This blog was first published on the John Muir Trust website
Collaboration highlights urgent need of laws to protect our landscapes and wild nature
The John Muir Trust has joined 35 of Scotland’s leading environmental NGOs in calling for a Scottish Environment Act to protect Scotland’s wild places for the benefit of people and nature.
The campaign has been launched by members of Scottish Environment LINK, voluntary organisations that share a common goal of contributing to a more environmentally sustainable society across varied conservation interests from bat conservation to Scotland’s outdoor ranger services.
The campaign has set out the need for a Scottish Environment Act – set against increasing scientific evidence of the critical state of wildlife and habitats – that gives clear ambitions for an environmental policy and a positive direction towards a more sustainable future for people and nature in Scotland.
Scottish Environment LINK has noted that while recent consultations on Environmental Principles and Governance have been a step in the right direction, there is much still to be done and a sense of urgency lacking given that the situation is compounded by Brexit and the risk of EU environmental protections, that have played a positive role , now unravelling.
The Trust is particularly interested in protections for all wild places; from Caledonian pine forests and coastal habitats to peatlands and our stunning mountain landscapes, from damaging land management practices including hill tracks, over-grazing and inappropriate built developments. It would also like to see a growing recognition and focus on supporting natural solutions to climate change.
“Our opportunities for experiencing wildness continue to be diminished through landscape degradation and species decline”, says Hebe Carus, Policy Officer at the John Muir Trust. “It’s vital we don’t reduce our existing commitments as a society to uphold our human right to a healthy environment. We must have laws in place to protect, conserve and repair our wildest places for the benefit of everyone”.