegetation which had been burnt in a series of fires, some are accidental and some are purposely started.  And another thing was to look up ways of trying to retain the water on the plateau and to try and regenerate vegetation, moss and cotton grass particularly.

And if you are wondering what does it has got to do with carbon reduction.  Well, the point is basically that the peat and the vegetation can act as a carbon store in a very large scale.  So, people have been working to try to block off the various gulleys and channels through which water flows down to try and retain the water up there and to try to get the vegetation growing again.  The interesting thing was that they discovered that they were about to get some grants from airlines!

Because Airlines using Manchester Airport were obviously under pressure from the public about the carbon emissions from their aircraft.  And one way they were trying to restore their good image was to subsidize this sort of work because they could then say that we were doing something towards offsetting the flights. 

So, that is the sort of work is going on and I think it is interesting because it is not something that is normally thought of, as a source of carbon storage.  But, it is all part of the rich pattern of doing something about carbon reduction.

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