Peat bog destruction needs to stop – but how?

Jim Densham, RSPB Scotland's Senior Land Use Policy Officer, takes us through a recent decision by Midlothian Council to approve an application for commercial peat extraction.

Peat bog destruction needs to stop – but how?

A site close to Auchencorth Moss where peat extraction is taking place - RSPB Scotland also opposed the application for this site (photo credit: Emma Goodyer)

Last week we heard the sad news that Midlothian Council granted permission for commercial peat extraction at Auchencorth Moss. In itself this is disappointing news but it is doubly so because an adjacent part of the same lowland raised bog is a protected SSSI, has had work done to restore the habitat and could be damaged by the extraction next-door.

A further terrible irony is that this decision comes just weeks after the Scottish Government made an ambitious commitment to fund the restoration of 250,000ha (2500km²) of peatlands by 2030. The purpose of restoration is to make conditions right for the damaged peatland habitat to recover and prevent the breakdown of the fragile peat soil. When peat dries and is exposed it loses carbon to the atmosphere, so restoration helps fight climate change. Other benefits of restoration include improved water quality and a better quality habitat, giving a home to a myriad of rare species, like sphagnum moss species, sundew, otters, water voles, curlew and reed bunting. 

Auchencorth Moss is an example of a lowland raised bog, a pocket of peatland habitat nestling in the landscape at a low altitude. These habitats are rare and threatened and are classed differently to blanket bog habitats found on hills and moors.  However, the main components of these habitats are essentially the same; waterlogged ground which promotes the growth of sphagnum moss and its transformation into peat as it dies off and sinks down into the oxygen-starved conditions under the surface.

Peat extraction is a hugely damaging process. The bog is drained by having huge ditches cut into it to dry out the peat soil, the upper vegetation is removed and then machines roll across the peat mining it level by level. It’s a bit like opencast coal mining. Some mined sites have been restored to allow sphagnum to regenerate and the habitat recover, but despite this the peat will be bagged, and sold in garden centres, and the carbon within it lost to the atmosphere.

Peat extraction taking place a site nearby to Auchencorth Moss (photo credit: Emma Goodyer)

Using peat-based composts always means the destruction of a habitat. Peat can’t be grown in a laboratory. Thankfully, there are many very good peat-free composts on the market although these alternatives tend to be more expensive. To get people to switch to the alternative composts  we need to educate people about where peat comes from, convince retailers to promote peat-free alternatives, and ultimately make peat composts so expensive that gardeners will choose the alternatives.

In fairness to Midlothian Council they had the invidious choice to make between allowing the peat extraction at Auchencorth Moss or having to compensate the company. That’s because the company had already obtained planning permission to extract peat from the site based on a consent dating back to the 1980s, at a time when the importance of peatlands for the climate was not recognised. The permission issued last week concerned only additional matters of detail.

There are likely to be a number of these historic permissions across Scotland and, while some may be able to be bought out, the cost of compensation or buying out the extraction rights for all sites could be significant. We need another way to prevent peat extraction in Scotland but one which doesn’t result in peat being mined from habitats in other countries.  

With our partners we are investigating how we can influence policies to reduce the sales of peat composts in Scotland and the rest of the UK. For example, a small levy on each bag of peat compost sold would help to make peat-free composts more competitively priced. Money raised from the levy, could go back into improving and promoting alternative composts and for restoring peatland habitats. It would be a nudge in the right direction, just like the plastic-bag tax or the way a small tax on disposable coffee cups could encourage people to use a reusable one.

Ultimately, we must reduce the demand for horticultural peat and then it will no longer be financially worthwhile for companies to dig up peat habitats whether they are at Auchencorth Moss, in Scotland, or anywhere else in the world. Our lowland peatlands are valuable habitat hotspots and stores of carbon that must stay in the ground, not lost to the atmosphere.