Death by a thousand cuts….

Dr. David Wilson’s (UCD) excellent article (see link below) highlights that Irish peatlands are much more than a source of fuel because they act as very efficient carbon sinks.  In Ireland, peatlands cover about 17 per cent of the land cover and store about 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon.  However they are under threat as a result of new turf-cutting methods. The magnitude of carbon losses from damaged Irish peatlands is astonishing. About 2.5 million tonnes of carbon is released each year from Irish peatlands, equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted by cars on Irish roads every year. The Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network aims to examine the best management practises and technologies to reduce or eliminate the release of GHGs from damaged peat bogs by developing policies to incentivise the effective protection of intact bogland, the restoration of cut-over bogs to functioning bogland where possible, and if not possible, to investigate, ways to retain their remaining organic carbon while producing renewable energy crops and/or food.