How Ireland’s Peat Bogs Store 13x More Carbon Than the Amazon
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📰 The quick summary: Photographer Shane Hynan’s project Beofhód documents Ireland’s rapidly disappearing peat bogs, sparking a wider conversation about preserving some of the planet’s most powerful carbon sinks before they vanish entirely.
📈 One key stat: A healthy Irish raised bog can store up to 13 times more carbon per hectare than the Amazon rainforest, making its protection critical for the global climate.
💬 One key quote: “You can read Ireland’s history in the boglands. They hold millennia in their layers,” says photographer Shane Hynan of his project, Beofhód.
1️⃣ The big picture: Ireland’s peat bogs, known as portachs, cover roughly 14% to 17% of the country’s land area and have shaped Irish culture, history, and rural life for centuries. For generations, families cut and dried turf from these bogs as their primary and affordable heating fuel. Yet more than 80% of Ireland’s original peatland has already been lost to extraction, agriculture, and afforestation. Beyond their cultural value, these bogs rank among the most important carbon sinks on Earth, storing far more carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests. Photographer Shane Hynan set out to document this tension between deep-rooted tradition and urgent environmental need through his ongoing project, Beofhód.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Raising awareness of Ireland’s boglands through photography puts a human face on an environmental issue that statistics alone rarely capture, helping broader audiences connect emotionally with what is at stake. Peat bogs store carbon underground rather than in short-lived vegetation, meaning that even partially protecting what remains could lock away enormous amounts of carbon for centuries. The fact that fewer people are now cutting turf, as Hynan himself noticed upon returning home, points to a slow but real shift in how Irish communities relate to these landscapes. Growing public dialogue about bogland conservation creates pressure on policymakers to strengthen protections and fund restoration efforts. Restored and rewetted bogs can begin accumulating new carbon relatively quickly, meaning that acting now to protect remaining peatlands offers a concrete, nature-based climate solution.
3️⃣ What’s next: Shane Hynan’s exhibition Beneath, Beofhód runs at Photo Museum Ireland until July 5th, 2026, giving the public a direct opportunity to engage with these questions. Conservation groups and policymakers face growing pressure to expand protections for Ireland’s remaining intact bogs before further losses occur. Rewetting and restoring degraded peatlands has emerged as a key tool in Ireland’s climate strategy, and translating that ambition into action at scale remains the central challenge ahead.
Read the full story here: The Guardian – Documenting Ireland’s vanishing boglands: ‘They hold millennia in their layers’
