Wetlands, including peat lands, are fantastic at absorbing and holding onto carbon.  As they are so good at doing this we must be extremely careful not to damage them as this results in huge amounts of carbon being released into the atmosphere.  Hence we should not build on wetlands or plant trees on wetlands.

 

There is more carbon held in the peat lands of the northern UK than in all the forests of Germany, France and the UK put together.

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In the past forests were planted on wetlands, including peat lands, and given what we now know we should seek to restore such former wetlands when the relevant sections of forests are felled.  New forest areas, not on wetlands, then need to be planted as replacements.