This is an article written by the CLR's Dr Joshua Copping
I attended the IUCN UK Peatland Programme Conference 2026, Peatlands Under Pressure, held at Swansea University’s Bay Campus. Bringing together researchers, policymakers, restoration practitioners, and land managers from across the UK and Europe, the conference provided an excellent opportunity to explore the challenges and opportunities facing peatlands.
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme launched a new report too: Native Trees in Peatland Landscapes, highlighting the growing need to think about peatlands as part of wider landscape systems rather than in isolation.
Day One
The conference opened with a series of plenary sessions covering peatland restoration, climate adaptation, and the growing evidence base needed to support future investment and policy. A recurring theme was the increasing pressure being placed on peatlands from climate change and competing demands for land.
Wildfire featured prominently throughout the day, reflecting both recent fire events and concerns about what a warmer, drier future could mean for peatland landscapes. The discussions highlighted how peatland restoration is increasingly being viewed not only as a climate mitigation measure, but also as part of building more resilient landscapes.
One of the most thought-provoking sessions explored the tensions between development ambitions and peatland protection. Whether it is renewable energy, food production, or nature recovery, many of our environmental challenges ultimately come back to the same question: how do we balance multiple objectives within a finite area of land?
The day ended with the Peatland Cinema, a collection of short films ranging from artistic interpretations of peatlands to restoration case studies. A particular highlight was seeing how innovative comms approaches in the Peak District are being used to engage new audiences on issues such as wildfire prevention.
Day Two
The second day took us out into the field. I joined the trip to Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. It was nice to swap the flat horizons of The Fens for somewhere with a bit of elevation!
Seeing restored and degraded sites side by side brought many of the conference discussions to life. In some places, sizeable peat hags. Elsewhere, rewetted areas were supporting sphagnum-rich pools and recovering vegetation.
The contrast was striking and reinforced an important lesson: restoring peatlands is possible, but it becomes much harder once peat has been lost. Protecting functioning peatlands remains far easier than rebuilding them.
Day Three
The final day focused on how restoration can be delivered at the scale needed to meet climate and nature targets. Discussions around finance suggested there is growing appetite to invest in peatland restoration, but several speakers highlighted that one of the biggest constraints is capacity. Quite simply, more trained people are needed to design and deliver projects on the ground.
I spent the morning in a workshop on wildfire resilience led by NatureScot and Peatland ACTION. The session was called Fighting Fire with Nature which, disappointingly, did not involve equipping wildlife with firefighting equipment. Instead, it focused on how restoration can help reduce wildfire risk.
One message stood out: rewetting is important, but it is not a silver bullet. Restored peatlands can still burn, meaning that restoration needs to sit alongside proactive management and wider landscape planning.
In the afternoon, I helped facilitate a workshop on future options for lowland peatlands alongside colleagues from Defra, the National Trust and Lancashire Wildlife Trust. We explored one of the key challenges facing these landscapes: how to balance food production, climate mitigation, biodiversity recovery, and opportunities such as paludiculture within the same area.
The discussions highlighted that there is rarely a single "best" answer. Different parts of the landscape are likely to require different approaches, whether that is restoration, wetter farming and paludiculture, or continued agricultural production. It was encouraging to see participants from a range of backgrounds working through these trade-offs and helping shape a practical decision framework for lowland peatland management.
Final Thoughts
I left Swansea with a sense that the conversation around peatlands is increasingly shifting from why they matter to how we deliver change at scale. Across the three days, discussions moved beyond making the case for restoration and towards the practical challenges of delivery, from wildfire resilience and private finance to future land-use choices. While focused on peatlands, many of these challenges are shared across the wider landscape, highlighting the importance of evidence, collaboration, and long-term thinking in shaping a more resilient future.