Some great news to end the week
Scotland’s Flow Country secures World Heritage status - The Flow Country
- The Flow Country becomes the world’s first peatland World Heritage Site
- It becomes Scotland’s first World Heritage Site inscribed for purely natural criteria, and the first in mainland UK for the global importance of its natural ecosystems
- It joins the Serengeti, the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Everglades as natural areas gaining World Heritage site status for their incredible ecosystems
- A place of global significance in the fight against climate change, the status unlocks opportunities for the north of Scotland including green jobs
The most expansive and best example of blanket bog in the world, the Flow Country in the far north of Scotland has joined the Serengeti, the Galapagos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef in securing prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Site status for its globally important nature.
This is a global first, as the Flow Country is the only World Heritage Site inscribed specifically for its peatlands.
The World Heritage Committee approved the bid at its annual meeting in New Delhi awarding the designation, reserved for places of special natural, cultural, historical or scientific significance, for the Flow Country’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) in ecosystem quality. This makes it the UK mainland’s first World Heritage Site inscribed for the global importance of its natural ecosystems, and the country’s sixth site inscribed for natural criteria overall.
The Flow Country is a vast peat bog that covers much of Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland and stores approximately 400 million tonnes of carbon – more than all the UK’s forests and woodlands combined. It is called blanket bog because it covers the landscape like a blanket and is a type of habitat that is globally rare, but one that is ideally suited to Scotland’s climate and maritime location.
The 4,000 sq. km area is home to a hugely complex and fragile ecosystem with a vast array of plants that act as an important defence against climate change. The carbon stored by a 9,000-year accumulation of dead vegetation in the form of peat acts as a carbon sink. This sequesters (traps) and stores carbon, preventing it being released into the atmosphere, helping to prevent further emissions. It is also an internationally important place for wildlife, including upland breeding birds like red-throated diver, golden plover and greenshank.