Environment organisation Project Maya is calling on all gardeners to pledge to be peat-free in their gardens because 94% of lowland bogs in the UK have been lost.

According to the organisation:

• UK Peatlands store more carbon than the forests of the UK, France and Germany combined.
• Peat is being consumed 200 times faster than it forms. 
• 94% of our lowland bogs in the UK have been lost.
• Every month, UK gardeners use enough peat to fill 69 Olympic swimming pools.
• Inspired by the research of Professor Mark Reed (Birmingham City University) Project Maya is asking gardeners to pledge to be peat-free in their gardens.

Project Maya say there would be an outcry if a company started excavating top-soil from your local park and selling it to gardeners. And yet most of us are silent about the excavation of peat from habitats that are just as valuable to us.

The environment organisation says:

"The UK gardener is a gift to wildlife; we are increasingly growing flowers that are perfect for pollinators, along with our own fruit and vegetables, saving the packaging, and carbon used in transportation. In fact, our gardeners make a huge positive impact for UK nature. Yet, each month UK gardeners are using enough peat to fill the equivalent of 69 Olympic swimming pools, with no idea of the damage they are causing by doing so. An average 100 litre bag of peat compost takes around 100 years to develop. In this time, a bag this size will have absorbed as much carbon dioxide as you would emit by driving from London to Birmingham and back in a petrol VW Golf.

"Peat is used in compost because it’s cheap, light, retains moisture and stores nutrients. But we don’t need to use it. Most amateur gardeners wouldn’t notice a difference in the performance of peat versus peat-free composts, but switching to peat-free would make a significant difference to our peatlands. And like the switch to low-energy lightbulbs (accompanied by the same initial concerns over poor product performance), if we don’t start buying peat-free composts voluntarily, they may be banned. Already, the Government has set a target to phase out the use of peat by amateur gardeners in England by 2020. They are monitoring peat use and will be reviewing progress next year to see if “additional policy measures are necessary.

"Peatlands are a vast green lung that provides unique places for recreation and habitats for some of our most threatened wildlife, whilst absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An area of healthy peatland the size of a rugby pitch can absorb the equivalent of 4 return trips from London-Edinburgh by car every year. That’s approximately four times more efficient at carbon absorption than a forest. Yet, just 6% of our peatlands remain - 6000 hectares! We need to act now to protect them!"

Prof Reed, whose research on peatlands inspired the Peat-Free Pledge, said: "For me, peatlands are a fascinating place to think about our relationship with nature. So many of us overlook peatlands as bleak, featureless and inhospitable places, without realising that we all depend on them for the water we drink and for regulating our global climate. Most of us don't even notice the internationally important species and habitats we're trudging through when we go hill walking."

The campaign has already attracted wide support from organisations such as:

• The John Muir Trust
• The Scottish Wildlife Trust,
• The IUCNs Peatland Programme,
• Plantlife
• Climate Revolution
• Birmingham City University, where Prof. Reed is based. 

Individual supporters pledging to go peat-free range from television celebrities to CEOs of major environmental organisations. Including:

• Designer and environmental activist Vivienne Westwood DBE
• Naturalist, author and broadcaster Simon King OBE
• BAFTA award winning television producer Stephen Moss
• Director of the Eden Project Gordon Seabright
• CEO of Plantlife Marian Spain
• CEO of the Soil Association Helen Browning OBE

Speaking about the campaign, Dr. Olly Watts, the RSPB’s peat-free campaigner said: "The RSPB has encouraged gardeners to go peat-free for many years – our bogs are wonderful places with amazing wildlife. It’s a tragic irony that they are drained and dug up for gardening, especially now there are good alternatives widely available."

UK gardeners make a significant contribution to improving the environment for nature, and by going peat-free they can do even more. Our peatlands are a beautiful and incredibly valuable resource. Let’s keep them and our gardens beautiful. For more information, and to take the pledge head to www.mayaproject.org/peat-free-pledge.