The Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has announced the recipients of grant funding for peatland restoration projects.

Five nonprofit organisations in Northern Ireland and the border region have been awarded a total of £2.7 million to address the degradation of peatlands and their contribution to climate change.

The funding will support projects over the next three years, focusing on restoring and conserving peatlands, which play a crucial role in mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity.

Announcing the funding from the Peatland Challenge Fund, Minister Muir said: "The projects awarded funding will restore peatland habitats, build capacity for sustaining this progress, and inform and engage the public with the knowledge of the enormous importance of peatlands to our environment. This is an exciting next step in Northern Ireland's journey towards healthier and more resilient peatlands. We can look to the future with confidence that our precious peatlands will help us meet our biodiversity targets and Net Zero contributions."

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The organisations successful in the application process include: Ulster Wildlife with its project ‘Building capacity for peatland restoration'; RSPBNI with its project ‘Peat restoration in collaboration'; The National Trust with its project ‘Understanding our past natural and cultural landscape heritage to enhance current peatland restoration'; Fermanagh and Omagh District Council with its project ‘Cross border peatland scoping project'; and Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust with its project ‘Altikeeragh peatland restoration and monitoring'.

This Peatland Challenge Fund forms part of the Cross-Border Peatlands Restoration Programme announced in 2022 as part of the Shared Island initiative, with a partnership between the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland, and NatureScot. The programme is enabling cross-border collaboration, knowledge-sharing and expertise-building in peatland restoration across Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland to collectively deliver initiatives that contribute to meeting common Climate Change targets.

The award of funding by DAERA through NIEA commences the programme delivery objectives in Northern Ireland.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD said: "The restoration of peatlands, which are an integral component of our shared ecosystem, is a key measure in the joint fight to protect biodiversity and combat climate change. I warmly welcome this announcement of five successful applications for peatland restoration. The collaboration between our National Parks and Wildlife Service with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and NatureScot is helping to conserve our peatlands and biodiversity resources, which the Government of Ireland is pleased to support, as part of the Shared Island initiative."