The UK must ‘learn to love’ its peat bogs as they are carbon storage ‘powerhouses’, an expert said yesterday.
Peatlands in Britain contain around three billion tons of carbon – about three times the amount that forests store – according to a report by the British Ecological Society.
Dr Christian Dunn, of Bangor University, wrote: ‘[Peatlands] are giant security vaults full of carbon but unfortunately these carbon vaults can be broken into, the doors can be blown off and when that happens the carbon is released. We have damaged so much of these carbon vaults.’
Peat is formed by layers of dead moss, which captures carbon as it builds up. Bogs are also an important home to wildlife and provide clean water.