Common land and carbon management
The peatland soils of upland commons store millions of tonnes of carbon and play a significant role in mitigating global warming.
The sympathetic management of these commons, so that atmospheric carbon continues to be sequestered and retained in permanently saturated peats, is a significant component in action to address climate change.
The UK is among the world’s top ten countries with extensive peat reserves. These cover over seven million hectares. Almost three-quarters are in Scotland, with concentrations in the Northwest Highlands and the Western and Northern Isles. Half of the common grazing land in Scotland is on peat soils, and one-third of all peat over 2 meters deep is under common grazings. Major peatland commons in Wales are in the Llantisilio Mountains and Brecon Beacons. In England, peat soils are associated with the Pennines and the large commons of North Yorkshire, County Durham, and Northumberland. Other significant peatlands are on Dartmoor and the Cumbrian High Fells.
Healthy peat bogs, with dense growth of bog moss (Sphagnum), remove atmospheric carbon and store it in saturated soils, producing a cooling effect on the climate. Management is aimed at maintaining high water tables, preventing erosion, and ensuring complete vegetation cover.
Key facts:
Britain has 12% of Europe’s peatland and 12% of the world’s blanket bog.
Upland peat stores three billion tonnes of carbon.
Some 49% of Scottish common grazing land is on peat soils.
The peatlands of Lewis, Benbecula, Skye, and the Shetlands are almost entirely located on common grazings.
More than 9 million tonnes of carbon are stored in the peat soils of Dartmoor commons alone.
Peatland restoration work is being undertaken on common land in the North Pennines, the Western Isles, Dartmoor, and Yorkshire.
Around 200,000 hectares of England’s peat soils are located on common land.
When peat dries, stored carbon is oxidized and released to the atmosphere. Restoration projects, such as the Yorkshire Peat Partnership (which restored 19,000 hectares on 15 commons) and the Berwyn/Migneint project of mid-Wales focusing on blanket bog, help counteract this. Crofters in the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area, covering nearly 60,000 hectares (most of which is common grazing), have stabilized carbon and provided benefits for specialized flora and wading birds. In the North Pennines, over 1,000 kilometers of eroding gullies have been dammed to raise water tables.
The role of commoners is critical to these schemes, as they establish appropriate stocking levels, control burning, and re-establish universal ground cover.
Our vision is that thriving commoning communities across Great Britain and beyond make real contributions to economic, cultural, and environmental wellbeing.