2024 has been an incredible year for peatlands, with global recognition of Scotland’s Flow Country as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, now standing alongside places such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Galápagos Islands. This is the first time a peatland has been recognised in this way, and the Flow Country is the first World Heritage Site inscribed purely on the basis of natural criteria.
The designation of the Flow Country is symbolic of continued changing attitudes to peatlands: once considered a worthless wet desert, with tax incentives for planting monocultures of non-native trees, the Flow Country is now celebrated for its role in storing carbon, providing clean water and supporting unique biodiversity.
2024 has seen some positive shifts in policy for peatlands, with greater regulation of damaging activities such as burning through Scotland’s Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act, and financial incentives for raising the water table in lowland agricultural peat areas through England’s Sustainable Farming Incentive. Peatland restoration is also continuing to scale up, with more jobs than ever in this sector and a growing skilled workforce.
However, peatlands aren’t out of the woods (or mire) yet. Despite thousands of hectares being restored each year, most of our peatlands are still damaged by continued drainage and unsustainable land management, and there is still no legislation preventing commercial peat extraction. We’ve all seen the effects of climate change intensify, with 2024 expected to be the warmest year on record, and record-breaking rainfall causing widespread flooding across the UK. Unlike healthy peatlands, damaged peatlands are unable to sequester carbon or mitigate flooding, instead releasing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Peatlands are contributing to climate change when they can be part of the solution.
We summarise the state of the UK’s peatlands in our 2024 UK Peatland Strategy Progress Report. The report pulls together publicly available data from all four UK nations and reviews progress against the goals of our UK Peatland Strategy, highlighting where progress is being made and where we still have a long way to go to reach our aims for 2040.
As the number of sectors and people involved in studying, restoring, managing and making decisions about peatlands grows, a big challenge for us is choosing where to focus our small team, whilst keeping abreast of as much activity as possible. As a partnership organisation, our conversations and collaborations with the peatland community are crucial to this, and we continue to seek views on where peatlands need our help most.
In line with the theme of our annual conference, this year has seen us focus on ‘Peatlands, People and Nature’. We have championed peatland biodiversity through a series of species showcases celebrating weird and wonderful species and their role in restoring peatlands and engaging communities. Two associated webinars looked at good practice in measuring and reintroducing biodiversity, applicable to all habitats.
Thanks to funding from the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland, we have been working in partnership to create a set of biodiversity metrics for the Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Code, with the aim of further enabling private investment in nature’s recovery. The draft metrics will be shared for public consultation in January 2025, a great way to start the new year. We are committed to continually developing and improving the Peatland Code, and Version 2.1, released in November 2024, features improved methods for fen peatlands, better alignment with international accreditation bodies and improved guidance for ensuring local communities are consulted fully. We’re also part of a CivTech Challenge to improve efficiencies in our operating processes.
Long-term monitoring of peatland health continues to be a challenge for many organisations but is essential to understanding how peatlands are faring and if habitat restoration is working. We’ve updated our Eyes on the Bog monitoring manual, and thanks to a generous philanthropic donation, Eyes on the Bog users are being funded to expand their monitoring efforts and engage local communities in this citizen science initiative. We’re looking forward to getting even more people involved by funding new users in 2025.
This year, we have shared knowledge and evidence-led recommendations through several publications focusing on a wide range of policy and practice issues. We showcased plantation ‘Forest to Bog Restoration’ case studies; presented the latest evidence on ‘Wildfire Resilience’ and ‘Peatlands and Methane’; discussed how ‘Agricultural Issues’ impact peatlands and commissioned a technical review on ‘Remote Sensing of Peatlands’.
Our 2024 annual conference, delivered in partnership with Scotland’s Peatland ACTION, was our biggest yet, bringing over 400 people together in person and online to share knowledge, practice, solutions and inspiration. We premiered our specially commissioned film ‘The most important plant in the world’, created by artist Caroline Vitzthum as part of a series of ‘Sphagnum Portraits’, sharing our love of a very special moss.
A final highlight was the launch of our updated Virtual Peatland Pavilion for COP29, an incredible virtual world showcasing peatlands across the globe, and the many organisations working to understand, protect and restore them. Supported by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Peatlands Initiative, the Virtual Peatland Pavilion features GPI’s ‘Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas: The State of the World’s Peatlands in Maps’. Launched during COP29, the atlas places peatlands and the many people who depend on them at the heart of the global environmental agenda.
It’s been an incredibly busy but rewarding year, and we look forward to continuing to work together to champion peatlands in 2025, advocating for the recognition and investment they deserve.
