Greenpeace UK Warns Of Fires Deliberately Lit On England's Carbon-Rich Peatlands

Over 100 fires have been lit to burn heather on northern England's carbon-rich peatlands to maintain the ecosystem for grouse hunting, in spite of a partial ban and the government's commitment to cut emissions ahead of the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change (COP26), Greenpeace UK warned on Tuesday

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2021) Over 100 fires have been lit to burn heather on northern England's carbon-rich peatlands to maintain the ecosystem for grouse hunting, in spite of a partial ban and the government's commitment to cut emissions ahead of the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change (COP26), Greenpeace UK warned on Tuesday.

According to the Unearthed, an investigative journalism section of the environmental organization, the vast majority of the fires has been set on shallow peatlands, which are not covered by the ban.

The online publication cited Richard Lindsay, head of Environmental and Conservation Research at the University of East London, who questioned the British government for calling on countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia to stop burning its peatland, while allowing England's hills to be set on fire "in the name of sport.

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Unearthed also asserted that restoring the UK's heavily degraded peatlands must be a top priority if the UK is to reach net zero emissions by 2050, as they account for 5% of the country's total carbon emissions.

Peatlands are waterlogged environments where plants decay very slowly and which are capable of storing vast amounts of carbon, but when degraded through overgrazing, draining for agriculture or pollution, they switch to being net emitters of planet-warming CO2.

However, the director of the Moorland Association, Amanda Anderson, told Unearthed that heather burning is permitted between October and April on shallow peat, and the technique used only burns the heather and not the peat below it.