This April, we at the Peat-free Partnership are supporting Ulster Wildlife to raise awareness about peatlands in Northern Ireland. As we push for legislation to end peat sales, we also take time to highlight the enormous effort undertaken around the UK to restore and protect these unique ecosystems.

But without legislation, peatland restoration and conservation are completely undermined. Let’s take a look at what action has been taken to protect Northern Irish peatlands so far, and the impact of continued legislative delays.

Saving Ballynahone Bog

Early campaigning saved Ballynahone Bog from horticultural peat extraction in the 1990s. After being granted a commercial license to extract peat in the 1970s, Bulrush Horticulture actively extracted at Ballynahone Bog and surrounding areas on a large scale. Horticultural peat extraction is mechanised, involving high-volume removal of peat using industrial machinery.

In 1990, Ulster Wildlife invited their audience to take one last walk at Ballynahone Bog, mourning that the fight to save “ancient flora and fauna” had been lost. This event reinvigorated people’s connection with the site and galvanised public action to save the bog once and for all. Visitors were so moved that some formed the Friends of Ballynahone Bog and joined forces with other campaigning groups to drive public awareness of the peatland’s destruction.

Tireless campaigning throughout the early 199os brought protection to Ballynahone Bog, which was bought back by the Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and is now leased to Ulster Wildlife to protect for decades to come. It’s also a designated Ramsar site, cementing its status as a wetland of international importance.

Ballynahone Bog | CANN Project

Lack of legislation undermines conservation

Since then, Ulster Wildlife have continued to carry out extensive peatland conservation. In 2023 they acquired Haughey’s Bog, a former site of commercial extraction in Co Tyrone. Over the next 10 years we hope to see them take it from a desolate wasteland to a thriving site for nature.

RSPB NI introduced a Lowland Raised Bog recovery programme in December last year, acquiring 750ha of restoration sites across the Bann Valley, South Lough Neagh, and East Fermanagh regions. The National Trust in NI are focusing on upland peat, responding to wildfire damage by smoothing erosion and employing large-scale planting.

In further good news for peatland restoration, Environment Minister Andrew Muir announced a £3 million Peatland Challenge Fund in 2022 to support projects carrying out peatland restoration in Northern Ireland, aimed specifically at habitat restoration and water quality improvement.

Bulrush Horticulture’s piles of peat (2007) | Cormac Duffin (CC BY-SA 2.0)

But a lack of legislation to end the sale and supply of peat means any action for peatland conservation is severely undermined – although huge progress has been made, continued extraction of peat for horticulture leaves broad areas of landscape completely bare.

It’s likely that there are more peat extraction sites in Northern Ireland than restoration sites. Not only the legal ones, either – councils are having to fight illegal extraction of peat, which is then sold onto garden centres for individual profit at the expense of peatland ecosystems.

We need the Peatland Strategy now

Legislation in Northern Ireland is severely delayed. In 2021, DAERA’s draft Peatland Strategy included plans to “phase out” the sale, supply, and import of peat compost by 2025 – this was removed in the final version.

The next Peatland Strategy document is months overdue. Expected in December 2024, it remains unseen by the public 4 months later. We urge for it to be published now: Northern Ireland’s bogs need a clear roadmap for future protection.

A ban on the sale and supply of commercially extracted peat for horticulture would champion the conservation and restoration work carried out by organisations like Ulster Wildlife, the RSPB, and the National Trust. Until then, the battle to save Northern Ireland’s peatlands continues.

Follow Ulster Wildlife and the Peat-free Partnership to see how you can take action for peatlands this April:

@UlsterWildlife

@PeatFreePartnership