Rebecca welcomes £850k investment to improve lowland peat and reduce carbon emissions on the Somerset Levels & Moors

Last week the Government announced new investment and actions to improve lowland peat and reduce carbon emissions.

Peat soils contain over half the country’s terrestrial carbon stores and serve as a potent nature-based solution against climate change. However, today, just 1% of England’s lowland peatlands remain in a near-natural state.

Rewetting lowland peat soils, can deliver carbon emission reductions, improve food security, boost wetland biodiversity, and better protect communities from flooding.

Through the Paludiculture Exploration Fund, the Government are awarding £5 million to twelve projects across England, including two in Taunton Deane, to help tackle the barriers to developing commercially viable paludiculture on lowland peat soils.

Coates English Willow have been awarded over £365k for their project to use willow to produce a sustainable, renewable product whilst protecting and preserving the peat on West Sedgemoor. The project will research and develop new science and technology for more efficient planting, with lower herbicide use, and improved harvesting practices and develop a high value product to provide sustainability to farming businesses.

In addition, the Faring and Wildlife Advisory Group Southwest have been awarded just under £490k to help explore a viable land use on multiple pockets of land across the Somerset Levels & Moors, overcoming economic and cultural barriers to raising water levels across hydrological blocks of peat. It will provide an income stream for owners of the lowest-lying fields, enabling water tables to be raised in higher/drier fields and reducing carbon emissions without expensive hydrological engineering works. Further, it will explore paludiculture to improve water quality and assess if it can play a role in supporting ecological diversity of the Somerset Levels and Moors through targeted use within the landscape.

Commenting following the announcement, Local MP Rebecca Pow said:

" Peatlands are an iconic feature of our landscapes and the UK’s largest store of carbon. Our lowland peatlands, including across the Somerset Levels & Moors, provide some of our most valuable agricultural soils, and if managed sustainably, can contribute to food security for years to come. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by rewetting our peatlands will be vital to the UK’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. I am therefore absolutely delighted that over £850k has been awarded to two projects in my constituency to help bolster our local lowland peatlands and in doing so enhancing carbon storage, paving the way for a more sustainable future.”

ENDS