World Peatland Day: How this vital habitat is coming back to life in Scotland – Gillian Martin

Scotland contains about two-thirds of the UK's peatlands (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Today is World Peatlands Day, and Scotland has something genuinely worth celebrating. This year, the Peatland Action Partnership restored 15,448 hectares of degraded peatland – the equivalent of nearly 30,000 football pitches. It is the highest single-year figure we have ever recorded, and it exceeds our Programme for Government target by more than 3,000 hectares. When I look at that number, I do not just see a statistic. I see a landscape coming back to life.

Scotland holds around 66 per cent of the UK's peatlands. For too long, much of it has been degraded – drained, damaged, and left to release carbon into the atmosphere rather than lock it away. That is the opposite of what we need in a climate emergency. Healthy peatland is one of our most powerful natural tools against rising temperatures. It stores more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem in the UK. Restoring it is not a nice-to-have. It is essential.

But the benefits of restoration go well beyond carbon. Restored peatlands reduce flood risk for communities downstream. They improve water quality. They bring back the biodiversity that thriving landscapes depend on – hen harriers nesting on open moorland, golden plovers calling across the hillside, sphagnum moss carpets stretching as far as the eye can see.

They are the tangible signs of a landscape healing, and they matter to the people who live and work in these places every bit as much as they matter to our climate targets.

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Forest-to-bog restoration

That is why I am proud of what the Peatland Action Partnership has achieved this year. This is not the work of a single organisation or a single team. It is the result of a genuine partnership – the Scottish Government, NatureScot, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Forestry and Land Scotland, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, and Scottish Water – working together across 126 projects spanning the breadth of the country.

Each partner brings different expertise and faces different challenges. NatureScot manages the largest share of the programme, using a competitive application process to drive economies of scale across dozens of projects. Forestry and Land Scotland undertakes some of the most complex work in the programme – forest-to-bog restoration, which requires the specialist removal of timber and stumps before the land can begin to heal.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority works in some of Scotland's most remote terrain, where hand labour is often the only option. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs covers sites that are more accessible but no less important. And Scottish Water has consistently delivered above target, recognising the direct link between healthy peatlands and clean water for communities across Scotland.

The scale of what they have delivered together – 15,448 hectares in a single year – is genuinely remarkable. Since 2020, more than 59,000 hectares of previously damaged peatland have benefited from restoration activities funded by the Scottish Government. That is a real and lasting contribution to Scotland's natural environment.

In the past, trees were planted on peat bogs but they are now being removed (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

A boost to the rural economy

But what gives me most confidence about the future of this programme is not the hectare figures. It is the people. Peatland restoration requires skilled workers – people who understand the land, who can assess what each site needs, and who have the practical expertise to deliver restoration that lasts.

For a long time, that workforce was small. Growing it has been a deliberate choice, and the results are beginning to show. The new Peatland Training Fund supported more than 100 people in building new skills in peatland restoration last year. The Peatland Internship Programme gave six organisations the capacity to take on full-time interns for up to six months, creating genuine routes into employment in a sector that is growing fast.

I have spoken to people who have made meaningful career changes to enter this field – leaving other industries behind because they want to do work that matters, work that connects them to Scotland's landscape and contributes to something larger than themselves. That energy and commitment is exactly what this programme needs.

Building that pipeline of skilled workers is not just good for peatland restoration. It is good for Scotland's rural economy. Peatland Action projects are delivered by small-to-medium companies, often in remote and rural communities where high-quality employment opportunities can be scarce.

The ripple effects – on local suppliers, on ancillary services, on the economic confidence of communities in the hills and glens – are real and significant. This programme creates new income streams for landowners, land managers, farmers, and crofters. It sits alongside existing land uses rather than displacing them. It is what a just transition to net zero looks like in practice.

Taking the long-term view

Our longer-term ambition is to restore 400,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2040. This year's record-breaking result is hugely encouraging, but it represents a fraction of what still needs to be done. Scotland's peatlands were degraded over generations. Restoring them will take sustained effort, sustained investment, and sustained political commitment.

That is why we have published our Peatland Action Five-Year Partnership Plan alongside a new Climate Change Plan. Together, these set out the structured, long-term approach needed to keep this momentum going – not just this year, but year after year, until we have restored what has been lost.

Peatland restoration is a choice to invest in Scotland's natural environment as a route to cutting emissions, supporting communities, and building resilience. It is a choice to take the long view. And on the evidence of this year, it is a choice that is working.

I am proud of what Scotland's partnership has achieved. I am determined that we build on it.

Gillian Martin MSP is the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs