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Optimising Water Quality Returns from Peatland Management while Delivering Co-Benefits for Climate and Biodiversity

2021-01, Pschenyckyj, Catharine, Riondato, Emily, Wilson, David, Flood, Kate, O'Driscoll, Connie, Renou-Wilson, Florence

Irish peatlands are of national and international importance. Half of the blanket bogs considered to be of conservation importance in the European Atlantic Biogeographic Region are found on this island, along with some of the last Oceanic raised bog remaining in the EU. Irish peatlands are also a significant carbon store, containing ¾ of the total soil carbon stock in the Republic of Ireland. Healthy peatlands help provide natural filtration processes to clean water and reduce the quantity of water entering rivers and lakes; they help regulate the global climate and mitigate climate change; they support unique flora and fauna; and provide multiple social and cultural services to society.

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Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands

2017-12-20, Evans, Chris, Artz, Rebekka, Moxley, Janet, Smyth, Mary-Ann, Taylor, Emily, Archer, Emily, Burden, Annette, Williamson, Jennifer, Donnelly, David, Thomson, Amanda, Buys, Gwen, Malcolm, Heath, Wilson, David, Renou-Wilson, Florence

This report summarises work undertaken on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to develop and implement a new method for reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from peatlands in the UK’s emissions inventory. The work builds on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013 Wetlands Supplement, by providing empirically-based and UK-specific ‘Tier 2’ estimates of emissions from a representative range of peat land-use and condition categories. It collates consistent spatial information on peat extent and condition from each of the four UK administrations, as well as the most peat-rich Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories (Isle of Man and Falkland Islands respectively). These data were used to assess the overall extent and condition of UK peatlands; to estimate change in condition over the period from 1990 to 2013; to implement the first UK-wide inventory of peatland GHG emissions over this period; and to project future peat-derived GHG emissions through to 2050 based on a set of five illustrative scenarios.