Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for the research required by commitment 77 of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 into increasing the natural resilience of habitats to wildfire through rewetting or restoring hydrological function; and whether her Department has reached any conclusions on the effectiveness of those measures in advance of the initial scoping review.

An initial scoping review will be reported on in the Environmental Improvement Plan’s annual progress report (APR) in 2027.

Current evidence supports the approach that peatland restoration, including rewetting and the restoration of hydrological function, can strengthen wildfire resilience by increasing moisture levels, reducing fuel loads and supporting the recovery of peat-forming vegetation such as Sphagnum mosses.