COP15: the two-part UN biodiversity summit will kick off today until the 15th October and will finish next May in the city of Kunming with the completion and adoption of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, a crucial stepping stone towards the 2050 vision of “living in harmony with nature”. Over the course of the next five days, MSP Nature Champions will be providing real-life examples of crucial species and habitats that maintain ecosystem function whilst raising awareness of the inextricable link between the nature and climate crises.
The Nature Champions Back Biodiversity initiative shines a spotlight on a variety of plants, marine wildlife, pollinators, animals, peatlands and native woodlands that are vital in maintaining ecosystem function. This initiative also highlights the importance of nature in tackling the climate crisis on the run up to the UNFCCC COP26; from the role of whales in the carbon cycle, the importance of grasses for carbon sequestration, to the under-appreciated potential of seagrass meadows as carbon sinks. People depend on nature, from oceans to forests, to supply clean air and water, and to regulate rainfall that is vital for food supplies. If too many species vanish, and ecosystems start to fail, our natural life support services will falter.
Why is COP15 important?
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) originally signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and later ratified by about 195 countries, is designed to protect diversity of plant and animal species and ensure natural resources are used sustainably. COP15 aims to set both long-term goals for mid-century and shorter-term targets for 2030 and, crucially, push for those to be enshrined and delivered through national policies. At the CBD 2010 talks in Nagoya, Japan, 194 countries (or Parties) signed up to a series of 20 targets, called the Aichi targets, to be met by 2020. Fast forward a decade to 2020, and the 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook report revealed that these targets were spectacularly missed across the world. The UK failed in their contribution towards the targets, and Scotland did too, in failing to meet 11 targets.
A new international deal for nature must be matched by domestic ambition to put nature on a path to recovery and deliver commitments made under the CBD. Scotland is home to some incredible and iconic wildlife. However, 49% of species in Scotland have declined and one in nine is threatened with extinction. The recent Biodiversity Intactness Index has shown that Scotland is listed in the worst twelve percent of 240 countries and territories around the world for the amount of wildlife and wild places lost due to human activity. The UN has designated 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in recognition of the scale of action required to tackle the biodiversity crisis. The UN has designated 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in recognition of the scale of action required to tackle the biodiversity crisis. Nature is in trouble now, and we need to act now.
The recent commitment in the Programme for Government to a Natural Environment Bill that would include targets to halt the decline of nature in Scotland by 2030 and drive substantial improvements in nature by 2045 is very welcome. However, we need to see real and substantive action towards the CoP15 targets before it is planned to be brought forward until 2023, year three, of the Parliament. Experts in IPBES urge that with less than nine years to enact transformative change before the 2030 deadline – nations and multilateral bodies must begin to act decisively today to create a liveable future for people and nature.
For more than 30 years, the international community has tried and failed to find a path to slow down — and eventually reverse — worldwide declines in the richness of plant, animal, insect and fungi species. These efforts to protect the natural world have yet to achieve the same high profile as those to limit climate change. We have already seen what can be achieved when we speak up for nature. In 2019 people of all ages came together across Scotland to demand action on the climate crisis and within just five days the Scottish Government increased its 2030 emissions reduction targets to 75%. We need to build the same level of momentum for nature itself.
The Nature Champions initiative has been developed by Scottish Environment LINK to encourage Members of the Scottish Parliament to champion endangered or iconic species and habitats, raising awareness and promoting action to restore and safeguard Scotland’s environment. With 1 in 9 species at risk of national extinction, political support for restoring and protecting our natural environment has never been more critical. At the start of this Decade for Ecosystem Restoration, now is the time for Nature’s voice in the Scottish Parliament to be strong, loud and well informed.
By Deborah Long, chief officer, Scottish Environment LINK
In less than one month’s time, Scotland will be host to the United Nations’ Cop26 climate change conference.
Dubbed as the most important climate summit ever, there’s much expectation to get it right and to set our ailing planet on track to recovery. And, with it, Scotland has much to prove. Now more than ever, it must lead by example and turn commitments into action.
Recent major UN reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have spelled out the need for immediate action to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to restore biodiversity.
The stark warnings come at a time when biodiversity in Scotland and worldwide is declining faster than at any time in human history. In Scotland alone, almost half of our species (49 per cent) have reduced in numbers in the last 50 years, and one in nine is at risk of extinction.
Since 2018, through the campaign, Fight for Scotland’s Nature, Scottish Environment LINK has called for legally binding targets for the recovery of biodiversity, similar to those in place to tackle climate change.
We welcome the Scottish government’s recent commitment to nature-restoration targets, through a Natural Environment Bill to be introduced in 2023-24. The proposal to designate ten per cent of our seas as highly protected is also promising. However, given the grave threats facing our natural world, for measures to be meaningful, Scotland must act now.
We need to see urgent, determined and demonstrable steps that will help halt nature’s decline by 2030 and put it on a path to recovery. Work to protect our natural environment for generations to come, reversing ecological decline and delivering nature-based solutions central to our climate change obligations can no longer be seen in isolation of one another, and a real time effort to tackle these challenges is now an immediate priority.
The Scottish government’s commitments, while welcome, need to be fully resourced if they are to have a fighting chance of success. We need adequate multi-annual funding at scale and for government to take a coherent, whole-society approach by working across communities and sectors.
And while the commitment to £500 million for nature restoration is promising, this is roughly half of what will be required from government to meet the scale of the task ahead.
If this is matched by £1 billion from philanthropic sources and green financing, and if our agricultural support system delivers for people, nature and climate, Scotland has a chance to begin to see the level of action needed to make the transformative change required, not only for nature but also the health of the nation.
The Scottish government’s commitment to a Good Food Nation Bill is also welcome. This offers the opportunity for Scotland to become a leader on nature and climate-friendly food production, increasing access for all to high quality, sustainable and healthy food – but it must deliver measurable progress.
Equally, initiatives such as the bottle-deposit scheme and a ban on non-essential, single-use plastics, heavily delayed by the pandemic and already in place in many countries, must go ahead.
There’s no time to wait. Let’s make the year 2021 count.
The Scottish Government is consulting on the future of farming policy in Scotland. They need to hear a strong message that farming practices should not harm nature or contribute to climate change, and that agriculture policy must support farmers to adopt the right practices.
Of course, it will be important to hear from farmers during this consultation. However, the viewpoints of others matter here, too. It is important that the Scottish Government hears a breadth of views including from consumers, taxpayers and concerned citizens, and from all those who want farmers and our government to take urgent action for nature and our climate.
Agriculture takes place on 75% of Scotland’s land area, producing meat, cereals, fruits and vegetables. The types of farming and the methods used have significant impacts on nature and our climate. Whilst some kinds of farming and crofting are positive for nature and low carbon, a lot of the farming we see today is contributing to the loss of wildlife and to significant emissions of greenhouse gases. This needs to change.
Farming policy has a big influence on the decisions farmers and crofters make about how they produce food and manage their land. The policies of the Scottish Government send important signals – through setting regulations and providing financial incentives and advice – about how to farm and use land. The Scottish Government plans to reform farming policy and there is now an opportunity to make sure new policy encourages all of Scotland’s farmers and crofters to farm in nature positive and low carbon ways. Your voice can make a difference.
For many years, as a result of being a member of the EU, farming policy in Scotland was determined by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Through the CAP, farmers and crofters were able to claim payments through a range of different schemes to a total value of approximately £650 million each year. Much of this money is handed out as direct payments, based on the area of land farmed and the type of land. Larger, more productive farms on better quality land receive the lion’s share of money. Little of the money is used to pay for land management and activities that help wildlife or encourage farmers to take climate action. For example, only about 7% of the budget is allocated to the Agri-Environment-Climate Scheme which supports nature and climate friendly farming.
The UK has left the EU and Scotland now has a chance to do things differently. The Scottish Government has signalled it intends to transition to a new policy by 2025. This consultation is a first step to gather views on what kind of farm support and funding might be needed. It will set the stage for further consultation next year and a new Agriculture Bill in 2023. Now is the time to make it clear that we need to support farming that works for nature and the climate, as well as people.
If you can spare a little time to submit a response to the consultation have a look here for guidance and help on how to do that. The closing date for responses is 17th November so please do this as soon as you can. Let’s make sure our views are heard.
We have a problem with stuff, writes LINK’s sustainable economics officer Phoebe Cochrane. Recently published data shows that people in Scotland consume about 18 tonnes per person per year, while a sustainable amount is estimated to be about 8 tonnes.
People inherently hate waste, and instinctively know our ‘throw away’ culture can’t be good for the planet. What is less well known perhaps, is the key role our use and waste of materials has in the climate and nature crises. We often hear that Scotland is doing well in addressing climate change and, indeed, we are doing OK in reducing the emissions that occur in Scotland.
However, the energy that goes into making products we use emits a huge amount of carbon: 80% of our carbon footprint, much of it overseas. It is also estimated that 90% of biodiversity loss is caused by the extraction and processing of materials. So, our instinct is right and things need to change, pretty radically.
Despite excellent initiatives like refill aisles and repair cafes, cutting our waste can be difficult. Your phone stops working and there’s no information available to help you fix it, so you buy a new one. Your delivery comes in packaging that you can’t reuse or recycle. You put out your recycling, but with a niggling suspicion that a lot of it won’t ever be turned into something new. We need systemic change and everyone needs to be involved.
Critically we need action from governments to create a more ‘circular’ economy in which products are designed to last, waste and pollution are minimised, and everything is used again and again.
The Scottish government was an early proponent of a circular economy, being the first in the UK to ban plastic stemmed cotton buds and commit to a deposit return system for bottles and cans. Much has been accomplished, but there’s so much more to do.
Very encouragingly, the newly formed Holyrood administration has appointed a new minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity. It has promised to introduce a Circular Economy Bill within this parliament, and given the urgency of the challenges we face, this should be brought in as soon as possible. But there are a number of other important measures the Scottish government should move forward with in the meantime.
For example, it should require public authorities, which are major consumers, to use their purchasing power to choose environmentally friendly goods, services and works. This would make an important contribution to sustainable consumption and production, through repairing existing products, purchasing second-hand, requiring recycled content in goods, and renting rather than purchasing.
The deposit return scheme for drinks containers, due to be implemented in July 2022, should be the pre-cursor to deposit schemes for other products such as reusable coffee cups.
We have fantastic repair and re-use enterprises, some of which can’t cope with the demand for their services. The government should establish bigger re-use hubs in our cities which combine training with repairing and selling of second-hand items.
When the promised Circular Economy Bill is introduced, to ensure it drives real change it should include headline targets on reducing Scotland’s overall use of raw materials. Tracking progress on these would show us whether we are heading in the right direction. The Netherlands has such a target and the European Parliament has recommended the European Commission develops one. The bill should also include a duty to produce plans mapping out how to reduce our footprint.
A more circular economy must be at the heart of a green recovery. By hardwiring wiser and less wasteful use of ‘stuff’ into the system, we can design an economy that works better for the planet and for people.
The marine environment is one of the UK’s greatest assets. Our seas provide vital ecosystem services, including food provision, protection from storms, nutrient cycling and mitigation of climate change impacts, but ongoing destruction of marine habitats and ecosystems impair their ability to provide these life-sustaining benefits.
For the opening session of Environment Links UK biennial meetings 2021, Scottish Environment LINK invited LINK colleagues and members to reflect on the actions needed to set our part of the global Ocean on a path to recovery.
How to Achieve Ocean Recovery?
Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation Scotland for Marine Conservation Society and Convener of Scottish Environment LINK’s marine group, shed light on the urgent need to deliver recovery of the marine environment.
The ocean is under pressure like never before and, despite a drop in global carbon emissions due to the pandemic, last year ocean temperatures hit a record high, breaking the 2019 record. The most widespread direct human impact in the ocean, globally and in Scotland, is unsustainable fishing practices, impairing the ocean’s ability to help fight climate change when it operates beyond environmental limits. The seas around Scotland, and the UK, are among the most pressurised on Earth and we now know that they are among the most important on Earth for storing blue carbon.
In its Ocean Recovery Plan, Scottish Environment LINK calls for nature recovery targets for land and sea in law. It also supports at least 30% of our seas to be highly protected by 2030, a third of which, so at least 10% of our seas, to be fully protected, through transformation of the MPA network. This ask is consistent with the recent WCL report on achieving 30×30 in England. ScotLINK Ocean Recovery Plan highlights that Scotland’s seabed is in poor condition and that urgent action to reduce pressure of human activities is needed to help ensure the ocean continues to provide benefit for biodiversity, food and blue carbon. Significant investment in proactive ocean restoration, including of blue carbon habitats such as seagrass and native oyster beds, and other nature-based solutions is vital to help reverse the climate and ocean emergencies.
The Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party co-operation agreement includes new commitments to be welcomed. We will engage closely in all processes, keeping supporters updated as to how you can help at strategic moments to ensure urgently needed ocean recovery measures are secured.
The Ocean Recovery plan advocates for a just transition to nature and climate positive, spatially managed fisheries. The co-operation agreement commits to the remaining fisheries management measures for Scotland’s MPA network to be in place by 2024, but this is as already required and included in the 2018 MPA update report to the Scottish Parliament. ScotLINK will push for the most damaging pressures to be excluded from benthic sites, adopting a whole-site management approach where possible, to help meet the 30% highly protected target.
In his presentation, Mario Ray, Project officer for WWF Scotland, highlighted the vital role industries operating in and around the marine environment have in tackling the intertwined climate and nature emergencies. With the UK Joint Fisheries statement currently in progress, now is a key moment to influence policies and ensure that the industry contributes to net zero through the development of climate-smart fisheries. A recent report from WWF, Marine Conservation Society and RSPB describes the ways in which the fishing industry can become climate-smart and contribute to ocean recovery:
Decarbonise the fleet.
Protect and support recovery of blue carbon within current MPAs and in key areas outside of MPAs.
Strengthen marine policy frameworks and include more climate change policy objectives
Encourage transition towards low impact fishing gear.
Increase transparency and traceability of fishing by implementing Mandate Remote Electronic Monitoring with cameras that include Vessel Monitoring Systems across vessels fishing in UK waters.
Research blue carbon and fisheries impact.
Lamlash Bay and Loch Craignish – Scotland’s Recovery Stories
Lucy Kay, MPA project officer at Arran COAST and Danny Renton, project coordinator of Seawilding showcased the incredible stories of community-led restoration projects in Scotland.
The Lamlash Bay No Take Zone (NTZ) was the first Community-led Marine Reserve of its kind in Scotland. Strongly supported by the local community, the No Take Zone (NTZ) became designated in law in 2008, following COAST’s proposal for a marine regeneration trial in 2005. Since then, research demonstrated a clear recovery of the seabed, and marine life has increased by nearly four-fold.
Following a pilot project conducted by CROMACH in 2020, the charity Seawilding was formed to restore the natural beds of the loch Craignish. Situated outside Loch Sunart, an MPA for flapper skate, Loch Craignish is an ideal habitat for native oysters. The project aims to develop community-owned sustainable native oyster fisheries, growing up to 1 million juvenile oysters, and empower communities to be more active stakeholders in fisheries management of inshore waters.
Arran COAST and Seawilding demonstrate what a community-led project can achieve, by using a low-cost approach to encourage other sites to follow and empower local communities. Lucy and Danny reiterated the importance of engaging with people locally.
Going further – What is Holding Ocean Recovery Back?
Despite an apparent impressive MPA network covering 38% of UK seas, Professor Callum Roberts reminded delegates that only about 20% is protected by legally enforceable management measures. The UK is among the leading countries in the world in terms of designating MPAs, but the light levels of protection and management we currently see will not deliver the recovery we so urgently need.
In the MPA Guide, Grorud-Colver et al. (2021). show that only high levels of protection can protect and enhance the marine environment. Completing the MPA management measures is an absolute necessity. As Lucy Kay declared, “we do not have time to delay recovering our seas”. Including the ocean as a solution is vital to tackle climate change, particularly by protecting blue carbon habitats. Ensuring at least 30% of our seas are highly and fully protected, from the surface to the seabed, is essential if the UK nations are to meet net-zero and biodiversity targets.
With the context of our stories, songs and culture deeply embedded not just in Scotland but in coastal and island communities across the UK, how we used our seas in the past and today needs to change for a future under the pressures of the climate emergency and the nature crisis. We need to do things differently – at sea and on land. If we want to see more sea life, fight against climate change, increase our sea food security and build prosperity for future generations, member organisations from the four Links in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland need to work together, learn from others and implement lessons learnt by what we’ve done in the past and what others are doing. Our marine groups work effectively together to influence policy at country and UK level and in each country, we could be doing more with our coastal communities, who are leading the way on local involvement in ocean recovery and protection.
However, we are clearly running out of time. Both the IPCC and IPBES reports (2019) show, with rigorous scientific underpinning, that we have a decade to change our ways: to limit climate temperature increase below 1.5 degrees and to halt and then reverse the loss of biodiversity. In SELINK’s film, we suggested we need 4 things: legally underpinned nature targets on land and at sea; 30% of our seas under high levels of protection; nature and climate positive fisheries management and investment in ocean recovery.
We’ve heard some examples of what we can do in the nine years we have left. Let’s do it.
Stephenson, S. and Johnson, A.F. (2021) Shifting gears: achieving climate smart fisheries. Published by WWF, RSPB and Marine Conservation Society. Available here
Prof James Harrison (2021), Briefing No. 5 – Strictly Protected Marine Protected Areas: International Policy and National Practice. The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Law School and Isle of Arran COAST. Available here
Stewart Bryce D., Howarth Leigh M., Wood Howard, Whiteside Kerri, Carney William, Crimmins Éilís, O’Leary Bethan C., Hawkins Julie P., Roberts Callum M. (2020). Marine Conservation Begins at Home: How a Local Community and Protection of a Small Bay Sent Waves of Change Around the UK and Beyond. Frontiers in Marine Science Vol 7. DOI:10.3389/fmars.2020.00076. Available here
Grorud-Colver et al. (2021). The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean. Science vol 373. DOI 10.1126/science.abf0861 available here
We’ve all heard about the devasting effects of plastic pollution and we know our relationship with single-use materials needs to change. We’ve seen plastic bottles, food containers and shopping bags floating in the seas. We’ve watched footage of marine life swimming in a fog of our disposable debris. But how much is being said about plastic’s partner in crime, chemical pollution?
Marine chemical pollution, the invisible threat.
Industrial chemicals play an essential role in the running of our modern-day life. From life-saving medicine to climate change mitigation, chemicals offer us hope for a brighter future. But the way we currently manage chemicals is failing. Hormone disrupting chemicals, bisphenols, commonly used in paper receipts, tin cans and plastics, are polluting beaches across the world[i] and disrupting the reproduction of turtles, fish and other marine species[ii]. The ‘forever chemicals’, PFAS, used in everything from food packaging to cosmetics, are damaging the immune system, kidney function and liver function of bottlenose dolphins[iii]. Chemical flame retardants now contaminate marine animals globally, from penguins in the south, to gannets on Scotland’s very own Bass Rock[iv]. And chemical treatments used in Scottish salmon farming are free-flowing into surrounding waters with unknown consequences to marine and freshwater ecosystems[v].
Chemical pollution poses a very real and severe threat to ocean life. Not only is the industry one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters, using vast amounts of fossil fuels, energy and water[vi], it also exacerbates the dangers of plastic pollution[vii]. Plastic in itself is a mixture of different chemical compounds. These may be contaminants from the plastic production process, or additives used to give plastic certain desirable properties. Plastics also act as carriers of chemicals pollutants, meaning they can adsorb chemicals from their surroundings, transporting them through the environment. Once ingested, some of these chemicals are known to bioaccumulate, increasing in concentration in the body tissue of animals further up the food chain with potentially devastating effects for the ocean’s top predators. This has already been observed in some of Scotland’s own wildlife populations, with Scotland’s west coast orca population still under threat of extinction from reproductive damage caused by PCB contamination[viii].
Chemical pollution is intensifying both biodiversity loss and climate change, and left unchecked, will leave its mark for generations to come. But there is still time to turn the tide if we act now. Fidra’s work on chemical and plastic pollution, and Scottish Environment LINK’s Ocean Recovery Plan outline key and achievable goals needed to protect the future of Scotland’s seas.
Eliminating plastic and chemical pollution at source.
We know that plastic and chemical pollution are intrinsically linked and so to tackle the chemical crisis, we need to turn both taps off at the source. With multiple opportunities on the horizon, this is something Scotland is in unique position to achieve.
Through Scotland’s marine and national litter strategy, and consultation on single-use plastics, we can outline clear and time-lined commitments to ending plastic waste.
We can build on the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, including bans on items such as cutlery, coffee cup lids and plastic cigarette butts.
We can set appropriate Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) for chemical treatments used in Scottish aquaculture.
We can introduce bans on non-essential chemical use, including intentionally added PFAS in food packaging and bisphenols used in paper receipts.
Advocate a world-leading approach to chemical management.
The UK Chemicals Strategy will outline how we as country approach chemical management post-BREXIT and is in development as we speak. It offers a once in a generation opportunity for us to redefine our relationship with industrial chemicals, how they’re assessed, monitored and regulated. Needless to say, it is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. Scottish government must push for ambitious and time-lined commitments to more sustainable chemical use, more extensive monitoring regimes and a phase-out of the most hazardous chemicals from all non-essential uses. Fidra, along with 26 other health and environmental NGOs including some fellow LINK Marine Group members, have outlined 12 Key asks of the UK Chemicals Strategy that are fundamental to ensuring health and environmental protection are paramount.
Riding alongside the UK Chemicals Strategy is the development of the UK’s own chemical management body, UK REACH. For the dream of a sustainable chemical use to remain alive, UK REACH must at the very least remain aligned with regulations set by EU REACH. Deviation from EU regulations runs the risk of the UK becoming a ‘dumping ground’ for chemicals restricted elsewhere and falling behind on the most up-to-date safety data for chemicals already in use. But this is just a minimum. We now have the opportunity to go above and beyond EU regulations, setting our own ambitions and timelines for a truly world-leading chemical management system.
Outline commitments for a safe and effective Circular Economy.
The introduction of Scotland’s Circular Economy Bill presents so much promise. It’s a chance for us to leave our single-use habits behind and enter a new era of deposit return schemes, refill systems, and reusable… well, everything! But for this dreamy sustainable world to truly work, we must remove the barrier of chemicals contamination.
Hazardous chemicals can limit the success of a circular economy by risking the safety of secondary products. For example, chemicals approved for use in one product may wind up in products unsuitable for that substance, such as bisphenols in till receipts contaminating paper recycling and ending up in pizza boxes[ix]. Long-lived items may also contain chemicals that have since been restricted and so if recycled, may reintroduce banned substances into secondary products[x]. However, this could all be avoided by phasing-out the most hazardous chemicals from non-essential uses and ensuring transparency and traceability along supply chains. By mandating full chemical disclosure and introducing smart labelling, we will be able to track chemical substances along supply chains and make sure products unsuitable for recycling are disposed of safely.
Hope remains.
Addressing chemical pollution is no small task but it is possible, and Scotland is in a unique position to lead the way. With proactive and time-committed legislation, we can create a world-leading chemical management system, we can ensure a safe and thriving circular economy, and we can protect Scotland’s oceans for generations to come. It is all still possible, if we act now.
To find out more, see Scottish Environment LINK’s Ocean Recovery Plan and learn more about the work of Scottish environmental charity, Fidra.
Since 2018, the Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign has called on the Scottish government to set legally binding targets to halt the rapid decline of Scotland’s nature and set it on track to recovery.
This summer, more than 1,200 people wrote messages to Scotland’s Minister for Environment and Land Reform Màiri McAllan about why nature matters to them.
The campaign worked! In August, the newly formed SNP-Green government committed to setting targets for nature restoration in a Natural Environment Bill to be introduced in 2023-24. It’s thanks to the thousands of people who’ve supported the call for targets over the last three years that we’ve made it this far.
With the Greens joining government, Green MSP Lorna Slater will now lead on nature recovery targets as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. It’s great to see this issue given prominence at a ministerial level.
Now Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaigners are urging the government to set work in motion to make the recovery of our wonderful nature a reality.
Read a selection of people’s messages about the importance of Scotland’s nature in their lives:
By Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation Scotland for Marine Conservation Society and Convener of Scottish Environment LINK marine group.
Last week the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party announced a co-operation agreement and shared policy programme, the first of its kind in the UK. Whilst not exhaustive, and still to be voted on by Scottish Green members, many welcome commitments are included.
Nature recovery targets on land and sea
With thanks to everyone that supported the Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign, we are pleased the deal commits to a Natural Environment Bill that will “put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including, but not restricted to, targets for nature restoration that cover land and sea, and an effective, statutory, target-setting monitoring, enforcing and reporting framework.” We will engage closely to ensure this delivers the ocean recovery targets so urgently needed, in tandem to achieving existing commitments for our seas to meet “Good Environmental Status”. It is also welcome to see commitment to expansion of the Nature Restoration Fund to contribute to “meeting…targets and restoring Scotland’s terrestrial and marine environment”.
Improved marine protection
Whilst commitment to “deliver fisheries management measures for existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)… as well as key coastal biodiversity locations outside of these sites”[1] is simply restating delayed commitments for MPAs and Priority Marine Features (PMFs), it must be included. It is crucial as part of this phase that the most damaging activities are excluded from MPAs, including the use of bottom-towed fishing gear from all seabed MPAs and from areas where sensitive PMFs naturally occur. Such measures would contribute toward international standards of at least 30% of the sea in which “only light extractive activities are allowed, and other impacts are minimized to the extent possible” as defined by the IUCN global standards [2].
More significantly, we warmly welcome the commitment to “add to the existing MPA network by designating a world-leading suite of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) covering at least 10% of our seas” by 2026 in both inshore and offshore waters. The latter is subject to the co-operation of the UK government who hold the legislative power in the zone beyond 12 nautical miles. In other words, at least 10% of Scotland’s seas would be free from any fisheries, aquaculture or development but would allow non-damaging types of recreation and tourism to continue. Such a commitment in a government agreement could lead the way for other parts of the UK and Europe.
We welcome the commitment that selection for these sites will be ecologically representative across inshore and offshore waters, and that it will provide for the recovery of Priority Marine Features and for ecosystem recovery and biodiversity enhancement, including protection of blue carbon and critical fish habitats. The latter is also in line with Scotland’s Future Fisheries Management strategy.
Capping and reducing fishing effort
The deal also commits the Government to “take specific, evidence-based measures to protect the inshore seabed in areas outwith MPAs and HPMAs” including consulting on applying “a cap to fishing activity in inshore waters (up to three nautical miles) that will limit activity to current levels and set a ceiling from which activities that disrupt the seabed can be reduced in the light of evidence as it becomes available.” This is not a precautionary approach, whereby vessels would be excluded and only allowed to fish via licensed derogations upon proving lower impact. Whilst we would prefer a more ambitious approach to recognise there should be a presumption against trawling and dredging in a significant part of the inshore area, a cap followed by reduction in effort is a small step forward. A large-scale low impact trial could help inform the evidence-base.
Ensuring “more effective compliance” in the commercial fishing fleet and “increasing capacity and capability in marine monitoring and protection” is welcome. It is essential that this includes use of modern technology such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) with cameras and is implemented urgently given the current state of our seas and the many delays to date.
We must also see commitment to end overfishing and incidental bycatch of seabirds, whales, dolphins, turtles and endangered sharks, skates and rays.
Climate emergency
In the wake of the UN issuing a red alert for humanity in the face of the latest IPCC assessment, we must look to all industries to adapt. The current deal does not recognise the role of fisheries management as a climate action. A recent report by WWF, Marine Conservation Society and RSPB reveals how Scotland can futureproof its fisheries and show world leadership in the process by ensuring a just transition and adopting a “climate-smart” strategy for the sector.
We also recognise the need to expand offshore wind in a way that maximises opportunities for ecological restoration and mitigates potential impacts on marine biodiversity, while committing to manage such impacts proportionately.
Aquaculture
We look forward to the announced publication of the long-awaited Government response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group report in September. It is crucial that these recommendations are acted upon swiftly to provide much-needed protection for wild salmon and sea trout populations in Scotland.
The commitment to “reform the regulatory and planning framework, starting with an independent review to consider the effectiveness and efficiency of the current regime and make recommendations for further work by the end of 2021,” is a reaffirmation of recommendations arising from the Scottish Parliamentary inquiry. We would not want to see this review delay action on improving regulation of the industry’s environmental impact as already committed to.
Going forward
The co-operation agreement includes new commitments to be welcomed, should they be approved this weekend. We will engage closely in all processes, keeping supporters updated as to how you can help at strategic moments to ensure urgently needed ocean recovery measures are secured. Please follow us on @savescotsseas for updates.
Notes
[1] “deliver fisheries management measures for existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where these are not already in place, as well as key coastal biodiversity locations outside of these sites, by March 2024 at the latest” from the co-operation agreement.
Scottish Environment LINK, a coalition of over 40 leading environment charities has welcomed the inclusion in the draft SNP-Green deal of legally binding targets to halt the rapid decline of Scotland’s nature by 2030.
The deal, announced today (20 Aug), commits a potential SNP-Green government to introducing a Natural Environment Bill in 2023-24 that will set targets to stop the loss of Scotland’s wildlife and plants, and set nature on track to recovery on land and at sea.
The deal comes at a time when biodiversity in Scotland and worldwide is declining faster than at any time in human history. In Scotland alone, almost half of our species (49%) have declined in numbers in the last 50 years, and one in nine is at risk of extinction.
While welcoming the commitment to nature restoration targets, the charities have expressed concern that the legislation is not due until 2023-24, given the current rapid decline of Scotland’s nature.
Since 2018, through the campaign Fight for Scotland’s Nature, Scottish Environment LINK has been calling for legally binding targets for the recovery of nature.
Deborah Long, chief officer of Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“Scotland’s nature is central to the lives of Scotland’s people, but it’s in real trouble. We need to treat the nature crisis with the same urgency as the climate crisis, and take action now before it’s too late. We’re delighted by the inclusion of legally binding targets for nature in this deal, but we’re concerned that delaying their introduction for up to three years will make halting the decline of nature by 2030 more difficult. We hope to see swift action to bring targets into law and make the recovery of our wonderful nature a reality.”
The deal between the Greens and the SNP needs the approval of both parties’ decision-making bodies before it can go ahead.
The recovery of Scotland’s nature could be beautiful and exciting – if we can find the political will to make it happen, writes Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign coordinator Miriam Ross.
I was fascinated when I learned that millions of native oysters were once harvested from the Firth of Forth every year, providing a cheap and common source of food, and an Edinburgh old town full of raucous ‘oyster cellars’. It can be hard to imagine the places we live as they once were – and just as hard to imagine a different future for them.
Native oysters virtually disappeared from the Forth due to massive overfishing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and similar collapses have played out around most of Scotland’s coastline.
But native oysters, which are distinct from the pacific oysters now found on restaurant menus, are so good for ecosystem health and biodiversity that efforts are being made to start restoring their populations. In one such initiative at Loch Craignish in Argyll, the charity Seawilding has started growing juvenile oysters and returning them to the loch to restore the natural beds. Over the course of five years, it plans to grow up to one million native oysters.
Across Scotland, there are hundreds of inspiring projects underway to help our nature recover. These efforts are incredibly important, and they’re already making many of Scotland’s places better to live in.
But the bigger picture, in Scotland as elsewhere, is one of decline. And it’s not a slow decline. We no longer need to look back centuries to see how things have changed, because Scotland is losing its biodiversity at a rate perceptible within the lifetimes of people alive today. Almost half of our species have decreased in number in the past 50 years, and one in nine is at risk of extinction.
The devastating loss of nature is not inevitable. We can stop the decline, and we can increase Scotland’s wildlife populations and restore habitats, on land and at sea, helping nature to thrive. The many places where nature is recovering are living proof that we can do it if we want to. But we need to do it on a large scale, with action driven by government.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to, writing in 2019, “The challenges facing biodiversity are as important as the challenge of climate change, and I want Scotland to be leading the way in our response.”
Now we need to see action to match those words.
Our neighbours are, on paper at least, moving in the right direction. At the end of June, the Welsh parliament called for legally binding targets to halt and reverse the decline of nature. The European Union has promised to introduce legally binding targets this year with the aim of restoring nature by 2030 – a development the Scottish government should note, having committed to aligning with EU environmental law.
There is no time to lose. The Scottish government must set legally binding targets to stop the loss of our wildlife and to make sure that by the end of this decade Scotland’s nature is on track to recovery. And it must propel the change needed to meet those targets.
Then we can collectively start to imagine, and create, a future in which a rich and diverse natural environment helps to make Scotland the kind of place we want to live in.
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