Farming News - New funding boost to protect England's iconic peatlands and fight climate change
News
New funding boost to protect England's iconic peatlands and fight climate change
- £47 million new government funding to protect and improve peat will reduce carbon emissions, support nature recovery and boost rural economy
- Funding grants for farmers, land managers, drainage boards, water companies and environmental organisations
- Forms part of a wider £85 million peat programme running to 2030
Thousands of hectares of vital peatland will be better protected and managed thanks to nearly £50 million in new funding announced today (Monday 29 June). This will help to reduce carbon emissions, better protect rural communities from the risks of wildfire and flooding, and support local economies.
England's peat soils store more than half the country's terrestrial carbon and are a powerful nature-based solution against climate change. But following centuries of drainage to make way for agriculture, our peat soils are drying out, causing the organic matter they contain to decompose and release carbon into the atmosphere.
Today, 80% of England’s peatlands are in a dry and degraded state. By restoring and re-wetting peat, we can lock more carbon in the ground, support wildlife, increase resilience to drought and better protect communities from flooding.
Launching following London Climate Action Week, three different schemes are being funded to address different challenges across England’s varied peat landscapes:
- The Lowland Peat Water Implementation Grant (£36 million, delivered by the Environment Agency) funds local water projects to install infrastructure that raises and manages water tables in lowland peat soils, helping to protect peat and reduce carbon emissions. Previous pilot schemes have shown how effective this can be: water infrastructure installed across the Fens, Somerset Levels, and Yorkshire has helped to retain more water to protect our peat while managing flood risk.
- The Paludiculture and Wetter Farming Fund (£10 million, delivered by Natural England) funds research into growing and harvesting crops on wetter peat soils and developing viable markets for them. Trials have seen wetland plants and bulrush transformed into building materials and insulation for jackets, demonstrating how cutting emissions from peat soils can go hand‑in‑hand with generating new income streams for farms. The new grants build on this evidence, scaling up what works to support larger, coordinated action across lowland peatland landscapes.
- The Peatland Restoration Sector Capacity Grant (£1.15 million, delivered by Defra) funds training, apprenticeships, equipment, and community engagement to grow the workforce and skills needed to deliver peatland restoration at greater scale into the future.
The grants support different approaches in different peat landscapes. In lowland areas where farming continues, the focus is on protecting the peat through improved water management and more sustainable land use. In areas where restoration is planned or underway, the capacity grant will help to ensure we have the skilled workforce needed to deliver it faster.
The measures announced seek to safeguard productive farming on some of our most valuable agricultural land, boost food security and support our rural economy.
Nature Minister Mary Creagh said:
"Peatlands are as vital to the U.K. as the Amazon rainforest is to Brazil but too many of them are degraded and releasing carbon rather than locking it in.
“These new grants will support better water management on farms, new types of wetter farming, or upskilling local people to restore peatland.”
Tony Grayling, Director of Nature and Place at the Environment Agency said:
“The Lowland Peat Water Implementation Grant scheme is a significant opportunity for farmers and land managers to invest in the infrastructure needed to better protect peatlands for the future.
“The Environment Agency is proud to be supporting Defra and local communities with these grants, which enable sustainable management of water levels in lowland peatlands, to reduce carbon emissions, provide water resilience and support nature recovery.”
Sarah Dawkins, Deputy Director of Peatland Restoration at Natural England said:
"Natural England is delivering the Paludiculture and Wetter Farming Fund on behalf of Defra, supporting partnerships between businesses, land managers and communities to reduce drainage of lowland peatlands, whilst producing viable crops suited to wetter conditions.
"These projects will deliver multiple benefits, including healthier ecosystems, improved water and soil management, greater climate resilience, and reduced carbon emissions."
This is a practical example of Defra delivering against the Environmental Improvement Plan and supporting the Land Use Framework's approach to using land in ways that work for food production, nature and climate together.