Peat bogs play a vital role in mitigating climate change and global warming. The earth’s functioning peat bogs absorb and store more carbon than all the planet’s rain forests put together.
The peat bogs of Scotland, their unique flora and fauna, are in grave danger. More and more wind farms are being built on deep peat. While wind farms are a valuable source of renewable energy and also assist in mitigating global warming, building them on peat is counterproductive.
The construction of turbine bases, cable tracks, quarries, and roads disturbs and dries out peat, thus releasing vast amount of stored carbon into the atmosphere. In many instances the carbon release is far greater than the carbon saved during the life time of a wind farm.
Peat bogs are breeding sites for some the world’s rarest birds – many of them, such as whimbrel and red-throated divers - are endangered already. The construction of wind farms on peat not only destroys nesting sites, but also small lakes, spagnum swamps and water courses vital to their survival.
Please call on the Scottish Government to put an end to the building of wind farms on peat bogs.
