Urgent action needed as peat burning ban and restoration measures miss the mark

Urgent action needed as peat burning ban and restoration measures miss the mark - Wildlife and Countryside Link

New figures have revealed that despite a partial ban in 2021, the climate-polluting and nature-damaging practice of burning vegetation on upland peat has continued at scale. Warnings in the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) report also highlight that: peat restoration rates are well below the levels needed to achieve Net Zero by 2050, peatland under restoration management actually declined last year, and that damaged peat is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions from land use.[1] Conservation and climate experts are demanding urgent Government action.

Figures for 2021, obtained through FOI requests by Wildlife and Countryside Link, reveal that:

One large site of 50 hectares, the size of 50 rugby pitches, was licensed for burning
No licences for sites under 10 hectares of size were granted in 2021. Burns taking place on these smaller sites do not usually come under any site protection rules and therefore take place without being officially recorded

Defra released data for licences to burn on SSSIs granted under The Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021 in response to a parliamentary question in June 2022, revealing the Secretary of State received and refused only one application for a licence to burn.

This contrasts with data collected by Wild Moors and Unearthed which suggests that 51 burns took place on land protected by multiple conservation designations (and which Natural England’s latest available map identifies as deep peat) in the 21/22 season. Separate RSPB data suggests 70 burns took place on protected sites. The disparity between the official number of zero burns on protected areas in 21/22 and data suggesting 50-70 burns in protected areas during the same time period suggests that the 2021 regulations are being breached on a significant scale. The Wild Moors and Unearthed and RSPB data sets suggest more than 250 incidents of peatland burning overall during the 21/22 season.