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Article: Moorlands could be used to combat global warming, researchers say
- Article from:
- Yorkshire Post
- Article date:
- March 21, 2007
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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A POST-WAR farming drive to improve millions of acres of bleak
upland for agriculture could be reversed in the battle to reduce
carbon emissions.
Experts say moorlands across the British Isles could be used to
help combat global warming while providing a multi-million-pound
source of income and preventing other environmental disasters
including flooding.
Academics from Durham and Leeds universities have pinpointed
drainage ditches dug in the 1950s as a major contributor to the
deterioration of moorlands, causing carbon emissions to be released
from the peat soils.
The ditches were created in a failed attempt to improve land
quality for grazing, and now actually pose a danger to livestock. ...