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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce carbon emissions from England's upland and lowland peatlands.

We recognise the significance of peat as a natural carbon store and are undertaking a series of measures to reduce carbon emissions from peatlands. These include: the pilot Peatland Code, negotiating the implementation of management objectives in designated areas for peatland restoration through agri-environment schemes, and targets for the reduction of peat use in horticulture. Between 2003 and 2013 the number of peatland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in “unfavourable but recovering” condition, increased from 16% to 85%, illustrating a major step forward in the restoration of degraded peat habitats.

The UK has chosen to report and account for the carbon emissions from wetland drainage and rewetting, including peatlands, as part of our international climate change commitments. To inform this reporting, Government is funding research on the carbon mitigation potential of improved peatland management. This will help to identify how resources might best be targeted to reduce carbon emissions from both upland and lowland peat soils.