Index Home Join IPCC

PEAT DEAL SAVES TOP UK WILDLIFE SITES

27 February 2002

Friends of the Earth and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council have welcomed
today's deal between the Government and US corporation Scotts which will save three
of the UK's top wildlifesites from being destroyed and virtually end commercial peat-cutting
in the UK. FOE has campaigned to save these bogs for 12 years.

Under the deal [1], Scotts will receive £17 million in compensation from
the Government to:

* immediately hand over Thorne Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) in South Yorkshire and Wedholme Flow SSSI in Cumbria to English
Nature (EN), the Government,s wildlife watchdog.

* immediately give EN half of Hatfield Moor SSSI (in S Yorkshire).
Limited peat-cutting will continue on the rest for a further two years
before also being handed over to the nation.

The deal, which will secure over 1,500 hectares of peat moor as National
Nature Reserves, follows a long-running campaign by Friends of the Earth
and the Peatlands Campaign Consortium. Friends of the Earth has recently
and successfully switched its campaign focus to retail outlets. As a
result Homebase, Focus and Wyevale Country Gardens have all agreed to
follow B&Q,s lead and phase-out peat-based products [2].

The deal has the potential to be a real win, win, situation for both
wildlife and jobs. If Scotts moves towards a massive expansion of the
production of peat alternatives, it can protect existing jobs and
provide green employment opportunities for many years to come.

Craig Bennett, habitats campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
"Congratulations to the Government for finally securing a safe future
for these internationally important wildlife sites. This is a fantastic
day, and marks a successful conclusion to twelve years campaigning to
save these bogs.

"It is disappointing that despite insisting on such a high compensation
package, Scotts intends to continue extracting peat for a further two
years. However, the tide has turned, and commercial peat-extraction in
the UK will soon be virtually ended.

"Today's announcement is a tremendous victory for campaigners who have
worked hard for conservation and common sense to come before corporate
profits, and consumers who have made it clear that they won't buy peat.
But we must now stop these companies from trashing wildlife sites
overseas. Gardeners must continue to say no to peat imports and only buy
products labelled "peat free".

Friends of the Earth also welcomed Scotts, assertion that the deal
"marks a transition towards new, effective and sustainable growing
media, and called on the company to end all its peat-cutting
activities. The deal will now focus attention on rival peat company
Sinclairs, who look set to challenge the UK Government in the courts
over its plans to designate Bolton Fell SSSI in Cumbria - one of the few
sites in the UK where peat-extraction is continuing - as a Special Areas
of Conservation.

Notes

[1] All three sites are due to be designated as Special Areas of
Conservation (SAC) under the European Habitats Directive. The scale of
the compensation is high because Scotts put a high commercial valuation
on relinquishing its legal right to extract peat.

[2] A number of companies that have recently started selling peat-based
products have yet to agree to phase-out these products. These include
Tesco, Sainsbury,s, Safeway and ASDA.

--

Neil Verlander
Press Office
Friends of the Earth
020 7566 1649 (t)
020 7490 0881 (f)

--

"IPCC hope that with the support of gardeners throughtout the UK and Ireland
the Peat-free Garden Campaign in Ireland will achieve similar results and
help protect bogs" Noreeen McLoughlin IPCC Conservation Officer.
____________________________________
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
119 Capel Street
Dublin 1
Ireland

Tel & Fax +353-1-8722397
Tel +353-1-8722384
e-mail: bogs@ipcc.ie
web: www.ipcc.ie

Action for Bogs & Wildlife

ends