Press release: Environment Agency chair to visit Derbyshire’s BogFest 2017

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, will be visiting Derbyshire on Friday 22 September to present at a conference as part of the three-day BogFest 2017 event in Edale.

BogFest 2017, organised by the Moors for the Future Partnership and the International Union for Conservation of Nature UK Peatland Programme, forms a conference programme for invited delegates alongside a range of activities and sessions for the public to celebrate the iconic moorland of the Peak District and South Pennines.

Emma Howard Boyd will be presenting at the conference along with the Environment Agency’s East Midlands Area Manager, Louise Cresswell, and other Environment Agency officers. Emma will be presenting on the benefits and progress made in using natural flood risk management and also chair other sessions at the conference.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said:

I am looking forward to visiting Derbyshire and attending the BogFest 2017 conference. The Environment Agency has been working with the Moors for the Future Partnership as a significant partner for over 10 years, and we have supported a range of research and delivery projects.

Whilst our involvement initially focussed on the biodiversity- and carbon-related benefits of the peatland restoration, it has increasingly focussed on the water quality and natural flood risk management benefits.

Through our ongoing involvement in the partnership, we are able to influence as to where resources are devoted in the moorland landscape. We benefit from the influence offered by working within the partnership to achieve this, and from the work of the programme team in securing significant resources from funding bids.

The partnership’s strength lies in its relevance to people and wildlife across the Dark Peak and South Pennines. The region is one of the most visited areas of moorland in the world offering a range of ecosystem services to a vast local population.

The partnership also provides a great networking opportunity between landowners and policy-making bodies and allows us to influence the various needs of research to supply evidence which supports the management of the moorland.

Chris Dean, Moors for the Future Partnership’s Head of Programme Delivery, said:

We are delighted to welcome Emma Howard Boyd to BogFest – our first festival-style conference, celebrating the iconic uplands and brilliant blanket bogs across the UK.

The conference takes place in Edale, at the foot of the South Pennines, where blanket bog is slowly recovering from devastation caused by pollution dating back to the industrial revolution and damage from wildfires.

With the support of the Environment Agency, together we have restored much of the most severely damaged blanket bog, facilitated the regeneration of upland clough woodlands, and inspired the public to get involved in the UK’s first upland citizen science initiative.

Thanks to the funding from the Environment Agency and our other partners and funders, our work has far-reaching benefits including natural flood risk management, water quality, biodiversity, carbon storage, and health and well-being.

Background

The Moors for the Future Partnership delivers its work through the Peak District National Park Authority as the lead and accountable body. It is supported through its partners including the Environment Agency, Natural England, National Trust, RSPB, Severn Trent Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, Pennine Prospects and representatives of the moorland owner and farming community.

BogFest is financed by Moors for the Future Partnership’s MoorLIFE2020 project, a 5-year programme that aims to protect remaining active blanket bog in the South Pennines Special Area of Conservation. The project is delivered by the Peak District National Park Authority as the lead and accountable body. On-the-ground delivery of the project is being undertaken largely by the Moors for the Future Partnership staff team with works also undertaken by the National Trust High Peak and Marsden Moor Estate, the RSPB Dove Stone team and Pennine Prospects (the Associated Beneficiaries).

The Moors for the Future Partnership has been working since 2003 to protect the most degraded landscape in Europe. Using innovative conservation techniques it has transformed over 32sq km of black degraded peat in the Peak District National Park and South Pennines. A monitoring programme provides evidence of the effectiveness of these techniques and is backed up by innovative communications that inspire people to care for these special places.