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Local Authorities and Sustainable Peatland Management: Current Opportunities and Future Possibilities for Local Approaches
Welsh Government also tasked Natural Resources Wales (NRW) with providing a map and baseline assessment of peat in Wales and creating a 5 year National Peatlands Action Programme (NPAP). NRW has produced an all Wales map of deep peat >40cm which is referred to throughout this report. The NPAP sets out priority themes and actions to achieve Welsh Government’s policy ambitions including a target to restore 600-800 ha of peatland per annum. In October 2022, in response to the ‘biodiversity deep dive’ (explained below) the Welsh Government increased this target to 1800-2400 ha per annum. The NPAP is supported by a budget of £1m per annum. Welsh Government has a significant role in SPM by influencing other landowners using policy, financial and regulatory tools. These landowners include charitable organisations, other statutory organisations (including local authorities) and private individuals. There are several existing regulatory measures relating to forest management, water management and sites protected for nature conservation that are important to SPM:
Forestry Significant areas of peatland exist in areas of forestry owned and managed by NRW as part of the Welsh Government Estate. NRW also take responsibility for regulating tree felling and supporting sustainable forestry management in private woodlands through schemes such as the UK Forestry Standard. See Figure 3.
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Figure 3 Map of Peatlands in Wales and Natural Resources Wales Forestry Land
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