MoorLIFE 2020, Moors for the Future Partnership

  • MoorLIFE 2020
    MoorLIFE 2020
Case Study Information
Description: 
The MoorLIFE 2020 project aims to restore and protect areas of Active Blanket Bog within the South Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation (SAC) by undertaking concrete conservation activities, environmental monitoring and communication / education events. This case study specifically focuses on the carbon audit being undertaken as part of the MoorLIFE 2020, and represents just one of the environmental monitoring actions being undertaken as part of the project.
Location: 
South Pennine Moors, Special Area of Conservation
Scale: 
Landscape
Habitat types (UK NEA habitats): 
Mountains, moors and heaths
Landscape context: 

The South Pennine Moors SAC stretches from Edale in the South to Skipton in the North. This area contains one of the most significant areas of Blanket Bog in Europe which has been highly degraded due to a legacy of atmospheric pollution.

Partners, organisations and stakeholders involved: 

National Trust, Pennine Prospects, RSPB, Severn Trent, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water

Associated beneficiaries - RSPB, National Trust, Pennine Prospects

Aims of the project/initiative: 

1. Identify annually the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with delivering all actions (conservation, monitoring, communication and administrative) associated with the project 
2. Measure greenhouse gas emission by site and activity to inform efforts to maximise efficiency when managing resources 

Progress so far: 

Since MoorLIFE 2020 began on 1st October 2015, we have achieved the following actions related to the carbon audit:

  1. A methodology to capture greenhouse gas emissions was developed
  2. A methodology to calculate different office energy usage was developed
  3. 16,783Kg of Carbon Dioxide equivalents has been emitted to deliver Year 1 of MoorLIFE 2020
  4. 173,328 Kg of Carbon Dioxide equivalents has been emitted to deliver year 2  of the whole Moor LIFE 2020 project, which includes the first year of conservation works.
  5. The conservation works undertaken as part of MoorLIFE 2020 also provide a number of other ecosystem service benefits beyond the boundaries of the project, including water retention and reducing flood risk downstream of the conservation work areas
  6. Carbon budget figures for the bare peat restoration work on Derwent and Howden were calculated and demonstrated a carbon benefit.

A Carbon Audit Case Study, May 2018: This case study reports on the Carbon Audit at Derwent and Howden Moor, Peak District National Park. The total carbon benefit identified for this site is 13,729kg of CO2e. This suggests an avoided carbon loss approximately 1.2 times greater than the one-off carbon emissions associated with delivering these works, these benefits will continue to accrue each year.

MoorLIFE 2020, Update Report 2016: A guide to the project carbon audit process and protocols, including a presentation of Year 1 project audit figures.

By sharing and communicating the methodology used to calculate carbon expenditures associated with Blanket Bog habitats, this will allow other projects in the future to undertake similar audits.

Challenges and lessons learned: 

To ensure all emissions associated with contractors working on MoorLIFE 2020 were captured . Moors for the Future Partnership included a sentence within their contracts stating that the contractors had to provide the distance they travelled to site, the numbers  of trips made and the vehicles used
A challenge was to create a methodology for carbon auditing which suited all partners and actions. To overcome his, DEFRA guidelines were used. Additionally, quarterly update meetings were used during the start-up period to check that all partners understood the process associated with the carbon audit. This approach allowed each partner organisation to capture the carbon audit emissions associated with their organisation.
The carbon benefits for bare peat could be calculated because the amounts of carbon going into and out of a bare peat system is identified, this is known as carbon budgeting, allowing the carbon benefit to be calculated. Whereas the carbon budgeting figures currently do not exist for other habitat types (e.g. Common Cotton Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium)) and works (e.g. Sphagnum planting).

Further information
Web link 
http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/moorlife2020
Contact name 

Paul Titterton

Role in project: 
Research and Monitoring Officer, Moors for the Future Partnership
Email: 
moors@peakdistrict.gov.uk
Location map: