Northern Scotland’s Flow Country becomes world heritage site

Planet’s largest blanket bog is first peatland to be designated by Unesco after a 40-year campaign by environmentalists

The world heritage agency Unesco has confirmed that the Flow Country, the planet’s largest blanket bog, which covers the far north of Scotland, has been made a world heritage site.

The Flow Country, which covers about 1,500 sq miles of Caithness and Sutherland, is one of the world’s largest carbon stores and the first peatland to be designated by Unesco, after a 40-year campaign by environmentalists.