![Scotland’s Flow Country wins Unesco world heritage listing Scotland’s Flow Country wins Unesco world heritage listing](https://i1.wp.com/ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/7e7c/live/238b9420-4b33-11ef-aebc-6de4d31bf5cd.png?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
After an almost 40-year campaign, a stunning but little-known UK landscape has been awarded world heritage status.
The Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland in the far north of Scotland covers almost 2,000 sq km (469,500 acres) of one of the most intact and extensive blanket bog systems in the world.
Blanket bogs are wetland ecosystems created when peat, a soil made up of partially decayed matter, accumulates in waterlogged conditions.
Achieving world heritage status is a rare honour – particularly for a landscape. It is an internationally recognised designation awarded to places of outstanding cultural, historical, or scientific significance.