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There's a lot of carbon locked up in the peatlands of Britain and Ireland. Can we keep it there and even return drained bogs to life, sucking more carbon dioxide from the air?

There's a lot of carbon locked up in the peatlands of Britain and Ireland but many of them have been drained for agriculture and dug for fuel or garden compost. The loss of water resulted in the massive loss of carbon to the atmosphere. Rewetting the bogs can not only stop that leaching of carbon but potentially help the bogs sequester carbon once more. Could these once forboding 'creepy' habitats be something of an underrated super solution?

Tom Heap speaks to peat expert, Florence Renou-Wilson of University College Dublin, and takes a virtual tour of a new carbon farm - designed to harvest carbon back from the atmosphere. Dr Tamsin Edwards from Kings College London assesses the potential of this solution.

Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock

Researcher: Sarah Goodman

Produced in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society. Particular thanks for this episode to Professor Christopher Evans of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Mike Peacock of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

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14 minutes

Last on

Sat 21 May 2022 14:45

Broadcasts

  • Thu 22 Apr 2021 13:45
  • Sat 21 May 2022 14:45

Our Planet Now

Our Planet Now

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