RESTORING PEATLANDS: SUTHERLAND'S SPACE HUB PLANS FUELLED BY SUSTAINABILITY
Plans to build the world’s first carbon neutral Space Hub on A’ Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland are taking steps towards building a renewable future with peat restoration at the heart of the project's sustainability efforts. Repairing large, damaged sections of peat drained by cutting for fuel will play a big role in improving the health of the peatland in Sutherland.
As part of the Space Hub Sutherland plans, the peat being removed for the building of the facility has been minimised and, where possible, will be used to restore and re-wet 76.5 hectares of degraded peatland that was damaged by decades of peat extraction.
Plans also include the use of floating roads - roads commonly used to avoid damaging peatlands that float on top of deep peat, rather than requiring it to be removed - to allow the peat to continue to live underneath the main access point to the spaceport.
Healthy peatlands are crucial in combating climate change and providing the clean drinking water that Scotland is famous for, and it is estimated that 80% of Scotland’s 1.7million hectares of peatland are degraded*. As such, peat restoration is a priority in the Scottish Government’s bid to become a net-zero society by 2045.
Plans for the carbon neutral Space Hub at Sutherland, which could see an inaugural space flight launching from Melness Crofters’ Estate in 2022, have been carefully considered at each stage to ensure the local crofting community, its stunning landscapes, and native wildlife are protected. One of the biggest offsets to the Space Hub’s carbon footprint will be undertaken through peat restoration projects.
Dorothy Pritchard, Chairperson of Melness Crofters’ Estate, said:
“Working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it has been one of Melness Crofters Estate’s top priorities to ensure that the peat removed in the building of the Space Hub will be used elsewhere on the site to repair areas of historic peat cutting and to enhance areas affected by the construction of the site itself.
This is a great step forward in restoring the historic peat banks which were once cut by hard-working crofters as an essential source of fuel to heat their homes. Peat cutting played a big part in community life and culture here in Sutherland. Today, we know that healthy peatland plays a crucial role in reducing the impacts of global warming.
The community socio-economic benefits that the Space Hub will bring are plentiful but we must not become complacent when considering how the Space Hub will affect the environment and our native wildlife, so we have worked carefully with experts and considered how to minimise disruption at every stage of the planning process.”
