Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) Regulations 2021

Lord Krebs Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Krebs (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, for bringing forward this Motion, which I support. I will not repeat what other noble Lords have said about the ecosystem services provided by upland peat, such as flood protection, water purification and carbon storage, as well as its importance for rare species such as sphagnum imbricatum.

We are all critical of Brazil’s burning of the Amazon, but we are doing something similar to one of our most precious habitats of global importance. As other noble Lords have said, nearly all our upland peat bog has been damaged or destroyed by a combination of burning, overgrazing, drainage and pollution. The Climate Change Committee concludes that climate change will increase the rate of degradation and carbon loss from peat bogs and that only by restoring them to good condition now will we be able to benefit from their ecosystem services in the future.

Can the Minister say whether the proposed regulations follow the Climate Change Committee’s advice and, if not, why not? Some noble Lords have argued that burning is actually good for carbon storage. There is, indeed, dispute about the precise effects. I do not have time to go into the literature but let me quote Professor Peter Smith of Aberdeen University, arguably the UK’s leading expert on soil carbon. He states:

“While there might be some merit in the suggestions that peatland burning could lead to a longer term carbon storage, we know that peatland burning does lead to additional carbon release now. At a time when we should be focused on restoring peatlands to help meet our net zero by 2050 climate change targets, allowing peatland burning does not seem very compatible from a climate change perspective.”


Does the Minister agree with Professor Smith?