1. WISE Peatland Choices
A scoping tool for the prioritisation of
restoration needs of peatlands in Scotland
Rebekka Artz, David Donnelly, Steve Chapman, Sarah Dunn,
Matt Aitkenhead, Alessandro Gimona, Jack Lennon, Pete
Smith (UoA), Jo Smith (UoA), Bedru Balana, Roxane
Andersen (UHI), Robin Matthews and others

2. Why?
• Ca. 1.7 million ha of peatland in Scotland, which is 22 % of
the land area
• Scottish peatlands contain 1620 Mt of C (56% of total soil C)
• Much of this resource is eroding, drained, harvested or
converted to other land uses (90% of raised bog, >50% of
blanket bog)
• Target of 600,000 ha to be restored (UK Biodiversity Action
plan); Climate Change (Scotland) Act is aiming for 42% cut in
emissions relative to 1990
• If all peatlands were in good condition, the amount
sequestered would equate to between 1.5 and 5.4 Mt CO2eq
yr-1 (EF of -2.8 to -0.7 t CO2eq ha-1 yr-1)
• Peatland restoration in Scotland could offset 11-40% of the
transport sector CO2 emissions (2009 Figures)

3. Peatland locations
 Mostly blanket bog (1.1 mi ha),
some semi-confined peat (valley
peats on mountains, 0.5 mi ha),
upland (0.04) and lowland (0.03)
raised bog
 Blanket bog predominantly in the
northern/western part, raised bog
remnants in the east

4. Decision support
tool development
• good maps available but
not been used for decision
support tools before
• spatial grid application
followed by scoring
• currently developing testing
for spatial scales of 100, 500
m2 and 1 km2 (5 km2 worst
case scenario)

5. Site selection criteria for restoration
Weight of Sub-criterion Total score
Site selection indicator Mark out of 10 * Total site score
criterion weighting within criterion
- Current type and condition of vegetation and other species assemblages 6.91 0.00
- Potential for functional blanket bog to regenerate under present and future climate 10.59 0.00
- Potential to be biologically connected to surrounding landscapes and biodiversity 0.0
5.55 0.00
- Conflicts with existing biodiversity from changes to other desired land uses 4.39 0.00
- Level or rate of current physical degradation 9.40 0.00
- Ease of access or potential access issues 2.58 0.00
- Geophysical attributes: area/ altitude and variation within site 0.0
5.02 0.00
- Peat type and depth 5.19 0.00
- Is there a site designation in place 4.35 0.00
- If non-designated, is monitoring in existence or are there existing historical data 3.10 0.00
- If non-designated, are there existing management option limitations or
0.0
0
4.58 0.00
requirements for consents
- Sustainability of current and historic land use 2.23 0.00
- Existing management and/or guarantees for the future 5.17 0.00
- Timescale and deliverability of restoration efforts 0.0
4.02 0.00
- Is the site managed as a hydrological unit 2.61 0.00
- Conflicts in sources of income from current versus potential management 4.01 0.00
- Availability/ /continuity of funding for restoration from SRDP and other sources 7.32 0.00
- Would restoration offset other costs (e.g. water treatment costs) or create socio- 0.0
6.94 0.00
economic benefits (e.g. rural jobs)
- Potential for partnerships (e.g. private companies, conservation groups and local 6.03 0.00
population working together) * (1-extemely poor; 10- excellent)

6. Current peatland condition
• A major issue is that the condition of
much of Scotlands’ peatlands is
unknown
• The best database so far is the Common
Standards Monitoring dataset collated
for sites under designation (only 6.6 % of
blanket bog!)
• More than half of these sites are not in
‘favourable’ condition
• To enable an objective decision support
tool to be developed, gaps need to be
filled (ongoing modelling using MODIS
and other remote sensing data)

7. Carbon content
• Some of the most important areas:
Flow Country
Lewis Peatlands
Shetland Isles
Monadhliath
Flanders Moss (raised bog complex)
Dumfries and Galloway peatlands

8. Forestry on peatlands
• Drainage and conversion to forestry was
one of the most important land use
changes on peatlands in Scotland
• The majority were planted in the 1970-
80s when tax incentives were provided
for drainage and planting
• It has now been recognised that deep
peat should not be planted (Land Use
Strategy for Scotland). Major drives to
restore afforested areas to bog started
with initiatives e.g EU-LIFE in the late
1990s
• There is still much of the peat resource
under forestry, and there are ongoing
discussions as to the future of such areas

9. Bioclimatic envelope modelling (Jo Clark et al.)
Low scenario High scenario
Caveats: Data that were used
to run the bioclimatic
envelope models have been
based on current distribution
of blanket bog (rather than
known active blanket bogs)
and the use of the now
superseded UKCIP02
scenarios, which have been
updated in UKCIP09.

10. Difficult areas for restoration
 Peat harvesting in Scotland has
taken place for centuries and
affects large parts of the total
area.
 Most areas have been harvested
by traditional hand cutting and
the resulting landscape is difficult
to restore

11. Bogs affected by domestic peat cutting

12. Scoping potential restoration areas – erosion issues

13. Peat erosion
Bare peat EF: up to 5.5 t CO2eq ha-1 yr-1

14. Island of Yell, Shetland – improvements
since sheep stock reductions

15. Finally…..New challenges:
 Onshore wind farms are
the new trees!
 60% of the planned
target for renewable
energy by onshore
generation is currently
being planned on
peatland areas (22 % of
the land area…)
“Onshore wind farms should not impact on C stocks and sequestration potential
on peatlands” (Land Use Strategy for Scotland)

16. Where we’re at:
 Rule sets developed for all mapped information. I.e.
“IF carbon content is equal to or higher than X T ha-1 =
10/10” etc.
 Some map conversion to raster at 100 m2 completed,
others ongoing (estimated March 2013)
 Test run of full tool estimated March 2013
 Stakeholder workshop planned for late Spring 2013

17. So far…and next stages
 The multi-layered GIS maps are already being used to
inform Scottish Government on areas that may be
suitable for restoration and the carbon abatement
potential this may achieve
 We already provide information to land managers on
request, for specific areas
 Once the full calculator is running, we will take the
findings to Scottish stakeholders to refine any obvious
conflicts. There may be further potential to define the site
selection criteria or weightings.

18. Outputs: Policy Briefings to the SG
Research Summary
Potential Abatement from Peatland Restoration Carbon Savings from Peat Restoration
Artz, R.R.E., Chapman, S.J., Donnelly, D. and Matthews, R.B. Steve Chapman, Rebekka Artz and David Donnelly, The James Hutton Institute
Enquiry received 8 May 2012 for response by early June
Key points Enquirer: Francis Brewis
• Net potential abatement benefits from peatland restoration, given our wide span of values for near-
natural and damaged sites, could range from 0.6 to 8.3 t CO2e ha-1 yr-1.
• Values at the lower end represent restoration C savings of the least damaged sites, which may be
achievable within a <10 year timeframe after restoration efforts. In addition, early intervention on such less 1. Key Points
damaged bogs also prevents further progression to a more damaged, and more highly emitting, state. Values
near the upper end apply to the restoration benefits of severely damaged sites, but these will take longer to
stabilize (20 to 50 years) and temporarily high methane emissions may limit early carbon savings. · For 2012, we estimate that abatement from existing projects, amounts to 0.018 Mt CO2e yr-1, with a range of
0.010 – 0.028 Mt CO2e yr-1.
• A precise figure for the area in Scotland that has the potential for some degree of change in · As existing projects mature, and even with no new projects, projected annual abatement continues to
management or active restoration is not available but is likely to be in excess of 1,000 kha of which around 350 increase. By 2027 it will amount to 0.026 Mt CO2e yr-1, with a range of 0.014 – 0.041 Mt CO2e yr-1.
kha may be in the ‘severely damaged’ category of previously cutover, eroded, severely drained or afforested · The current emissions from all Scottish peatlands are likely to be in the range of -0.38 (net uptake) to 3.56 Mt
peatlands that would require active efforts to restore. CO2e yr-1. In principle, carbon abatement in the range of 1.5 – 5.4 Mt CO2e yr-1 could be possible by 2027, if all
potential areas identified are indeed restorable to a net sequestering peatland within a reasonable time frame
and if restoration were to commence immediately in all areas. A realistic estimate will fall somewhere below
Introduction this.
As will be appreciated, the provision of a figure for the potential abatement from peatland restoration is not a · Data gaps and uncertainties remain significant.
simple task. There are a number of factors to consider:
i. The emission factor for a particular area will depend upon the initial and restored states and this will 2. Introduction
vary depending upon the particular conditions and management regimes at each site.
ii. As many of the common land use regimes or disturbances do not manifest in a uniform fashion (e.g. grip In our previous enquiry response (Artz et al., 2012c) we outlined the range of net potential abatement benefits
spacings can vary), the areal extents of peatlands in different states will also vary. from peatland restoration on a per hectare basis and gave an estimate of the likely area of peatland that could
iii. The timelines of abatement are also likely to vary and maximum abatement potential may not be be available for some degree of improvement. We indicated that full abatement benefits would not be realised
achieved for some time following restoration. immediately but would involve a timeframe measured in several years to decades. Additionally, we stressed the
paucity of relevant data on which each of these parameters (abatement per hectare, area and timeframe) were
iv. The total abatement is the integration over time of the products of emission factor and area for the
various states. based and that there was considerable uncertainty associated with the cited values. There is no further evidence
available at present whereby these ranges might be narrowed. The literature and data on which our conclusions
v. It should be borne in mind that potential abatement may be largely made up of emission savings, i.e. a
were based are described in Artz et al. (2012c) and will not be repeated here.
marked reduction in current carbon losses rather than a net sequestration of carbon (see Fig 7 in Bain et
al. 2011).
The present enquiry may be divided into two tasks: the carbon savings from all peatland restoration carried out
vi. An additional complication is that peatlands may emit methane which has a much greater global to date from the baseline year of 1990 and the potential for savings extending into the future to 2027. To our
warming potential in comparison to carbon dioxide. Values of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents) are knowledge, the first task has never before been undertaken. There have been several estimates of the future
often calculated using a 100-year time horizon. This is a purely arbitrary period and some have argued
potential. Bain (2010) estimated that 600 kha could be restored in Scotland by 2015 to give an annual saving of
that a 500-year time horizon is more relevant to the lifetime of a peatland and this would play down the
2.7 Mt CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). Subsequently, Bain et al. (2011) estimated a figure for the UK of >1
impact of methane. Nitrous oxide emissions are generally considered to be negligible unless nitrogen
fertiliser is involved or in the Central Belt where atmospheric N deposition is still a factor (Drewer et al.,
2010).
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