![]() ![]() But scientists and campaigners say the ban does not go far enough, is riddled with arbitrary loopholes, and will be too hard to police. Rotational burning dries the peat and erodes its ability to keep carbon locked out of the atmosphere and to provide protection against floods. These peatlands are the biggest natural carbon store on UK land. ![]() ![]() The government says its new rules are intended both to protect England’s blanket bogs – a delicate habitat of international importance – and to help the UK hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050. We came here to test the peat depth, as part of a major investigation into the impact of this new ban. The fire here was set in spite of – and in apparent contravention of – a partial ban on peatland burning introduced by the government last year, in the run-up to the Glasgow climate summit. It was burned to encourage growth of the fresh young shoots of heather on which grouse like to feed – grouse which will later be killed by shooting parties. ![]() Blackened spikes of dead foliage protrude upwards, embers from a recent fire. It is a boggy moor, packed full of peat, soil so wet and rich with plant material that it may store more carbon, acre for acre, than tropical rainforest.īut today the land is scorched dry and crunchy underfoot. Above Grimwith reservoir’s sparkling blue waters in the Yorkshire Dales lies a habitat that the government describes as one of England’s “national rainforests”. ![]()
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