Protect Peatland Petition
From Jenny S
Tuesday 28 January 2025
Please read, sign and share this Parliamentary petition if you agree with giving 'protected' peat land some real protection
If you agree that peat is too important an ecosystem to build infrastructure on then please sign this petition to Ban wind farms on protected peatland.
Wild Justice Director Mark Avery says places like the highly protected Walshaw Moor peatland as a site for the proposed Calderdale windfarm are a test case for whether the new government gets the environment or not.
Increased flood risk from infrastructure construction on protected peatlands is only one of many reasons why this ban is needed.
We need windfarms but not on protected peat. There is plenty of non-peat land in England for all the wind farms that are needed for the 'green transition'. Without the ban we're requesting, windfarms could be built on protected peatland across England – not just on Walshaw Moor above Hebden Bridge, but from Kielder all the way to Exmoor and Dartmoor, as well as other extensive areas of protected peatland across Northumberland, Cumbria, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, the Peak District, Staffordshire Moorlands, with bad consequences for the climate and biodiversity:
- Peat forms over thousands of years and disturbing it releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. It cannot be replaced
- Intact and restored peatland will continue to absorb carbon long after the life span of a windfarm
- The mosses which grow on peat absorb water and create hummocks which help to prevent fast runoff and flash flooding in the valleys.
- Disturbance of peat can also lead to peat slides which can cause structural, chemical and ecological destruction.
- Peatland supports various species of flora, fauna and fungi some of which are endangered - Just like it is impossible to replace peat that has been disturbed, it is impossible to replace these species once they're gone.