Great North Bog

The Great North Bog (GNB) initiative builds on a 20 year track record of more localised restoration efforts (over 140,000 ha of uplands, approximately 20% of the degraded peatlands of the whole GNB landscape) by original lead partners at the North Pennines National Landscape, the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and the Moors for the Future Partnership. Latterly joined by the Northumberland Peat Partnership, Cumbria Peat Partnership and Lancashire Peat Partnership, the six Great North Bog delivery partners have a vision to significantly scale up restoration through collaboration and aggregation, and exponentially grow their impact.

The team is co-creating a decade-long, sustainably funded restoration and conservation plan, delivering tangible nature and water benefits to local communities, and climate benefits more widely. In support of the strategy, the GNB Steering Group is pursuing private sector partnerships to purchase voluntary carbon emission reductions using a nationally recognised carbon standard in the UK - the IUCN Peatland Code.

Through its participation in the EU Horizon WaterLANDS programme, the Landscape Finance Lab is assisting GNB in some of its work to engage corporate partners, as well as in developing options for GNB’s governance, including the development of a potential legal entity to formalise responsibilities and establish a vehicle for the flow of finance. 

The Lab is also working closely with the University of Leeds and WaterLANDS Action Site Yorkshire iCASP (a project operating in the GNB landscape area) to identify areas of mutual interest with other peatland landscapes in the UK & Republic of Ireland via the ‘Peatland Finance Collective’ (next in-person meeting will take place in Leeds on 2-3 October 2024).