Cash boost for North Pennines peat bog repair

The drying bogland has also seen peat washed into rivers, causing discolouration of drinking water, which is costly to treat.

Yesterday, a £500,000 grant from Biffaward was made to the County Durham Environmental Trust, which will enable the North Pennines AONB Partnership to carry on with Peatscapes for at least another three years.

It is hoped that another 1,000km of drains can be sealed up in that time, leaving around 5,000km still to be tackled over the next decade over an area of 1,000 hill farms and 50 large estates.

More funding will be sought to reach this target. The Biffaward money means that total investment in the peatland restoration project is now £1.5m, with backing coming from Natural England, the Environment Agency's local flood levy, Northumbrian Water, CDENT and the Esme Fairbairn Foundation.

Peatscapes field officer Nick Mason said: "We are trying to address drainage which began in the 1950s as part of misguided Government policy to increase food production through draining bogs to provide more grass for sheep.

"But science and our understanding moves on and we now realise the importance of this peatland, and the policy needed to change.

"It took 30 years to cut the drains and we are not going to reverse that overnight, but the Biffaward grant is a major step along the way."

CDENT chairman John Wearmouth said: "This award is wonderful news. It will enable the AONB Partnership to follow up on the successful pilot project we've funded to benefit a huge swathe of the North Pennines."

Chris Woodley-Stewart, director of the AONB Partnership, said: "We are committed to restoring and conserving peatlands in the North Pennines AONB. The Biffaward grant will allow us to restore these internationally important habitats at a landscape scale.

"It also presents a unique opportunity for us to raise awareness about the role of peatlands in reducing national and international carbon dioxide levels."

The peat bog erosion is clearly visible

WHY THE WORK IS IMPORTANT

The Peatscapes project covers 90,000 hectares in the North Pennines.

The Biffaward money will fund work on an area the size of a small city - 4,000 hectares of blanket bog in parts of Northumberland, County Durham and Cumbria.

The North Pennines contains 27% of England's blanket bog, and peatlands are growing in importance in the battle against climate change.

Drying peat releases huge amounts of carbon - as much as 11% of the world's annual output.

By restoring the North Pennines peatlands, this project is stopping the release of the carbon.

Just two months before the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations, pressure is mounting on governments to ensure that peatland carbon emissions are part of each nation's land-based carbon calculations.

Peatscapes is also creating and safeguarding rural jobs.