Restored Flow Country bogs contribute to 10,000ha of 're-wetted' peatlands
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Work to restore thousands of hectares of damaged peatland on publicly owned forestry land including in the Flow Country has reached a milestone.
Forestry and Land Scotland said it has now "re-wetted" 10,000 hectares of peatland on land it manages.
Peatlands cover around a quarter of the land in Scotland and are important for storing carbon. The Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland is considered globally significant and is currently applying to become a Unesco World Heritage Status site for its natural resources.
FLS estimates that when fully recovered the 10,000 hectares will permanently bring about emissions savings of 87,800 tonnes of CO2 per year – the equivalent of taking about 63,000 new petrol cars in the UK off the road for a year.
The public body said the significant milestone had been reached through years of dedicated work undertaken by FLS staff and contractors working on sites across Scotland – including at Kintyre and Lochaber in the west, Carnwath and Flanders Moss in central Scotland and Skye and the Flow Country in the north.
Restoring peatland is an integral part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a target of restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030.
Peatlands cover around two million hectares in Scotland, equivalent to a quarter of the country, and when healthy can help secure carbon stores while also supporting nature, and reducing flood and fire risk.
The work forms part of the FLS Peatland Restoration Strategy with FLS a key delivery partner for NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION Project – a partnership aiming to restore tens of thousands of hectares of forest to bog and improve a similar amount of existing blanket bog to peatland.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, said: “Peatlands are an integral part of Scotland’s cultural and natural heritage, and cover more than 20 per cent of our country. When in good condition, they can help us fight climate change, support biodiversity, improve water quality and reduce the severity of flooding and fires.
“I am proud to mark FLS hitting 10,000 hectares of peatland restoration. Every site we restore adds to the scale of the contribution we make to our environment, to biodiversity, water quality, to our future, and to the people of Scotland.
“Work is continuing to restore and protect the next 10,000 hectares of this precious natural resource and this will play a key part of Scotland’s response to the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.”
FLS chief executive Simon Hodgson said: “Reaching this milestone is a testament to the dedication of FLS teams and our partners in efforts to transform and restore one of Scotland’s largest degraded ecosystems to create a far healthier landscape, one that not only benefits the wider environment, but also the health and wellbeing of people and nature.”
Several FLS forest to bog peatland projects feature in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) recent paper as an examples of successful restoration.
