Long before climate models and carbon budgets, Scottish communities understood the importance of wetlands. Traditional land-use practices recognised peatlands as fuel sources, grazing grounds and water regulators.
In Gaelic culture, bugs and wetlands feature prominently in place names, folklore and oral histories, reflecting a deep awareness of their power and productivity. This year’s theme of World Wetlands Day — observed on February 2nd — Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage, speaks directly to this legacy, highlighting how indigenous and local understandings of wet landscapes offer enduring lessons for contemporary environmental stewardships. By revisiting this cultural relationship, we are reminded that sustainability has long been embedded in lived experience, language and land-based traditions.
Wetlands as Climate Infrastructure
What sets wetlands apart is their ability to deliver adoption and mitigation benefits simultaneously. Healthy peatlands, floodplains and saltmarshes store large quantities of carbon while also reducing flood risk. As Scotland grapples with more frequent flooding and other impacts of Climate Change, wetlands are emerging as one of the country’s most powerful and underutilised climate assets.
Wetlands not only protect communities from floods but, if given due attention, can help Scotland meet its Net Zero targets. Scotland’s peatlands alone hold more carbon than all the UK’s forests combined. When degraded or drained, these landscapes shift from carbon sinks to carbon sources, releasing significant emissions. Restoring them reverses this process and locks carbon back into soil and vegetation while improving water retention.
Restored Wetlands contribution towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by:
- Improving water quality – Goal 6
- Enhancing landscapes for recreation and wellbeing – Goal 11
- Storing significant amounts of carbon – Goal 13
- Providing habitat for birds, insects and aquatic species – Goal 15
Encouragingly, wetlands are increasingly featured in Scotland’s climate adaptation and biodiversity strategies.
Be part of Scotland’s Wetland Recovery
You don’t need to be a scientist or a landowner to protect or restore wetlands. It requires a collective effort by communities, scientists, policymakers and Volunteers working together.
There are several dedicated organizations that work relentlessly towards Wetland Conservation. Here are some practical ways you can get involved.
Froglife Scotland offers volunteering opportunities in activities such as Scrub Clearance, Pond management, species surveying and creating hibernacula.
Seven Lochs Wetland Park carries out conservation projects every Friday. You can join the Seven Lochs Volunteer and help create new ponds, wetlands, improve woodlands for wildlife, and plant wildflower meadows.
NatureScot provides volunteering opportunities at National Nature Reserves (NNRs) and includes activities such as monitoring habitats and species, helping in a visitor centre or practical work including litter pick, path maintenance and scrub clearance.
At Scottish Wildlife Trust, one can find a wide variety of volunteering opportunities ranging from admin support at their offices to getting hands dirty at one of their reserves.
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is one of the UK’s leading wetland conservation charities involved in wetland restoration, creation and protection projects in Scotland. Volunteering at WWT can be an enriching and fulfilling experience for environmental caregivers.
Whether you give time, money, data, or simply care, your contribution helps protect landscapes that benefit both nature and people.
In a world searching for technological fixes, wetlands remind us that the land has long held its own solutions. Solutions that are time-tested wisdom embedded in the land and carried through generations.
Hi, I Rashmii Sharma (she/her). I am thrilled to contribute to the Strathclyde Telegraph as a sustainability writer. I am also the founder and President of the Sustainability Society (SITY) at the Strath Union. You can become a member of the society for free and follow us on Instagram @strathsustainability. When I am not digging up policies or interviewing eco-innovators, I love trying hands at complicated recipes and capturing the scenic beauty of Scotland.
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