Consultation on standard for peat restoration
Peatland ACTION is calling on everyone with a passion for one of the country’s most iconic and vital landscapes to get involved in shaping its first ever industry standard.
Scotland has around two million hectares of peatlands, representing almost a quarter of its land surface. When they are in good condition, peatlands are carbon sinks, estimated to hold the equivalent of 140 years’ worth of the country's total annual greenhouse gas emissions, providing clean drinking water and flood regulation in our everyday lives.
They offer a unique home for wildlife, and are vital to farming, sporting, tourism and crofting economies. They are also, however, currently one of the country’s largest degraded ecosystems, making them sources of carbon contributing to climate change.
Scotland’s Peatland Standard will provide shared technical guidance for everyone involved in protecting, restoring and managing peatland.
It will introduce collective principles and clarity on legal and good practice requirements.
So far, Peatland ACTION (a partnership led by Scottish Government and delivered by NatureScot, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, and Forestry and Land Scotland) has worked with the sector to create a draft version of Scotland’s Peatland Standard.
The consultation on the draft of Scotland’s Peatland Standard is now open to peatland practitioners, land managers, regulators, funders, researchers, and members of the public to have their say.
Nick Halfhide, NatureScot chief executive, said: “Restoring Scotland’s peatlands is everybody’s business.
"Although 90k hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery, we still have a long way to go.
"That’s why NatureScot is urging landowners and managers to play their part in creating a standard that we can all be proud of that will ensure better water quality, livestock welfare, sporting management, wildfire mitigation and jobs.”
The consultation can be found at https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-peatland-standard-consultation-draft and the deadline for submissions is Friday, August 28.