Although peatland only makes up about three percent of the world's land mass, it holds a third of the planet's carbon – twice as much as all of the world's forests. In Shetland, you can’t get far without stumbling across peatlands – some of the most important, and beautiful, land on the islands.
There is an occasional flurry of activity in the peatland bogs which blanket so much of the Shetland landscape.
On the hillsides, suitably attired in waterproof clothing, people can be seen crouching low and plunging their hands into chilly pools of water. They are planting bundles of moss.
It's all part of efforts across Shetland to restore peatlands to their former glory, providing natural ecosystems to support wildlife and helping naturally lock away carbon dioxide in the process.
Peatland is synonymous with swathes of the Shetland landscape, however, it might surprise many to know this wasn’t always the case. Around 5,000 years ago Shetland would have been a lush landscape of grasslands and scrub woodland. But as in many parts of the world, human inhabitation changed the landscape for good.
Trees were felled, perhaps used for building long ships, as well as to clear space for grazing and keeping houses warm until nothing was left. As trees consume such a large amount of water, when you take them away, the soil gets colder and wetter.
These treeless conditions are ideal for peat to grow – and grow it did. Peatland now covers about half of Shetland, trapping in tonnes of carbon in the process.
If kept moist, peat is one of the world's greatest carbon stores, however as it dries out and cracks, carbon is released into the atmosphere and contributes to the damaging effects of climate change.
However, this damage to the peatlands can be reversed, and that is why communities across Shetland are starting to take action.
Peat is an important part of Shetland’s heritage, providing an important fuel source without the need for importation.
Some Shetlanders still rely on peat as fuel and the tradition of cutting paets in the summer months, and creating immaculately layered "paet-stacks" so the fuel can dry before winter's return, remains an important and conspicuous part of life. In most cases, this peat cutting is done on a small scale, often in areas already badly affected by peatland degradation.
There is another reason why peatlands are important for Shetland now and into the future. They can be used as a valuable carbon trap, helping reverse the damage done over thousands of years.
Shetlanders have a proud history of working together to protect the islands' heritage, environment and culture. Supporting the peatland restoration is no exception.
Shetland Amenity Trust holds ‘bog open days’ throughout the year, allowing people to come along and do their bit for peatland restoration. It’s an excellent chance to learn more about the environmental impact of peatland, as well as getting out and about for the day.
Sue White, Peatland ACTION Project Officer at Shetland Amenity Trust spoke is well-placed to understand why this restoration work is so important to Shetland and the world.
She says, “In a healthy condition, peatlands are really good at locking in carbon, but with the degradation and when it is broken and damaged it’s emitting huge amounts of CO2.
“That kind of broken degraded peatland, which is really typical of Shetland, is emitting somewhere around 24 tons of CO2 per year. So the reason we're restoring them is exactly that. It's all about climate change.
“The restoration work that we do, is carried out with machines and diggers. They transform that kind of broken peat into a lovely undulating surface, with a few pools here and there and so on. And what we're doing [on bog open days] is the final step in the restoration process; to get some sphagnum moss planted."
That moss is “the key component of peatlands blanket bog.”
As the moss grows it will photosynthesize, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere. The rate of decay of this natural carbon sink is incredibly slow.
“So all that CO2 that gets locked into the plant's carbon and that's what forms the peat. It'll basically be the compressed remains of the sphagnum that build up and build up and build up. It'll be building up at about a millimetre a year. That's why in a good condition they're fantastic for offsetting climate change.”
So all that CO2 that gets locked into the plant's carbon and that's what forms the peat. It'll basically be the compressed remains of the sphagnum that build up and build up and build up.
Steven Johnson is part of the team from Peatland Restoration Services currently working on restoring peatland. His involvement all started with his croft. He has now invited others along to get involved, bringing a sense of community to the projects.
Steven first became aware of the potential importance of his paet-banks when his son volunteered at one of the amenity trust's actions days, helping plant moss. After asking lots of questions Steven asked the obvious one, "Why can we not do that on our hill?"
“The hill we have up here is in a really poor condition, or was, I should say, in a really poor condition. I didn't see any method of how I could do any improvement to it or stop the erosion that was happening.”
However, Steven's curiosity led to several phone calls and meetings with Sue, which eventually led to Steven applying to get restoration work done – only to realise that there was a shortage of contractors doing the type of work required
He admits, “Even the ones that showed a slight interest were very sceptical about doing the work.”
“That led us to then think that we could consider doing it ourselves. So we considered that and then we went away and got some training and then we got started and we've been going under Sue's guidance for quite a while.”
It is now part of Steven’s regular work and he is increasingly aware that a key barrier to peatland restoration is public understanding. Before he began, Steven said he had very little knowledge of why it was such important work. He was “really surprised to learn there was more carbon held in peatland than in rain forests”.
One of the biggest revelations during was the need to keep peatland wet to protect the ecosystem and the broader health of the peat bogs.
“And I didn't realise the importance of keeping everything so wet. To me, if you could drain it and dry it, that was probably going be better. So that was a new one.”
While Steven is a convert to a new way of thinking, Sue admits that changing perceptions is part of the challenge.
“I think so often folk get so used to thinking, you know, that's what the hills are meant to look like in Shetland. And it's quite a shift in perception to realise actually that's not what it's meant to look like. And when folks see what it could look like, they actually realise, ‘Wow, this is lovely'.
Healthy peatland, she says, has "pools and so on but they're going fill up with vegetation in time. It's going be heaving with invertebrates. The birds are going be in here feeding on all those invertebrates. It's going to be lovely.”
Visit the Shetland Amenity Trust website to find out how to get involved in supporting Shetland’s peatland restoration.
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