This group of projects is focusing on the role of public policy in developing solutions.

There is a need to decouple the reduction of peat use in horticulture from the protection and restoration of English peat bogs. Whilst on active extraction sites cessation of extraction is a necessary first step to restoration, the ceasing of extraction will not protect/restore either these sites or the many others not being used for peat extraction. Likewise ending the sales of peat in the UK does not automatically restore peat bogs.

In decoupling the protection and restoration of peat bogs and the reduction of peat use in horticulture we need to address both the questions of how do we use policy to protect and restore peat bogs and how do we use policy to deliver a transition to sustainable growing media and overcome barriers to change.

Projects

• P2: Beyond reducing the extraction of peat for horticulture, what are the options for protecting and restoring peat bogs? – is focusing on what the Government is planning on doing to achieve the protection and restoration of English peat bogs.
• P6: What is the role of public policy (England, UK, and EU) in facilitating the move to sustainable growing media? – is focusing on the role of public policy in facilitating the move to sustainable growing media and where public policy can be used to unblock identified barriers
• P10: How to measure success and progress – is focusing on what does success look like up to 2015, when the policy is due to be reviewed, and how can this be measured.