MoorLIFE

Leeds, United Kingdom

City population: 746855

Duration: 2010 – 2015

Implementation status: Completed

Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level

Project area: 16000000 m²

Type of area: Protected Area

Last updated: June 2024

The South Pennine Moors is a conservation area in the Natura 2000 network. This site is crucial for active blanket bog and is part of two Special Protection Areas in the Birds Directive, including golden plover, dunlin, short-eared owl and merlin, dependent on the blanket bog for breeding and feeding. The conservation status of the site is threatened due to sulphate and nitrate pollution, causing severe depletion of crucial sphagnum moss cover. Fire damage has led to more extreme erosion than if the moorlands had remained sphagnum-rich. The restoration of favourable conditions thereby depends on re-establishing a sphagnum-rich bog. (3) The project included three Natura 2000 sites, the Peak District Moors (South Pennine Moors Phase 1), South Pennine Moors Phase 2 and South Pennine Moors (3).

Live Moor (1)

Overview

Nature-based solution

Blue infrastructure
In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors

Key challenges

Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity restoration
Habitat and biodiversity conservation
Green space creation and/or management
Water management (SDG 6)
Flood protection
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Environmental education

Focus

Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Protection of natural ecosystems, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity

Project objectives

-The main objective of the MoorLIFE project was to protect 1600ha of active blanket bog in the South Pennine Moors by reducing erosion on adjacent degraded peatland. To achieve this, the project aimed to restore 862ha of active blanket bog through stabilisation, diversification and gully blocking. -To ensure the future sustainability of the blanket bog, the project also aimed to carry out wildfire mitigation actions while also raising public awareness of wildfire risk and restoration. -The final objective was to develop knowledge and understanding by effective communication to practitioners and policymakers. The project emphasised the importance of fully-functioning upland moorlands in providing a range of ecosystem services, such as clean drinking water, carbon capture and storage to mitigate climate change, recreation, and flood mitigation, through which important socio-economic benefits are derived from the MoorLIFE project’s activities. (3, 13)

Implementation activities

The duration of the project (reference: LIFE08 NAT/UK/000202) lasted from 01-APR-2010 to 31-AUG -2015. (3) Bare peat areas on the site were re-stabilised by installing 52 km's of geotextiles and helicoptering in 11,000 bags of heather cuttings (brash) and spreading them, to re-establish plant growth. To kick-start, the re-vegetation process, 1,900 tonnes of lime (3000 in total) and fertiliser was applied and 22 tonnes of grass and heather seeds sown (43 in total). Additionally, 150,000 moorland plants such as bilberry and cotton grass were introduced, as well as a futher 30,000 plug plants and 807 million fragments of Sphagnum. As part of the gully blocking exercise, 4,000 dams were installed. (12)

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

Protect and enhance urban habitats
Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
Protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect native species
Means for conservation governance
Raise public awareness
Public engagement
Other

Biodiversity restoration:

Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore ecological connectivity

Main beneficiaries

National-level government
Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

Multilateral organisation

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

Unknown

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The MoorLIFE project was delivered by the Moors for the Future Partnership (MFFP) and led by the beneficiary Peak District National Park Authority. (3) It was delivered by Moors for the Future Partnership and co-funded by the European Commission’s Life+ Programme. Partners included Environment Agency, Natural England, National Trust, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water. (12) Individual landowners and managers in the Peak District realised that the problem of moorland erosion could not be tackled by one organisation alone and in February 2003 the Moors for the Future Partnership was formed. (1)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (Natura 2000 - that provides the basis for the MoorLife NBS intervention - is the name of a Europe-wide network of reserves for the conservation of endangered plant and animal species. The basis of this reserves network is the EU directive on the conservation of natural habitats and wild animals and plants, known as the Habitats Directive (the Council’s 92/43/EEC of 21st May 1992), and the directive on the conservation of wild birds (the Council’s 79/409/EEC of 2nd April 1979). These two directives commit the EU member states to designate and maintain a number of reserves which can help to conserve throughout Europe the diversity both of wild animal and plant species and of natural and near-natural habitats. (8) The South Pennine Moors include golden plover, dunlin, short-eared owl and merlin as special species under these directives and are dependent on blanket bog - the central concerns of the project - for breeding and/or feeding at the Moors. (10, 13))

... a national policy or strategy? Unknown

... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

More than €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
EU funds

Type of funding

Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

Water management and blue areas
Increased protection against flooding
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Increase in protected green space areas
Increased number of protection areas
Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased number of species present

Economic impacts

Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

Health and wellbeing
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

(1) Moors for the Future Partnership. [no date]. Moors for the Future - investing in our landscape: About Us. Source link [Accessed 7 October]
(2) Moors for the Future Partnership. (2015). MoorLIFE 2020: Technical Summary. [Document attached]
(3) Commission. [no date]. MoorLIFE - MoorLIFE: Active blanket bog restoration in the South Pennine Moors. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(4) Moors for the Future Partnership. (2015). Successful 5-year conservation project protects 2,500 hectares of moorland. [Website unavailable in 2020]
(5) Bennett, Ken. (2017). Countryside comes closer thanks to ‘bogtastic’ exhibition van. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(6) BBC. (2015). Peak District gets about £12m to protect moorlands. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(7) Commission. (2008). Nature & Biodiversity: Projects 2008. [Website unavailable in 2020, Document attached]
(8) Vogel Paradies Weidmoos. [no date]. Aims of the project. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(9) Peak District National Park. (2015). First moorland-themed apps launched. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(10) Commission. [no date]. MoorLIFE : Moorland conservation programme on the South Pennine Moors, UK. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(11) Natural England. [no date]. South Pennine Moors SSSI. Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]
(12) IUCN. [no date]. Bleaklow (MoorLIFE Project). [Website unavailable in 2020]
(13) Moors for the Future Partnership. [no date]. LAYMAN’S REPORT 2010–2015: MoorLIFE. [Document attached]
(14) UK Landscape Award. (2010). UK Landscape Award 2010: Moors for the Future Partnership Award Statement. [Document attached]
(15) LDA Design. (2010). Leeds city region: intelligence driving growth: Green infrastructure Strategy. Oxford. LDA Design. [Document attached]
(16) Rochdale Borough Council. (2012). Appendix C: Pennines Green Infrastructure Action Plan Schedule of Changes. [Document attached]
(17)Yorkshire live (2016) Multi-million pound scheme to revamp moors above Huddersfield Source link [Accessed 7 October 2020]

Live Moor (1)