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Why are bogs important

Scientists from many disciplines recognise the importance of bogs. Climatologists, archaeologists and biologists value the peat archives in the living bogs as essential to research: and naturalists cherish the living carpet that covers the peat. Bogs help to maintain reliable supplies of clean water to rivers. In Europe they also have a cultural importance as some of the last true wilderness areas and are enjoyed by thousands of people.

A Living Archive

Bogs contain an unparalled record of our past. A rich archive of information lies preserved in bogs. Much of this is organic and has a capacity to expand our understanding of people, culture, economy and climate far back into prehistory. Pollen, plants, evidence for the use of wood and woodland management, boats, weapons, lines of communication and indications of human impact on surrounding landscape and ecology all contribute to modern knowledge in ways which are seldom approached on dry land. Peat bogs have produced some of the most spectacular finds of Irish archaeology, including remarkably well-preserved bodies of some of our ancestors.

Carbon Store

Peat is rich in fossil carbon, removed from the atmosphere by plants and accumulated over thousands of years. Drainage and destruction of raised bogs results in the rapid loss of the stored carbon in the form of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane), as the peat decomposes.

Ancient Habitat

Bogs are among some of the most ancient Irish habitats, with some of the oldest examples dating back more than 10,000 years. Raised bogs are a climax habitat in a hydroseral succession from open water lake shore communities, to alkaline fen and finally to acid raised bog.

Rare and Endangered Species

Many rare and protected species of plant and animal are found on bogs. The Greenland White-fronted Goose relies on wet bogs with pools for feeding and roosting. The invertebrates found on bogs contain many rare species. The bog moss Sphagnum imbricatum is entirely restricted to bogs and is the principal peat forming species in oceanic peatland types. It is becoming increasingly rare as more sites are brought into development.

Use of Bog Plants

Many bog plants were traditionally used in folk medicine, brewing and for food. Today new uses are emerging for bog plants such as biofilters etc.

Agriculture

The most common use of bogs particularly the blanket bogs of the west of Ireland has been to provide year round grazing for cattle and sheep. This activity is only sustainable if stocking densities are kept to very low levels. Most fens have been reclaimed for agricultural use due to their fertile soil.

International Value

Raised bogs occur across much of the land masses of the northern hemisphere in a belt of about 15 degrees centered on the latitude of Ireland (53 degrees N). Irish raised bogs are assigned to the ridge-raised mires or oceanic raised mires which are restricted to Ireland, central and eastern Scotland, Wales and western England, a small area of the Netherlands, western Germany and Denmark bordering the North Sea and also the coastal fringe of Norway. Raised bogs reach their finest development in Ireland and parallel the importance of blanket bogs for which Ireland is the global headquarters.

Ireland's oceanic raised bogs are the most important remaining in Europe and are probably the most extensive of their type in the world, especially when one considers the loss of this peatland type in Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. They occupy an important position in the continuum of peatlands across Europe (and in fact the Northern Hemisphere). This re-inforces our national and international obligation to conserve examples as part of the natural heritage of Ireland and in the wider context of Europe.

Ireland's blanket bogs are particularly important in a world context. Blanket bog habitats cover 10 million hectares of the earth's surface. Ireland possesses 8% of the world's blanket bog and is the most important country in Europe for this type of habitat. Scotland is the second most important country, with 5% of the total area of the world's blanket bog resources.

The countries where blanket bog occurs are as follows: Ireland, Scotland, Western Iceland, Western Norway, East Coast of Canada, North American Pacific Coast, Southern tip of South America, New Zealand and Southern Ocean Islands, North-east Asia (Russia and Japan) and Africa (Uganda). Significance

The disappearance of the Irish bogs would have serious international consequences.

For various plant and animal species the last western European refuge would be destroyed. Several species of birds would lose important wintering grounds.

A type of landscape which once was characteristic for large parts of Western Europe, and which is unique for its spaciousness and quiet, and its cultural heritage would be annihilated.

Pollen and archaeological remains preserved in peat represent a most important archive for the history of man and the landscape since the Ice Age.

The education potential of peatlands is only just being realised.

An ecosystem which has so far been studied incompletely only, and which has been providing important ecological insights into hydrology, carbon fixation and environmental change would be lost for further research.