Shared values and management pathways for Lowland peatlands

Workshop: Shared values and management pathways for lowland peatlands

Date: 16th December 2025

Time: 16.00-21.00 - including dinner (please let us know any dietary requirements in advance)

Location: The Cutter Inn, Ely

Workshop overview

This interactive session will explore how upland peatlands can contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and removal while supporting viable livelihoods, biodiversity, and community wellbeing. Participants will work through a structured process moving fromidentifyingshared values topracticalmanagement pathways.The workshop is a collaboration between Scottish Rural University College, Bangor University, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and Ecologos Research as part of the UK-wide GGR Peat project funded by UK Research and Innovation (https://co2re.org/ggr-projects/peatland-restoration/)

Format and Activities
The session will combine small-group discussion, scenario exercises, and negotiation-based tasks. Topics may include:

1) The values and priorities shaping decisions about peatland restoration and management.

2) Technologies being trialled at Featherbed Moss under the UKRI GGR Peat project(https://co2re.org/ggr-projects/peatland-restoration/), including biochar application.

3) Potential management scenarios, assessing what is feasible, desirable, and deliverable in practice.

4) Trade-offs across environmental, social, and economic objectives — asking whether each scenario reflects what might realistically happen (“crystal ball”) or what should happen (“normative” vision).

5) How adoption could occur in practice: governance arrangements, incentive structures, and realistic restoration measures (e.g. depth, timelines, and enabling conditions).

6) What constitutes a fair price for farmers and land managers, alongside broader questions of finance, institutional enablers, and hybrid public-private models.

7) Generate a checklist of what is required to deliver each scenario at demonstrator sites, including adoption likelihood, preferred approaches, and timing.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is designed for anyone involved in upland peatland restoration and farming, including:

• Private and institutional landowners (e.g., National Trust, local estates)
• Farmers, grazing tenants, and shooting tenants
• Local and national policymakers
• Conservation NGOs and researchers
• Utility companies
• Tourism and recreation sector representatives
• Community organisations and community councils

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the session, participants will have

1) Contributed to a set of recommendations for policy and practicethat balance attending to climate mitigation,peatlandconservation, and rural livelihoods.

2) Helped define practical management options for peatland restoration across demonstrator sites

3)Informed a working list of requirements and enabling conditions — institutional, financial, and technical — for future adoption.

For more information contact Dr Rosie Everett: rosie.everett@sruc.ac.uk