This year’s headline sponsor of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme conference 2024 is Peatland ACTION – a national programme to restore Scotland’s peatlands.
Supporting us across the three-day conference, the Peatland ACTION team will be showcasing their work covering on-the-ground delivery of restoration projects, training and capacity building, and research work throughout our conference programme.
To find out more about the conference, field visits and workshops and to book your in-person or online place visit our conference webpage.
About Peatland ACTION
Peatland ACTION is a national programme to restore peatlands across Scotland for the many benefits to both people and nature. Peatland ACTION funding comes through the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan for Net Zero, with a commitment to invest £250 million to support the restoration of 250,000 hectares of peatlands by 2030.
Offering funding, support and advice to deliver on-the-ground peatland restoration, Peatland ACTION’s work is delivered in a partnership led by NatureScot alongside Cairngorms National Park Authority, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, and Forestry and Land Scotland. So far, over 51,000 hectares of previously damaged peatland habitat have benefited directly from restoration activities by the Peatland ACTION Programme.
Peatland restoration is a rapidly expanding area of work across Scotland that provides a major boost to green jobs and our rural economy as part of a just transition. To help build capacity and support the developing workforce, Peatland ACTION also provides technical advice and training for individuals and companies wanting to move into the sector across project design and groundworks.
Vital to our understanding and development of best practice, data, research and monitoring are a key strand of work across Peatland ACTION’s delivery partners as well as in partnership with research organisations and universities.
Supporting the IUCN UK Peatland Programme Conference
With this year’s conference taking place in Aviemore, the Peatland ACTION Programme will be the headline sponsor, and bring their knowledge and experience of peatland restoration in Scotland.
During plenary sessions, you’ll hear from Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity Jim Fairlie, Cairngorms National Park Authority CEO Grant Moir and NatureScot Deputy Director of Green Economy Claudia Rowse. These opening talks will highlight the importance of peatlands, Scotland’s approach through the national Peatland ACTION Programme and the successes and challenges being faced as Scotland aims for ambitious restoration targets.
Those attending in-person will also be able to meet the Peatland ACTION delivery partners during the evening poster and exhibition session. Visit the Osprey Arena to find Peatland ACTION-dedicated stands and an excavator simulator as an example of a training tool helping support initial learning for machine operators entering the peatland restoration sector.
Over days two and three of the conference, in-person delegates will also have a wide range of options to learn about the varied work of Peatland ACTION. Look out for field visits covering local Peatland ACTION-funded restoration sites, different restoration techniques and their benefits and challenges, plus examples of landscape-scale projects supporting whole catchment areas.
Find out more about Peatland ACTION
To learn more about the support, advice and funding that Peatland ACTION offer for peatland restoration or the training, research and monitoring work which underpins this work, visit nature.scot/peatlandaction or find Peatland ACTION across social media.
Video credit: © Swift Films/NatureScot
