Hannah Blitzer, senior policy officer at the Soil Association, explains the importance of a very unique type of soil: peat.
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What is peat?
Put simply, peat is soil – but it’s an extra special type of soil. Peat is dead and partially decomposed organic matter or vegetation. It forms at a very slow rate, taking thousands of years for a fully-formed layer to develop.
What is peatland?
Peatland ecosystems are the waterlogged wetlands that occupy around a tenth of UK land area. This includes fens and bogs on both lowlands and uplands.
What's so important about peatland?
Peatland is best known as a vital carbon sink. Globally, they cover just 3% of the world’s surface but hold nearly 30% of soil carbon. Peatlands are also a vital habitat for unique biodiversity such as birds, rare orchids and butterflies.
Healthy peatlands help mitigate climate change and are vital for controlling flooding in the lowlands. They can hold vast amounts of water and have a filtration system that helps to clean the water that flows into it.
Peatland can only deliver all these incredible functions if it remains wet.
What is threatening UK peatland?
The cultivation of land requires dry conditions. Large areas of upland and lowland peat have been drained in the UK for intensive farming and forestry, burning and grazing management, and the commercial extraction of peat for horticultural compost.
Once peat is dried out, the high soil fertility provides optimal conditions for forestry and livestock grazing in the uplands and arable farming and horticulture in the lowlands.
Unfortunately, these processes lead to severe soil erosion, increase the risk of flooding and wildfires, and release a vast amount of carbon into the atmosphere.
In other words, if peat is not wet, it turns from a carbon sink to a carbon source. It’s estimated that 80% of England’s peatlands are degraded and 90% of Welsh peatland is in an unfavourable condition. According to a 2023 report published by WWF, 85% of total peatland greenhouse gas emissions in England come from lowland peatlands drained for agriculture – and lowland peat soils are also responsible for the highest carbon emissions per unit area of any other land use in the UK.
What is peat used for?
In the UK, peat is used in horticultural compost and products. This is gradually being phased out after a government consultation, with a complete ban on all peat use in horticulture planned for 2030. However, there are currently plenty of peat-free composts that you can use while gardening.
Lowland peat soils are also drained for agriculture as it leaves behind rich, fertile soil. Peat is banned in all organic farming, aside from mushroom production and small amounts for seed propagation.
Peat is also used in whisky production (particularly in Scotland) and is burned to dry the malted barley and infuse it. According to the Scottish Government, this peat smoke is used in producing 80% of all Scottish whisky sold worldwide. It has launched a consultation about banning the sale of peat, although no legislation has been made.
About the Soil Association
The Soil Association is a food and nature charity that campaigns for healthy and sustainable diets, as well as nature-friendly and soil-first farming.
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Main image: the Flow Country in northern Scotland is the first and only peatland World Heritage Site in the world. Credit: Getty
