Despite substantial contrary evidence, there has been a growing tendency to present prescribed vegetation burning as a management practice that is always damaging to peatland ecosystems in the UK. This is exemplified by the “Burning and Peatlands” position statement published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature UK Peatland Programme. Indeed, while we strongly agree with several of the statements made within this position statement, it also contains a series of unverified assertions and misleading arguments that seemingly serve to simplify the narrative and paint prescribed burning as a wholly damaging peatland management tool. Given that this position statement is published by one of the UK’s most prominent peatland conservation organisations, it is likely to be consulted when debating upland land use policy. Therefore, for the benefit of policymakers, we provide a point-by-point critical review of the “Burning and Peatlands” position statement. We also discuss several further points for researchers and policymakers to consider that are consistently ignored by those attempting to simplify the narrative about prescribed burning. Our aim in producing this discussion paper is to encourage the research and policy community to move towards an evidence-based position about prescribed burning impacts on UK peatlands.

尽管有大量相反的证据，但越来越多的趋势提出将规定的植被燃烧作为一种管理做法，这种做法总是对英国的泥炭地生态系统造成破坏。国际自然保护联盟英国泥炭地计划发布的“燃烧与泥炭地”立场声明就是例证。的确，尽管我们强烈同意本立场声明中的几项声明，但其中还包含一系列未经证实的断言和误导性论点，似乎有助于简化叙述和描绘规定的烧毁方式，将其视为一种完全破坏泥炭地管理的工具。鉴于该立场声明是由英国最著名的泥炭地保护组织之一发布的，因此在辩论高地土地使用政策时可能会参考该声明。所以，为了政策制定者的利益，我们对“ Burning and Peatlands”立场声明进行逐点批判性审查。我们还讨论了其他一些要点，供研究人员和决策者考虑，这些要点一直被那些试图简化规定燃烧的叙述的人所忽略。我们编写此讨论文件的目的是鼓励研究和政策界朝着基于证据的立场出发，规定对英国泥炭地的规定燃烧影响。