THE county's wetlands must be protected and restored for the next 50 years to combat climate change, according to environmental experts.

A series of maps have been produced highlighting areas where wetland has been lost or fragmented - and areas where former wetland could be brought back to life.

England has lost 90 per cent of its wetlands in the last 1,000 years, much of them since the industrial revolution. Land drainage, river engineering and abstraction of water for homes and industry mean those that remain are often small and isolated.

The maps, produced by the Wetland Vision Partnership, include 10,000 hectares of wetlands in the Trough of Bowland, home to the rare hen harrier.

The Wetland Vision Partnership, an alliance of conservationists and government agencies, including the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, the Environment Agency and English Heritage hopes the maps will be used by everyone from community groups to local authorities and from farmers to water companies.

This will help target the restoration and creation of thousands of acres of reedbed, grazing marsh, ponds and wet grassland.

Carrie Hume, the Wetland Vision Project Manager, said: "If we invest in wetlands, we will be richly rewarded.

”In the right places, wetlands offer natural flood water storage and improved water quality, lock away huge amounts of carbon, provide havens for wildlife and fantastic places for people to visit and enjoy."

United Utilities own 57,000 hectares of land in Bowlands, from which it collects water for its customers. With the help of regulatory body OfWat it is pumping £3.5million into the area to restore wetlands.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "Around 6,000 hectares are classed as sites of special scientific interest (sssi), but half of this is classed as unfavourable or in decline. In 2005 we started a programme to enhance the biodiversity of these areas and improve the raw water colour.

"Where land has been drained we are re-wetting it and where peat has eroded away through over grazing or burning of crops we are re-introducing vegetation."