Wrong Trees, Wrong Place: The Urgent Case for Forest-to-Bog Restoration in the UK

Peatland restoration has truly taken off within the last decade in the UK. With monikers like 'Carbon time capsule’, ‘Living archive’, and ‘Natural sponge’, peat has become the darling of the nature restoration community and those who want to do their part in funding such projects. 

Why? Healthy peatlands provide a multitude of climate and biodiversity benefits. From retaining the vast amounts of carbon accumulated over thousands of years to reducing flood and fire risk, filtering our water and air, and providing a refuge and home to breeding birds, adders, butterflies and more. Unfortunately, due to practices like peat extraction, rotational burning, conversion to farming land, and plantation forestry, it’s estimated that 80% of peatlands in the UK are degraded (1). 

However, there’s hope on the horizon. Peatland restoration is now a rising priority across the UK (2). As of November 2024, the UK Land Carbon Registry had 327 peatland restoration projects in the pipeline, covering an impressive 44,767 hectares (3).  

True of November 2024. Source: UK Land Carbon Registry

This article explores a lesser-known but increasingly important field of peatland restoration: ‘forest-to-bog’. Forest-to-bog involves removing trees—often monoculture plantations—from areas that were once peatlands, to return them to their natural, functioning state. While this may seem counterintuitive, especially in an era where tree planting is actively encouraged for climate and environmental benefits, growing evidence supports the consensus that a healthy, restored peatland offers significantly greater climate and biodiversity benefits than a plantation on a bog* (4). 

Given these findings, you may wonder why forestry was ever practised on these sites in the first place. Keep reading to find out!

*Emma Hinchliffe, Director of the Peatland Code, rightly points out, “... the absolute, best scenario for the climate is to have restored bog/unplanted bog and forestry elsewhere. We need trees too to meet our net zero targets!”

‘Forest-ON-Bog’…Why? 

“There is a special fascination in coaxing useful plantations to arise ‘in the wide desert where no life is found’” (MacDonald, 1945)

For much of the last century, peatlands were considered unproductive land—often dismissed as wastelands—and were routinely drained to make way for forestry and agriculture.

In the post-war years, the demand for fuel and timber was high. Peatlands therefore became an easy target. Public policies encouraged landowners to plant forests in these areas, particularly in Scotland, which holds around 60% of the UK’s peatlands (5). This approach was seen as a practical use of space and widely accepted as sound land management at the time. Today it’s estimated that approximately 18% (439,410 ha) of the UK’s peatlands are under forestry (6). 

It wasn’t until the 1980s that we began to formally recognise the immense value that functioning peatlands provide, prompting efforts to protect and restore them (7). Around the same time, research into effective restoration methods for forested bogs also began (8). However, these initiatives have yet to gain the momentum seen in other forms of peatland restoration, due to factors such as technical complexities, a lack of standardisation, and financial constraints—issues we will explore further in this article.

What’s being done to restore forested bogs to their natural state? 

Commercial trees don’t naturally grow on peatlands; they’re too wet. Significant work has to be carried out to forest these areas, namely drainage. This usually involves ploughing to create high ridges in which saplings can be planted. The resulting trenches facilitate drainage, as do the saplings, which drink up water as they grow. Once established, the tree canopy further disrupts water levels by intercepting and dispersing rainfall (9). 

Forest-to-bog restoration has been taking place in a limited capacity in the UK since the 1990s, with a notable surge following the release of the IUCN’s Commission of Inquiry on Peatlands in 2011 (10). “It’s been a lot of trial and error,” says Renée Kerkvliet-Hermans, Peatland Code Manager. “But we now have a good understanding of how to restore a site.”

Although each peatland is unique and requires a tailored approach to restoration, the process typically involves three main steps: brash removal, surface reprofiling, and rewetting. However, once the restoration has taken place the work does not stop. The IUCN Peatland Programme’s Forest to Bog Restoration: Demonstrating Success report emphasises the importance of post-restoration management:

“The final aspect of forest-to-bog restoration that needs to be considered is the problem of conifer regeneration from dormant seeds, which can grow rapidly and densely. Whilst recovering water tables will eventually deter the growth of such seedlings, the early stages of rewetting are vulnerable to inundation …”

In other words, once the trees are removed and the drains are blocked, land managers must visit the site year-on-year to remove young saplings until the ground is unfavourable for tree growth. 

Examples of successful forest-to-bog restorations in the UK include sites such as Marches Mosses, Moss of Cree, and Portmoak Moss. These projects highlight that the regeneration of unwanted tree species—along with the associated management and maintenance—remains a significant challenge. However, they also showcase substantial benefits, such as the return of Sphagnum Moss and other keystone bog species (some of which are endangered), as well as the restoration of peatlands as effective carbon sinks (11).

Challenges in funding forest-to-bog restoration

“It’s expensive—significantly more so than restoring non-forested sites.” 

When discussing the barriers to restoring forested bogs, Kerkvliet-Hermans highlights the expense of this land use change (it is the most expensive type of peatland restoration per hectare) and the limited funding available. This is not only for the restoration efforts themselves but crucially the scientific research required for these projects to secure support from mechanisms like the voluntary carbon market.

“There is some public funding, but there’s already a squeeze on that and with forest-to-bog restoration being some of the most expensive and difficult sites to restore, there is a concern that they will drop down the political agenda as budgets are squeezed and the pressure of attaining targets increases. We need to unlock private funding but it's hinging on the science; we don’t have enough evidence yet. Or the accounting methodology.”

The Peatland Code provides a high-integrity framework for projects to measure, verify, and report the carbon savings from peatland restoration. This generates carbon credits which can be sold on the voluntary carbon market, unlocking much-needed private-sector finance. To generate these credits, the Peatland Code uses its robust, science-backed methodology to calculate the emission reductions as a result of peatland restoration. This methodology currently doesn’t cover forest-to-bog restoration due to the lack of emissions data from forest-to-bog sites.

“We need more evidence, but it is proving difficult to win academic funding bids to improve our evidence of the greenhouse gas fluxes from these sites across the UK. We all know these sites need to be restored urgently so it is frustrating that action is still blocked by funding and policy barriers.” 

And urgent it is, considering the climate emergency, and the speed at which it is progressing. A lack of funding – when we know forest-to-bog could be key to helping us meet our climate targets – is unjustifiable.

Much like the early days of carbon-funded woodland creation in the UK—a field Forest Carbon helped to jumpstart—forest-to-bog restoration calls for bold, pioneering financiers to help break the current impasse. These early investors have a unique opportunity to drive innovation, remove barriers, and lay the groundwork for transformative climate action.

Working together to deliver transformative climate and nature outcomes 

While the tension between scientific rigour and urgent action is not unique to forest-to-bog, the fact remains that restoring these sites represents a critical opportunity in the fight to meet climate targets and restore a healthy and robust environment.  

Kerkvliet-Hermans underscores the need for a unified approach: “Collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and the private sector is essential. We need shared commitment to break down these barriers and ensure forest-to-bog restoration becomes a viable, scalable solution.”

The IUCN estimates a £1 billion funding gap between what it could cost to restore 80% of the UK’s forested peatlands and what has been pledged by public-funded organisations (12). Bridging this gap is critical, and private-sector finance has the potential to “...help spread the burden of costs… and allow more speedy delivery of biodiversity and climate goals” (IUCN UK Peatland Programme, 2024).

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If you have access to private funding and want to be part of the solution, we encourage you to get involved. Unlocking the potential of forest-to-bog restoration will deliver transformative outcomes for climate, biodiversity, and communities. 

Get in touch to discuss potential projects. 

Who is Forest Carbon?

Forest Carbon has been at the forefront of the UK voluntary carbon market for the better part of two decades, contributing to the development of the standards for woodlands and peatlands. We remain committed to driving meaningful progress and innovation in nature restoration in the UK. 

Sources: 

1. Bain, C.G., Bonn, A., Stoneman, R., Chapman, S., Coupar, A., Evans, M., et al. IUCN UK Commission of Inquiry on Peatlands. IUCN UK Peatland Programme. 2011. 
2. IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). UK Peatland Strategy Progress 2024. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/UK%20Peatland%20Strategy%20progress%202024%20FINAL.pdf.
3.  IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (n.d.). Peatland Code Projects Summary. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/peatland-code/peatland-code-projects-summary
4.  IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). Demonstrating success: Forest to bog. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Demonstrating%20Success%20Forest%20to%20Bog_1.pdf
5. https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/Peatland_Leaflet_ONLINE_V2.pdf
6. Artz, R., Evans, C., Crosher, I., Hancock, M. Scott-Campbell, M., Pilkington, M., et al. The State of UK Peatlands: an update. 2019. https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/COI%20State_of_UK_Peatlands. pdf
7. Cris,(R.,(Buckmaster,(S.,(Bain,(C.(&(Bonn,(A.((Eds.)((2011)(UK( Peatland(Restoration(—(Demonstrating(Success.( IUCN(UK(National(Committee(Peatland(Programme,(Edinburgh.
8. IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). Demonstrating success: Forest to bog. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Demonstrating%20Success%20Forest%20to%20Bog_1.pdf
9. IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). Demonstrating success: Forest to bog. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Demonstrating%20Success%20Forest%20to%20Bog_1.pdf
10.  IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (n.d.). Forestry and peatlands. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved January 20, 2025, from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-damage/forestry-peatlands
11.  IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). Demonstrating success: Forest to bog. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Demonstrating%20Success%20Forest%20to%20Bog_1.pdf
12. IUCN UK Peatland Programme. (2024). Demonstrating success: Forest to bog. Retrieved from https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/Demonstrating%20Success%20Forest%20to%20Bog_1.pdf
13. Payne, Richard John, Anderson, A Russell, Sloan, Tom et al. (6 more authors) (2018) The future of peatland forestry in Scotland:balancing economics, carbon and biodiversity. Scottish Forestry. pp. 34-40.