Submitted by Diane L. Lister on Mon, 24/02/2025 - 15:05
Experts say a focus on re-wetting our parched peat would significantly dampen down the UK’s fire-driven carbon emissions and help mitigate against climate change
A new study led by the University of Cambridge has revealed that as our springs and summers get hotter and drier, the UK wildfire season is being stretched and intensified. More fires, taking hold over more months of the year, are causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Fires on peatlands, which are carbon-rich, can almost double global fire-driven carbon emissions. Researchers found that despite accounting for only a quarter of the total UK land area that burns each year, dwarfed by moor and heathland, peatland fires have caused up to 90% of annual UK fire-driven carbon emissions since 2001 – with emissions spikes in particularly dry years.
'Peatland fires are responsible for a disproportionately large amount of the carbon emissions caused by UK wildfires, which we project will increase even more with climate change', says Prof. Adam Pellegrini of the CRI and the Department of Plant Sciences.
Read the full article on the University of Cambridge website here.
Baker, S.J. et al: ‘Spikes in UK wildfire emissions driven by peatland fires in dry years.’ February 2025, Environmental Research Letters. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/adafc6.
Photo: Fire on UK moorland, credit Sarah Baker.