More than 100,000ha of drained farmed peatlands will have to be rewetted in Ireland under a sweeping biodiversity law proposed by the European Commission.

Some 300,000ha of these lands are currently farmed in Ireland, with at least one-third of this ground to be rewet, under the new law, by 2050.

Extensive grazing, promoting “wilderness” and a ban on ploughing are among the other measures proposed for an additional 105,000ha of these drained peatlands.

Furthermore, up to 90% of designated peatlands in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) is to be rewetted or restored through other measures in the coming decades.

The impact assessment of the law recommends that rewetting measures should be deployed “as rapidly as technically feasible” across designated land.

The law, which would result in Ireland and other member states being legally bound to deliver on the targets set out by 2030, is aimed at stabilising and improving the conservation status of all protected animal and bird species, and habitats, by 2050.

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