The University of Leeds is leading a major investigation into how climate change can be mitigated through better management of the UK’s peat bogs.
Working with colleagues from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Open University the researchers will look at how blanket peatlands can be restored in a way that minimises greenhouse gas emissions. Northern-hemisphere peatlands, such as the blanket peatlands of north Wales and the north Pennines, contain three times as much carbon as the Amazon rainforest. But years of over-drainage has caused peat to dry out and decompose, releasing carbon in the form of CO2 into the atmosphere where it can contribute to global warming. Restoring damaged peatland by blocking man-made drainage channels (known as grips) has been proposed as a way of reversing this trend making peat bogs become a net ,'carbon sink', where more CO2 is taken up by plant photosynthesis than is released through decay. Lead researcher Professor Andy Baird, from the University of Leeds, said: "If managed correctly, peatlands have the potential to play an important part in the fight against climate change. However, the effect of such restoration measures on future climate is not fully understood. "There is evidence to suggest that restoring peatlands by blocking man-made drainage channels will cause them to release methane - a greenhouse gas 20-times more potent than CO2.
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