mr president i just want to mention my home
i am lucky enough to live on the edge of the saddleworth moorlands between the cities of manchester and leeds
it is the southern end of an area of peatland that stretches straight up from england into scotland
it is a very rare habitat across europe but it is also a habitat that has been much denuded by two hundred and fifty years of industrial pollution which have devastated the variety of species that it can support
that has been complemented by overgrazing perhaps by sheep and by fires
of course as the peatland dries out it releases global warming gases
a huge potential supply of global warming gas is being released from what should be a wonderful area
the royal society for the protection of birds is now trying to restore that habitat and to get the sphagnum moss that created the peatland to grow once again
the funding they require is not in the millions it is in the tens of thousands or perhaps the hundreds of thousands
it is a small element that can contribute both to the restoration and encouragement of biodiversity and also the protection of this moorland habitat which ensures that these global warming gases are contained within it
as we look at the reform of the common agricultural policy this is something we must very much bear in mind
