On the last day of June, the Welsh Parliament became the first parliament in the world to declare a nature emergency. The Senedd also called for legally binding targets to halt and reverse the decline of nature. Plaid Cymru member, Delyth Jewell, introduced the motion whilst referencing the missed UN Aichi targets on biodiversity: “When you miss a target like that, it doesn’t stand still—that loss, that decline, continues apace. The situation gets worse”. The Scottish Parliament failed to declare a nature emergency in November last year, when a similar motion was tabled by Mark Ruskell MSP which noted the catastrophic collapse in biodiversity globally and in Scotland.
Monica Lennon MSP has lodged a motion which, in light of the Welsh Parliament’s declaration of a nature emergency, calls on the Scottish Parliament to declare a nature emergency and introduce legally binding nature targets to drive nature’s recovery. We are totally dependent upon the natural world. But we are currently damaging it so profoundly that many of its natural systems are now on the verge of breakdown. The recently published Biodiversity Intactness Index places Scotland at 212th out of 240 countries based on how much human activity has impacted nature.
As we begin the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and as Scotland prepares to welcome the world at COP26 and play its role in Biodiversity COP15, action to reverse biodiversity declines in Scotland has never been more urgent. For over a decade, Scotland has striven to meet bold climate change targets, the same must now be put in place to address the nature crisis.
Time is running out and nature cannot afford another missed opportunity. We need Scotland’s political parties to come together to declare a nature emergency and commit to clear, legally binding targets to stop the loss of Scotland’s nature and set it on a path to recovery by 2030.
Tell your MSP to stand up for nature!
Urge your MSPs to support the motion, lodged by Monica Lennon MSP, calling on the Scottish Parliament to declare a nature emergency and commit to legally binding nature recovery targets. You can find the name, party affiliation and email address for your constituency and list MSPs by entering your postcode into the Scottish Parliament ‘Find MSP by postcode’ search tool. Once you have identified your MSPs, download our template email below, allowing you to contact each MSP individually and speak up for nature in a matter of minutes.
You can find out more about the benefits of legally binding Nature Recovery Targets in this blog.