Friday, 01 April 2022
A five-year, £3.7m research project involving scientists from across the UK and partners across Europe will assess the risk that climate change poses to our peatlands and create the capability to better manage these important ecosystems.
Peatlands store huge amounts of carbon in their natural state, but due to human activity they are now a net source of greenhouse gases. Rapid climate change is hampering efforts to restore peatlands, increasing the likelihood of them being pushed beyond the point of recovery and releasing even more carbon into the atmosphere.
A consortium effort led by the James Hutton Institute will combine expertise from the UK Centre for Hydrology & Ecology and the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds, Exeter and the Highlands and Islands (UHI) to analyse and predict how UK and European peatlands will behave in response to climate change under current land uses.
Through the development of new peatland models, the consortium will also identify the best management options to reduce peatland greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Dr Rebekka Artz, senior scientist at the James Hutton Institute and project coordinator, said: “Undisturbed and rewetted peatlands have enormous potential to reduce global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over long time scales.
“This project will create the densest network of ground observations of greenhouse gas emissions and their drivers on peatlands, while simultaneously developing models that will enable us to simulate the future state of peatlands under potential climate change and management scenarios to 2100.
“This will in turn provide support for policymakers so that they can make better policy decisions for the sustainable management of peatlands.”
"This is an exciting opportunity to influence the future of European peatlands. The project uses our recent innovative techniques developed at Nottingham. These techniques use satellite monitoring of peatland surface motion to measure peat condition. In this project, our techniques will be used to test models and understand how condition changes on a large scale."
The research team will also run a series of international workshops to evaluate a suite of models forecasting of climate change effects on peatlands globally and find the best possible future management solutions for peat soils to mitigate climate change.
The project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and also involves 23 UK and international project partners contributing vital datasets and expertise.
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More information is available from Professor David Large in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham at David.Large@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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