News release
Immediate release
19/05/10
Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Rob Gibson has welcomed news that the Scottish Government have confirmed that peatlands are to play a vital role in cutting Scotland's green house emissions.
In letter to the convener of the Transport Infrastructure and Climate Change Minister Committee The TICC Minister Stewart Stevenson said that he had decided to increase Scotland's target for cutting green house emissions from 0.5% to 1.0%. He also said that the restoration of peatlands would play an important role in meeting those targets.
A long time champion of the importance of Scotland's Peatlands, some of which have been christened the Amazon rain forest of the Northern Hemisphere (because of the amount of carbon they hold) Mr Gibson said....
Rob Gibson said,
"This is great news for Scotland in particular which contains 80% of the UK's peatland. And it's not just the Highlands and Islands but many lowland and border areas have deep peat which must not be allowed to dry out. The Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland is the biggest blanket bog of all and deserves World Heritage status."
" Many jobs can be created to restore peat moors which have dried out due to economic activity. Already Scottish Water spend huge sums removing peat from drinking water sources. Much of this is due to run off. Blocking the drains in peatlands can help clean our water. Also the Forestry Commission and many wind farm developers are saving deep peat."
"I am delighted that one of Scotland's great natural resources can help stem climate change by keeping peat lands wet and in addition maintaining biodiversity that is threatened by warmer longer summers. For relatively small sums of money a full quarter of Scotland's reduction target in Green House Gasses can be achieved through peat conservation. This is bogging good news."
ENDS
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