MPs back bid put to Flow Country alongside the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon

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The campaign to secure UNESCO World Heritage Site status for the Flow Country has received cross-party support from key politicians at Westminster.

At a showcase reception hosted by the Scotland Office at Dover House in Whitehall, MPs from each of the main parties pledged support for the Flow Country Partnership’s ‘Keep Us Covered’ campaign to secure the world’s first peatland World Heritage Site.

 

 

The event was opened by Scotland minister John Lamont, followed by contributions from the SNP’s John Nicolson, Labour’s shadow secretary Ian Murray, and Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone.

READ MORE: Scotland's vast peat bogs to be put forward as Unesco World Heritage Site

 

Members heard how accreditation from UNESCO for the 190,000-hectare site stretching across Caithness and Sutherland, would deliver a globally significant boost to the efforts of Scotland and the UK to tackle climate change and protect biodiversity.

Professor Stuart Gibb, Chair of the Flow Country Partnership, said: “The reception was about driving home to politicians from every party the local, national and international significance of the Flow Country for efforts to tackle climate change, protect endangered plant and animal species and safeguard the future of vulnerable rural communities.”