PROPOSAL: Add an objective: “Promote awareness of the value of restored peatlands in storing carbon and mitigating climate change and promote and support efforts to both prevent further degradation of peatlands and to restore already-degraded peatlands.”
RATIONALE: Peatlands are the world’s largest natural terrestrial carbon store. Until recently, they were perceived merely as a source of fuel for home-heating. This perception remains and there is a general lack of awareness of the value of wet peatlands in mitigating climate change. There are 9 Natural Heritage Areas in Kerry designated for petalands. It is critical to improve awareness so that the carbon storage value of Kerry’s peatlands can be fully harnessed in the fight against climate change. It is also critical that Kerry County Council is seen to be leading the way in supporting projects aimed at restoring the carbon storage value of peatlands.
The plan only contains twenty-one instances of the word ‘peat’ and one instances to the word ‘bog’, and none of these instances relates to the promotion of the importance of undrained peatlands for biodiversity and carbon storage.
There are arguably multiple places in the plan where the importance of protecting and enhancing peatlands should be included, including this chapter on climate change. This objective would highlight the importance of climate-action importance of peat lands. References to protecting and enhancing peatlands should also be included in other chapters (see below).