The Exploitation of Soil as a Natural Resource

A Focus On Peat

Cut Turf Drying Out

This section will focus on the exploitation of soil as a natural resource by looking at Irish peatlands. Peatlands are also known as boglands, and are used for the production of turf and other peat products. 

The EU's 8th Environment Action Programme to 2030 identifies soil as a valuable natural resource, upon which all life forms are dependant (European Commission, 2020). Peat soils are made up of partially decomposed remains of plants and animals which have accumulated on the land-surface under wet conditions and which restrict the amount of decomposition. Where the rate of decomposition is exceeded by the rate of plant production (i.e. more plant material remains than is removed), peat soils form (EPA, 2002). Peat soils in Ireland make up 20.6% of Ireland’s total land area.

It may seem unusual to think of soil as a natural resource that can be exploited, but Irish soil has been exploited as a natural resource for a very long time, as turf from peat bogs has been a provider of energy in this country for hundreds, if not thousands of years. However, peat causes considerable environmental damage, including high greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants arising from its use and significant ecological damage.

The history of industrial peat extraction in Ireland began with the establishment of the Turf Development Board in 1934, which became Bord na Móna in 1946. Bord na Móna currently own 7.5% of all Irish bogs. An in-depth history of peat extraction in Ireland can be found here.

Bord na Móna is currently responsible for the mechanised harvesting of peat in Ireland but will not open any new bogs and is to cease its peat-extraction activities from existing bogs by 2030. To facilitate this transition, Bord na Móna is currently involved in a programme of biomass co-firing replacing peat with biomass (it has been co-firing peat with biomass at its Edenderry power plant for more than 5 years), and is also increasingly investing in other renewable energies such as wind. With the closure of two of Ireland's last peat-fired power stations at Lough Ree and West Offaly in December 2020, Edenderry remains the last peat burning plant nationally.

Currently, peat in Ireland is extracted for electricity generation in the Edenderry power plant, for use as fuel in homes (briquettes and turf), for horticultural products including compost, and as raw materials for chemical products (The Soils of Ireland). The processes of traditional turf cutting, mechanical turf cutting and industrial peat extraction have caused the loss of an estimated 47% of the original peatland area of Ireland (Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC), n.d.). See a video on how peat is extracted by Bord na Mona here.

A growing awareness of the damage the burning of peat can do, and a move toward a greener future for the Irish people and the planet, means that current government policy is to not open any new bogs, and to utilise the remaining peat resources to benefit the country and local communities, while conserving and rehabilitating the remaining bogs and investing more in renewable energy projects like wind and solar.