BBC NI agriculture and environment correspondentThe temperature in the largest freshwater body of water in the UK and Ireland is 1C higher than in 1995.
The Lough Neagh Partnership commissioned the study as it took up a lease on land on the south-west shoreline, with a view to restoring it.The Climate Change Impact and Carbon Storage Study took core samples round the entire shoreline of the lough to assess the carbon stored there.The report revealed a total of more than 14 million tonnes of carbon stored in the catchment area.
"We got that from the surface soil maps that were done in the 1990s. In this study, we looked at the actual depth of the carbon itself, and we've come out with our calculation of carbon.""That's really important, because nowadays the whole talk is how do we keep that carbon in the ground? That carbon and that habitat has the potential to sequester more carbon.
That whole site includes lands at Derrytresk and Derryloughan, which were gifted to the Royal School Dungannon in 1608, at about the time of the Plantation of Ulster.The Education Authority granted a lease on the land to the LNP in December 2022.Gerry Darby says the local community have been supportive of their conservation goalsThe partnership will now manage the site with a focus on conservation, restoring the peatlands and enhancing the natural habitat.