PeatSCOPE – Prioritising peatland restoration
Peatlands occur in every climatic zone, and according to Xu et al. (2018), the total area globally is around 4.23 million km2, corresponding to 2.83% of the Earth’s land surface.
Peatlands have a significant role in the fight against the effects of climate change, in storing carbon, acting as a flood water store filtering clean water and providing a rich habitat for wildlife.
Peatlands comprise around 20% of Scotland’s land cover in the UK. Still, roughly 80% is estimated to be damaged, releasing carbon instead of storing it and leading to poorer quality river water, reduced flood protection and diminished plant and wildlife biodiversity. Peatlands role in fighting climate change and the levels of damage suggest a solution is urgently needed for its restoration.
The CivTech Innovation Flow helps create digital solutions to public sector problems as quickly and effectively as possible. As part of the CivTech6 Programme, The Scottish Government’s Environment and Forestry Directorate Government has committed £250M for restoration but doesn’t know which degraded peatland sites offer the best cost-benefit balance from restoration. Therein lies the challenge problem:
How can technology help us identify peatland restoration sites that will optimise benefits and the investment cost of their restoration?
To address this problem, Environment Systems partnered with ‘Tweed Forum‘, a charitable trust and leader in integrated land and water management, and Andrew McBride of ‘Land and Habitats‘, an independent consultancy experienced in delivering peatland restoration.
Using data from across Scotland, we built a multifunction web-based portal called “PeatSCOPE.” PeatSCOPE encompasses our existing SENCE natural capital evaluation tool and uses satellite remote sensing technology to identify peatlands emitting the most carbon.
This innovative service assists policymakers, financiers, advisors, and landowners in prioritising peatland restoration efforts. We aim to support Scotland’s transition to net zero while delivering benefits to landowners, sustainable stewards, and private investors. Through our solution, we analyse carbon and co-benefits to maximise the impact of peatland restoration.
How PeatSCOPE works for peatland restoration
PeatSCOPE offers a user-friendly web application that enables easy prioritisation of restoration projects, providing quick insights at users’ fingertips. It is a one-stop shop featuring a national peat depth map for rapidly assessing areas eligible for restoration under the peatland code version 1.2. The application maps suitable locations based on condition categories aligned with the peatland code, allowing users to quantify the total area of each category. Additionally, users can quickly estimate the restoration cost and total emissions for a specific area of interest.
PeatSCOPE provides valuable insights into the co-benefits of restoration, such as natural flood management, water quality improvement, biodiversity enhancement, and carbon reduction. Users can export condition and co-benefit area statistics, enabling them to prioritise peatland restoration projects effectively.
We are pleased to announce that Version 1 of PeatSCOPE has been successfully delivered and is available at www.peatscope.com.
Next Steps
We are working on updates to align the peat depth and condition categories with peatland code version 2, released in March 2023. Additionally, we are collaborating with the government to develop a business plan to secure future hosting, maintenance, and updates.
Together, let’s significantly impact peatland restoration in Scotland and contribute to a sustainable future.
https://envsys.co.uk/latest-news/climate-change-technology-led-peatland-restoration/