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To: The Northern Ireland Executive and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI)
Protect Northern Ireland’s Peatlands and Protected Landscapes
We call on the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department for Infrastructure, and all planning authorities to:
- Provide immediate legal protection for peatlands with no mitigation loopholes.
- Introduce a moratorium on destructive development within Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- Launch an independent inquiry into energy infrastructure planning, including cumulative impacts, the under-assessment of peatlands and wildlife, and how protected landscapes in Northern Ireland have been opened up to industrial development without proper strategic planning or accountability.
Why is this important?
Peatlands must come first. They are among our most important carbon stores, vital for biodiversity, water regulation, and climate stability. They take thousands of years to form and cannot simply be replaced once damaged. Developers may offer mitigation, restoration, or peat reuse, but this should not be accepted as a justification for destruction. Peatlands are irreplaceable, and damage to them cannot be made acceptable through loopholes or after-the-fact promises.
Northern Ireland needs a better approach to climate action. A huge share of household energy use goes on heating homes, yet instead of properly prioritising retrofitting, insulation, and reducing demand, policy continues to push major infrastructure into some of our most sensitive landscapes. We need serious investment in warmer homes, lower energy use, and solutions that work with nature rather than against it.
Our protected landscapes were designated to safeguard biodiversity, heritage, wildlife, archaeology, and their wild beauty. They are not industrial sacrifice zones. The Sperrins AONB is already under increasing pressure, and proposals such as the Mullaghclogher wind farm show how easily these places can be opened up to further large-scale development. If this continues, no protected landscape will be safe.
Northern Ireland’s peatlands and protected landscapes are ancient, irreplaceable, and essential. They must be protected now.
