A distant landscape dimly seen:the bogs in 2050

摘要

It is especially appropriate that this 13~(th) International Peat Congress should be taking place here in the Midlands,because here we are in the very heart of the bogs and at the centre of the peat industry in Ireland - and it is probably the last time it would be so appropriate,because we have passed the point of 'Peak Peat'.Peat production will be declining rapidly from this time forward,and the great state organisation that is Bord na Móna can now count its remaining years of peat production on its fingers.I have had the privilege over the last few months in my capacity as one of the Scientific Chairpersons for the Congress of reviewing all the papers and posters presented,and this overview prompts a certain reflective perspective on the role of peatlands I would like to share with you:in my own case coloured by more personal considerations:because this is where I was born and grew up - indeed sharing the same birth year as Bord na Mona - and it is still my home,at least on the weekends when I can escape from Dublin.^