Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. Scotland is endowed with vast areas of these wetland ecosystems. An estimated 20% of the Scottish landscape is covered in peat soils, but 80% of these are degraded and instead release stored carbon into the atmosphere.
The Scottish government estimates that the carbon stored in its peatlands is equivalent to 120 years’ worth of the country’s emissions. Keeping it locked away is essential for moderating the climate crisis.
TL;DR because the title is quite clickbaity (although the article has good content):
- NatureScot claim there is a “funding gap” in spite of the government’s budget not yet having been used up. They think there must be large injections of private finance to restore peatland.
- Crofters have rights to use peat for fuel. In particular, in some areas (eg Outer Hebrides) they have the highest rate of fuel poverty, so the rewards need to be worth it to pull them off peat and onto other sources of heating.
- Carbon brokers have been promising “pots of gold” to crofters for restoring their peatlands, however because their lands are often reasonably well maintained this may actually amount to more like £9,000 paid over 70 years.
- The requirement for the restoration to be “permanent” may well undermine the crofter’s rights, preventing them from grazing or harvesting fuel from the land.
They link to a guide for crofters, one thing I note from the “executive summary” (which is far too long) is that the private funding method is the most risky - of course no one’s going to invest in a high risk scenario. The main investment seems to be being made in buying land that has poor peat, as it’s the land owner that seems to get most of the rewards.
