By Felix Meister, D.Phil., Senior Advisor Scotland
On Thursday 29 January, Scottish Parliament agreed to pass the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, following two days of debate about the final amendments to the Bill. Among the amendments, no 43, introduced by Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands (Scottish Liberal Democrats), proposed to repeal section 14(1)(b)(ii) of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. This section states that Scottish Ministers must grant a licence to burn on “peatland” (land with peat depths over 40cm) if “no other method of vegetation control is practicable”. The amendment was agreed to by Scottish Parliament and is now included in section 34C(2) of the Bill. A more comprehensive amendment (no 162), proposed by Tim Eagle, MSP for Highland and Islands (Scottish Conservatives), which would repeal section 14(1)(b) all together, was rejected.
During the debate of the amendment, Minister of Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, said: “I recognise that some members may have concerns about the removal of the requirement to demonstrate that no other method of vegetation control is practicable before a licence for muirburn on peatland is granted. However, NatureScot will still have to be satisfied that any licence is necessary for the specified purpose, and the current evidence on the impacts of alternatives such as cutting or grazing on peatlands is inconclusive, which means that they cannot automatically be assumed to be preferable. For those reasons, I encourage members to support amendments 42 and 43.”
Prior to the debate, GWCT Scotland had sent an open letter to Jim Fairlie, urging him to consider muirburn not only in the context of wildfire mitigation, but also as a tool for the conservation of sensitive habitats such as blanket bog. In the letter, we summarised a substantial amount of research illustrating positive effects of muirburn on important species such as Sphagnum mosses and cottongrass. We also pointed out that there is very little research into the effects of other methods of vegetation control such as cutting. We concluded that there is no evidence to support a presumption against muirburn and a preference for cutting as included in the current form of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act.
The GWCT welcomes the amendment to muirburn legislation as it removes a provision that was not based on scientific evidence. It is our hope that the amended legislation will facilitate carrying out legal muirburn as a conservation tool with vital benefits to blanket-bog management and carbon sequestration.