Britain's peat bogs hold more carbon than its forests. Most of them are leaking it
A £200m restoration programme has rewetted 50,000 hectares; scientists say that is a tenth of what is needed
The moors of the Peak District look like wilderness. Most of them are, in carbon terms, a slow fire.
Britain's peatlands store more carbon than all of its forests combined, but about four fifths of them have been drained, burned or cut over the past two centuries and are now releasing it. The emissions, roughly equal to those of the country's aviation sector, are the largest from land use.
A government programme has spent £200m since 2021 blocking drains and rewetting about 50,000 hectares. The scientists who monitor the work say it is effective, and about a tenth of what is needed.
“This is the cheapest carbon we will ever save,” said one ecologist. “It is also the least visible, which is why it is underfunded.”
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