Are the peatlands OK? Human exploitation has already destroyed 25% of the peatlands on earth. (See the pie-chart for the main reasons why.) The drainage, burning, cultivation and extraction of peatlands cause approximately 2 billion tonnes CO2 to be lost to the atmosphere every year – around 10% of total global carbon emissions from all human activities. A recent international piece of research calculates that emissions from drained peatlands have increased more than 20% in the 18 years from 1990 to 2008. The drained peatlands give off carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide as the dried out peat begins to decompose, and there are also frequent fires. Clearly the destruction of peat is a problem all over the world and needs tackling all over the world. England’s peat resources Scientists at Natural England have tried to measure and estimate how much peat there is in England’s peatlands, and then work out how much carbon this stores. Their best estimate so far is that the peatlands contain 584 million tonnes of carbon (MtC). To put that in perspective, if all 584 million tonnes of stored carbon were lost to the atmosphere, this would be equivalent to 2.14 billion tones of CO2 - around five years of England’s annual CO2 emissions. Today this unique and precious resource is under threat, and emitting more than 3 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. Precious peat in the Broads If there was no peat in this area there would be no Broads, since these shallow lakes were originally created by people eager to dig out the valuable, burnable peat. Medieval peat diggers extracted peat on a grand scale and when these large diggings later flooded they created this unique freshwater wetland system. Peat lies under about a third of the Broads total area (9030 hectares) and it is remarkable in at least two ways: it supports a very rich diversity of habitats and wildlife which have evolved over thousands of years it preserves a historic record of past climatic conditions, dating back to the end of the last ice age.
Are the peatlands OK? Human exploitation has already destroyed 25% of the peatlands on earth. (See the pie-chart for the main reasons why.) The drainage, burning, cultivation and extraction of peatlands cause approximately 2 billion tonnes CO2 to be lost to the atmosphere every year – around 10% of total global carbon emissions from all human activities. A recent international piece of research calculates that emissions from drained peatlands have increased more than 20% in the 18 years from 1990 to 2008. The drained peatlands give off carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide as the dried out peat begins to decompose, and there are also frequent fires. Clearly the destruction of peat is a problem all over the world and needs tackling all over the world. England’s peat resources Scientists at Natural England have tried to measure and estimate how much peat there is in England’s peatlands, and then work out how much carbon this stores. Their best estimate so far is that the peatlands contain 584 million tonnes of carbon (MtC). To put that in perspective, if all 584 million tonnes of stored carbon were lost to the atmosphere, this would be equivalent to 2.14 billion tones of CO2 - around five years of England’s annual CO2 emissions. Today this unique and precious resource is under threat, and emitting more than 3 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. Precious peat in the Broads If there was no peat in this area there would be no Broads, since these shallow lakes were originally created by people eager to dig out the valuable, burnable peat. Medieval peat diggers extracted peat on a grand scale and when these large diggings later flooded they created this unique freshwater wetland system. Peat lies under about a third of the Broads total area (9030 hectares) and it is remarkable in at least two ways: it supports a very rich diversity of habitats and wildlife which have evolved over thousands of years it preserves a historic record of past climatic conditions, dating back to the end of the last ice age.