IT is the huge, rolling expanse of wilderness in the north of Scotland that is being credited with making a major contribution in the fight against climate change.
The Flow Country, a peatland and wetland area which stretches across Caithness and Sutherland is the largest in Europe and an important store of greenhouse gases.
It comes seven months after the World Heritage Site Working Group submitted a technical evalutation of The Flow Country to the DCMS.
And the group say DCMS has given the UK Government’s support for The Flow Country being the UK’s candidate for World Heritage Site status to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2023.
Without UK Government support, the bid would have been sunk.
The partnership says it now has a “clear timetable” to prepare and submit a full nomination to UNESCO, who will then determine whether or not The Flow Country meets the criteria for World Heritage Site status.
The designation is given to areas judged to be of “outstanding universal value”.
Natural Environment Minister, Mairi Gougeon MSP said: “Scotland’s inspiring natural environment creates a powerful sense of belonging which helps define us as a nation. I visited this amazing peatland myself last year and saw the local community’s support for the World Heritage Site application, so I want to congratulate the Peatlands Partnership on their success to date and wish them well in their future nomination to UNESCO.
NOTE: Remember the bid to put up wind farms! https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/highland-flow-country-wind-farm-proposal-rejected-1499963
RESPONSE FROM A SAS MEMBER:
Having worked Strathmore Lodge Estate many, many times. Spending more hours crawling with my nose inches from the ‘real stuff’ than David Bellamy could only dream of! Seeing the hamfist RSPB efforts and turbines encroach. Having walked areas where to stop moving was to sink. To feel a recumbent stag roar a hundred metres away – feel, not hear. Because he was laid down and the vibration travelled through the liquid ground. Passing scant remains of shacks where families once lived… and further, much further back strange mounds mostly likely burial sites pre ironage. Of ground and sky so big that you feel the curve of the earth. Where clients from around the world shared an unspoken realisation – this is a special place.
Ultimately, this rarer than rare place actually counts for diddly squat – because profit matters. Saving the planet is a marketing strapline to massage the ‘useful idiots’ at all levels and grease the path of Mammon.
The phase of ‘under performing’ flow country is already rolling – to imply building turbines will.only improve things.
Dishonesty pervades everything – top to bottom. When that is systemised, nothing is safe.
When this has gone, it has gone. Hang a value on that.
Ultimately, this rarer than rare place actually counts for diddly squat – because profit matters. Saving the planet is a marketing strapline to massage the ‘useful idiots’ at all levels and grease the path of Mammon.
The phase of ‘under performing’ flow country is already rolling – to imply building turbines will.only improve things.
Dishonesty pervades everything – top to bottom. When that is systemised, nothing is safe.
When this has gone, it has gone. Hang a value on that.
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