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Delegates at the recent UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties COP26 in Glasgow would have found it hard to ignore Scotland’s stunning scenery: dense woodlands, dark lochs and sweeping mountain ranges. But it was the peatlands that perhaps captured their attention the most, not only for their iconic beauty but for the role they can play in combatting climate change.

While peatlands take up only around 3 per cent of global land area, they store over 33 per cent of the world’s soil carbon, more than the carbon stored in all other vegetation combined.

Peatlands, which are found in almost every country, are wetlands also known as bogs, fens, bofedales and swamp forests. They are home to a diverse amount of wildlife, flora and fauna and provide natural flood mitigation and water storage and filtration.

For example, in the UK and Ireland alone, peatlands supply 85 per cent of all drinking water.

AT COP26, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) coordinated the Peatland Pavilion, where technology, best practice and experiences were shared. Peatlands were featured prominently as a Nature-based Solution, with close to 50 events live-streamed on the virtual platform.

The Peatland Pavilion was important, as recent decades have seen peatlands damaged and degraded by drainage, agricultural conversion, burning and mining for fuel, the result of undervaluation of its ecosystem and economic contributions.