20 August 2024

Managing our land and water so it benefits us all

Rural landscape
Home Facts Managing our land and water so it benefits us all

 

Managing our land and water so it benefits us all

 

Land use plays a significant role in our plans to meet net zero, support nature’s recovery and adapt to our changing climate. As our population grows, the pressures on our land and water systems grow with it. Land is needed to provide the essentials in life, including food, housing, transport systems, businesses of all shapes and sizes and leisure activities.

 

 

Restoring peat bogs in our region and beyond

 

Yorkshire & Humber’s peatlands are crucial for nature, water management and as carbon stores. Previous agricultural practices to drain bogs and convert land to sheep grazing had a devastating effect on these precious environments. The Yorkshire Peat Partnership1 estimates that North Yorkshire’s peatlands store over 27 million tonnes of carbon. Continued degradation will result not only in habitat loss, but also in our peatlands becoming net emitters of CO2 instead of absorbers. This needs urgently to be addressed.

 

Yorkshire Peat Partnership is restoring peatlands in North Yorkshire, bringing together a wide range of organisations across sectors. The Partnership is making progress to bring peat bogs into restorative management, slowing water run-off and revegetating with cottongrass and sphagnum moss.

 

This regional activity contributes to a bigger picture across the north of England through the Great North Bog2 partnership, which includes projects in Lancashire, Cumbria, the North Pennines, Northumberland, the Peak District and South Pennines. Together these groups have restored over 2,000 square kilometres of peat bogs in the past 20 years, but this is still less than one fifth of the total peat area in the north, so much more investment and accelerated action is needed.

 

 

Tackling soil erosion in Yorkshire’s river catchments

 

A significant problem in managing our region’s land and water is the soil erosion that results in thousands of tonnes of sediment running off into rivers. This degrades farmland, causes pollution and ecological damage, and also causes the rivers to need regular, costly dredging. Much of this erosion happens during periods of heavy rainfall when storm sewer overflows are likely to be discharging.

 

Sustainable Futures[1] work with farmers and other land management partners to prioritise soil and water management, carbon sequestration and biodiversity in order to improve sustainability in our food and drink supply chains. This partnership works with supply chain partners like Yorkshire Water and delivering activities to improve the protection and restoration of farmland soils, and to build the necessary relationships with farmers so that the measures are financially attractive both for farming and for the water company.

 

Addressing this problem should reduce carbon emissions, protect soil health and nature, and it depends on many organisations working collaboratively. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and the Environment Agency work together to survey and understand sediment run-off issues in the River Derwent catchment[2], providing advice to landowners and farmers, and undertaking improvement works such as creating sediment traps.

 

[1] https://sustainablefutures.uk.com/about/

[2] https://www.eastyorkshireriverstrust.org.uk/derwent-catchment-partnership.html#:~:text=The%20Derwent%20Partnership%20brings%20together,of%20wildlife%2C%20habitats%20and%20people.

 

 

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