In Scotland’s Affric Highlands rewilding landscape, neighbouring landowners have come together to rewet and restore degraded peatlands. This globally rare ecosystem, artificially engineered across much of its range, will now store more carbon, provide unique habitat for an array of specialist species, and hold water in the uplands for longer.
An overlooked ecosystem
Peatlands are unique ecosystems that are home to a wide variety of species. Sphagnum mosses carpet the floor in a patchwork of colour, dragonflies buzz over pools of water, and a wide-variety of ground nesting birds utilise the safety of a waterlogged landscape to raise their young. Habitats that were once seen as desolate, are actually havens for wildlife. Not only that, they’re also one of the most important climate fighting tools we have.
Although they cover just 3% of the earth’s surface, peatlands store over 30% of its soil carbon – more than twice the amount found in the world’s forests combined. Many, however, have been historically drained in an attempt to make the land more productive, often for forestry or agricultural purposes.
Once these important carbon sinks are eroded, they turn into a carbon source – oxidising with the air and releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In Scotland, where 13% of the world’s blanket bog is found, Rewilding Affric Highlands and partners are on a mission to change that.
A peatland partnership
Across the country, peatland drainage, extraction, overgrazing, and an increase in wildfires, as well as prescribed burning, have resulted in Scotland’s peatlands not functioning for nature or people. Although 80% of this unique habitat is now degraded nationally, more than 1000 hectares within the Affric Highlands rewilding landscape has now been restored.
A partnership of three neighbouring landholdings – Trees for Life’s Dundreggan Estate, and privately owned land at Guisachan and Corrimony Farm, have come together to restore the land at scale, facilitated by Rewilding Affric Highlands with expert advice from Caledonian Climate.
“This is about restoring a whole ecosystem at a landscape scale, with a shared commitment to tackling the nature and climate emergencies and benefitting local communities,” says Stephanie Kiel, executive director at Rewilding Affric Highlands.
Water is life
Peat is formed in water-logged conditions, as a result of wetland vegetation dying and the decomposing organic matter getting trapped in anaerobic (oxygen poor) conditions. This forms condensed mats, which eventually becomes peat at a rate of just one millimetre per year. It is this extraordinarily slow process that makes peatland restoration so important, because these specialist habitats will take millennia to replace.
On remote hilltops, the restoration team has been reprofiling peat hags (exposed ridges of dried out peaty soils) and gullies to halt further erosion. They have also been blocking artificial drains to hold back the water, as well as transplanting sections of sphagnum moss over bare ground. This keystone species is one of the most important peatland plants with its ability to hold around 20 times its own weight in water and acidify its surroundings, creating the perfect conditions for peat formation.
These vital actions mean that the area will now better retain and store its carbon once more, in addition to filtering, cleaning and holding back huge amounts of water. This, in turn, will reduce flood risk, mitigate drought, and ensure the land becomes more resilient to wildfires. Wetter conditions will also increase biodiversity, providing important habitat for species such as the carnivorous sundew plant, and rare black-throated divers.
A long-term investment
This multi-year initiative has benefited from a variety of innovative funding sources, including the Scottish Government’s Peatland ACTION fund, which has made over £250 million available to restoring these precious ecosystems nationwide. Further funding has come from Alex Grigg and Wilderway, a nature and carbon credit development company incubated by Rewilding Europe and now an independent entity as of 2024.
The British Dragonfly Society and the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund gave extra financing for the establishment of a series of dragonfly breeding pools across the landscape. It is hoped that these shallow wetlands will support the return of threatened bog species like the white-faced darter, azure hawker, and northern emerald.
“Peatlands are amazing, wild places that are being lost worldwide. With our neighbours, we want this initiative to be a beacon of hope and inspiration for restoring blanket bog across Scotland,” says Gwen Raes, Trees for Life’s Dundreggan estate manager. This holistic approach to nature restoration shows just how entwined the climate and ecological emergencies are – you can’t save one without the other.
This is the pioneering approach that Rewilding Europe and its network of partnering landscape teams, like Rewilding Affric Highlands, are taking. Whether it be peatland restoration in Scotland, reviving wild rivers in Sweden, or rejuvenating wetlands in Ukraine, the recovery of the continent’s wild spaces is vital for climate, for nature, and for people.
