GPI Research Working Group training session: Post-COP27 peatland heritage with the GPI

Join here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErce-trzssEtcPazC99IqNb-huD-dNy0Cy (starting 9:00 am BST)

Proviso: This training will be recorded and publicly available to watch back and share onward on the GPI YouTube Channel.

Programme 09:00 am (BST)

• Welcome and Introduction: Dr Benjamin Gearey & Dr Rosie Everett (University College Cork)
• Short papers:

- Integrating the Historic Environment into peatland restoration: successes from southwest England: Prof Ralph Fyfe (University of Plymouth, UK)

- Practical approaches to cultural heritage in UK peatland restoration programmes: Kat Hopwood-Lewis (Natural England, UK)

- Peatland Restoration: Digging the Dark Stuff: Emily Stewart Rayner (Yorkshire Peat Partnership, UK)

- Bridging natural and cultural heritage management: action perspectives for present and former raised bog areas in the Netherlands: Dr Roy van Beek (Wageningen University, Netherlands) & Dr Maurice Paulissen (Open Universiteit Heerlen, Netherlands)

• Questions and short discussion
• Future plans/Close

Session Summary: This short online session will highlight progress on the protection, role and future of heritage (focussing on tangible but including intangible) in peatland rehabilitation/restoration programmes. The archaeological, palaeoecological and historical records are part of the  'cultural ecosystem services' (CES) provided by peatlands, although incorporation and recognition of the value of these and related aspects, have until recently often been poorly integrated or marginalised in many programmes and initiatives. 

This working group session will reflect on progress and future prospects and challenges following focus on aspects of heritage in sessions at COP26 and 27, the publication of Peatland Code V2 and related developments. Invited speakers will present short case studies outlining how heritage protection, mitigation and promotion can act to enhance and support peatland policy in the UN Decade On Ecosystem Restoration. A further aim of the session is to connect and develop links between individuals and groups working on peatland heritage, and to assist organisations who wish to incorporate heritage into current and future programmes, projects and policies.  

Abstracts

Integrating the Historic Environment into peatland restoration: Successes from southwest England (Prof R. Fyfe)

Peatland restoration at a significant scale has been ongoing since around 2010 in the uplands of southwest England, with the advent of the Exmoor Mires Project.  Restoration has been supported by successive waves of funding, culminating in the Southwest Peatland Partnership, a £13M project running from 2021-2025. This talk will describe how the Historic Environment is integrated into restoration programmes at the outset, and how projects have realised and safeguarded the historic environment, and in doing so improved our understanding of past human-peatlands entanglements whilst actively supporting restoration decision-making.

Practical approaches to cultural heritage in UK peatland restoration programmes (Kat Hopwood-Lewis)

This presentation will discuss management of the historic environment within grant-aided peatland restoration in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. I will explore issues around: the need and desire to protect our peatland heritage whilst also responding to the increasing threat of ‘doing nothing’ within a landscape of eroding mires; progress on ensuring that the advice offered and decisions made as a sector are pragmatic and evidence-based so that we facilitate informed and integrated change to our historic landscapes; and future work needed on peatland heritage and restoration.

Peatland Restoration: Digging the Dark Stuff (Emily Stewart Rayner)

Yorkshire Peat Partnership are currently in the scoping phase to improve communication and understanding between heritage professionals and peatland practitioners. This talk looks at the tool’s peatland practitioners use, the gaps in our current knowledge and practice, and initial thoughts on how we might improve capacity, contingency, and planning for peatland heritage.

Bridging natural and cultural heritage management: action perspectives for present and former raised bog areas in the Netherlands (Roy van Beek, Maurice Paulissen)

Raised bogs are under environmental pressure but valued for their specific biodiversity and climate-mitigating potential. Strong efforts to restore these unique ecosystems contrast with a limited focus on cultural heritage management in bogs, putting their exceptional cultural heritage at risk. In this presentation we take a new perspective on cultural heritage management in bog remnants and make recommendations for measures synergetic to their natural and cultural heritage. We focus on tangible cultural remains on the surface of bog remnants and surrounding former bog areas in the Netherlands, where bogs have long been under exceptional use and environmental pressure. We illustrate how preserving and displaying cultural remains can be aligned with the achievement of ecological goals in bog nature reserves.