wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

APPENDIX 4205APPENDIX 4PATTERNS OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP OF MIRES ANDPEATLANDS IN SOME SELECTED COUNTRIESThe legal basis for ownership, and the pattern of ownership of mires and peatlands, has amajor influence on the implementation of Wise Use guidelines in any country. Information onpatterns of property ownership in some selected countries is given in the paragraphs whichfollow:Ireland 113 : Peat cutting had played a part inthe provision of domestic energy since atleast the 10 th century, sometimes separatefrom the ownership of the bog, and peat waswidely used, even when wood wasavailable. 114 From the end of the 17 th century,after effective deforestation, peat became anessential part of domestic economy, not easilysubstitutable.The establishment around this time of thegreat estates does not appear to haveconsolidated bog ownership, or rights to itsuse. In the massive report of the BogCommissioners, presented to the BritishParliament in 1814, the obstacle to thedrainage and large-scale development for fuelof Irish bogs was considered to be “theindeterminate nature of boundaries betweenadjoining properties and the rights of turbaryand grazing claimed by the tenantry” 115When the large estates were divided in thelate 19 th and early part of the 20 th centuries aparcel of peat bog was considered to be anecessary part of an autonomous agriculturalunit, so as the land was divided, the bogswere divided. Currently, the present occupier/owner has often not established her title, andundefined turbary rights may be held by anumber of former tenants of an estate or theirsuccessors. In some cases the right to grazea bog may be held by one party, the peatunderlying the grazing by another, theresidual cutaway – subsoil or fee simple byyet a third, and sporting or shooting rightsby a fourth. It is not impossible that all theserights may be vested in a plot of bog of 0.25hectares “The break up of the estatesaccelerated after the establishment of the IrishFree State in 1922 … which divided bogs intoindividual strips – often very numerous andnarrow, the average width being 20-30 yards– and assigned them to individual tenants.” 116Finland 117 : The ownership of peatlands inFinland is divided as follows: privateindividuals 54.5%; the state 36.5%;companies 6.0%; Others (including parishesand other public “associations”) 3.0%.Peatlands cover about 30 % of Finland’s landarea. When the Crown land was divided intoprivate farms, principally in the 19 th century,the mire areas were divided between farms inapproximately the same proportion as themineral soil areas. Parcels of peatland aretherefore mainly inside farm boundaries. Onlyoccasionally are there separate all-mire areas.Traditional ways of using peatlands include