Ecosystem restoration in the Scottish Highlands isn’t going to plan – here’s why

• The Scottish government estimates that the carbon stored in its peatlands is equivalent to 120 years’ worth of the country’s emissions.
• The Scottish government has pledged to spend £250 million between 2020 and 2030 to restore 25,000 hectares of peatland a year.

• One manager at NatureScot, the government agency responsible for the environment, described the shortfall as a “national emergency” caused primarily by a “funding gap”.
• He argued that for Scotland to meet its net-zero commitments, there must be large injections of private finance into peatland restoration.

Crofters and carbon markets

• The selling of carbon credits is supposed to direct private investment into peatland restoration.
• With these credits, the buyer, whether a company or individual, can claim to have offset their own carbon footprint.
• Accreditation allows landowners to sell carbon credits on the UK land carbon registry.

Our research team travelled to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides (an island chain off the Scottish west coast) in early 2023 to interview crofters and landowners. We found that confusion over the rights, responsibilities and benefits of selling carbon credits is slowing down restoration, not a lack of funding.

‘Pots of gold’

• The Outer Hebrides has the lowest average income in the UK and the highest rate of fuel poverty in Scotland.
• For crofters here, the prospect of monetary compensation for restoring peatlands (where 70% of the land is classified as peatland soil) is appealing.
• While these brokers made out the process was simple (“restore peatlands, sell the credits to us”) the reality is more complicated.

Muddy legal waters

• These (smaller) “pots of gold” are difficult for crofters to access due to legal complications.
• Our research with Lewisian crofters has shown that unresolved questions regarding profitability and legal complications have created a stalemate.
• Further advice and legal guidance for crofters – from the Peatland Code, Scottish government and the Scottish Land Court – is urgently needed to break the deadlock.

Ewan Gordon Jenkins received funding from STAIRS, the St Andrews Interdisciplinary Research Support fund.

This article was drafted in collaboration with Dr. Cornelia Helmcke (https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/persons/cornelia-helmcke) and Dr. Lydia Cole (https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/geography-sustainable-development/people/lesc1) who were both co-leads on the research team.