In 2019, the First Minister declared a climate emergency and linked it to the ongoing nature crisis. Nature needs to be given the best possible fighting chance, including protection of animals. The Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill, which is currently progressing through the parliament aims to strengthen animal cruelty penalties and introduces emergency procedures to rehome animals. The Bill is a step forward in providing further protections to animals, where once in effect, there will be improvements for enforcement agencies that will benefit all animals in Scotland. For example, the Committee calls on the Scottish Government to extend the powers of the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) in order to improve enforcement of the legislative provisions. Stakeholders highlighted that given wildlife crime mainly occurs in remote areas, therefore it can be difficult for the police to prioritise attending within a timeframe that allows for the capture of evidence. In the words of Minister for the Environment and Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, Species Champion for hen harrier, the legislation will ‘modernise and strengthen the implementation of existing legislation, impacting on animal welfare’.
LINK members have previously advocated enhancing protections for animals by increasing penalties for most serious wildlife crime offences. In November 2019, LINK’s Wildlife Group responded to the Committee’s call for evidence. In line with Poustie review recommendations LINK members championed measures such as more stringent sentencing and potential for unlimited financial penalties for more serious wildlife offences.
Illegal fishing and attacks on birds are two types of wildlife crime in Scotland. Freshwater pearl mussels numbers have dramatically declined due to habitat damage and illegal pearl fishing. Freshwater pearl mussels are an important species ecologically; adults are capable of filtering litres of water per day which provides improved water quality for other species such as fish, eels, otters and more. Moreover, illegal persecution of eagles is the most severe constraint on Scottish Golden Eagles. Raptors are often targeted and killed illegally with traps, poison or shooting. Andy Wightman MSP, Species Champion for Golden Eagle, accompanied conservation workers to satellite-tag a young Golden Eagle in 2018. In April 2019 Adam was reported to have disappeared in suspicious circumstances. Birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, kites, buzzards, harriers, falcons and owls are all protected species in the UK. However, raptor persecution is an ongoing serious problem in specific areas in Scotland.
On the 12th of March the MSPs debated the Bill. The debate offered MSP Species Champions an opportunity to show their support of the general principles of the Bill on animal welfare reform. Fifteen MSP Species Champions contributed to the debate.
The importance of offering further protections to species habitats had support from MSPs. Colin Smyth MSP began by declaring his interest as ‘Scottish Environment LINK’s MSP Species Champion for badgers’. Colin Smyth stated ‘Scottish Badgers and Scottish Environment LINK specifically highlighted the need for stronger protection for habitats and badger setts, which was reflected in the committee’s conclusion that the destruction of a habitat could be as fatal as directly harming or killing an animal.’ This response underscores LINK’s position on the Bill. Both badgers themselves and their setts are accorded legal protections, however, the current protections do not account for deliberate or accidental harm to habitats and badger setts.
Gillian Martin MSP, Species Champion for grey seal and yew, highlighted the detrimental effects of destroying an animals’ habitat ‘…can be as fatal as directly harming or killing an animal’. Gillian Martin also emphasised the importance of protecting badger setts ’the destruction of badger setts could lead to the destruction of a colony and the deaths of some or all of the animals, particularly during breeding.’ LINK welcomes this and notes that current provision for penalties on damage to a species’ place of breeding and rest, does not consider the relationship between the disturbance/destruction caused to its habitat and the animals’ life. Finlay Carson MSP, Species Champion for Leisler’s bat, provided further support ‘As Gillian Martin mentioned, the likes of destroying a single badger sett needs to be considered in light of the long-term impact on the colony. He described the Bill as ’long overdue’, adding: ‘We need to introduce new penalties for those who continue to cause pain and suffering to animals and wildlife’.
Wildlife offences regarding damage/destruction to habitats impact species such as bats and birds of prey as well. Currently, there is an absence of appropriate penalties in relation to wildlife offences such as destruction of bat roosts. Bats are European Protected Species and crimes against the species most commonly involves the destruction of their roost habitats. Mark Ruskell MSP, Species Champion for white-tailed eagle, threw a spotlight on the impact this has on birds of prey ‘every year we celebrate as fledgling sea eagles, golden eagles or hen harriers are tracked leaving their nests, but every year the same birds are found dead, poisoned and shot.’ To offer further protection to bats and birds of prey LINK has recommended that offences relating to European Protected Species should have the potential to be unlimited.
Since its launch in 2013, the Species Champions initiative has gone from strength to strength: at the start of the current parliamentary session in 2016, 56 MSPs were signed up to the scheme; today, at almost halfway through the current session, there are 104 MSP champions, representing 80% of the Chamber. The Species Champion initiative provides a clear and accessible way for MSPs to do their bit for Scotland’s nature and future generations, we welcome the support provided by the 15 MSP Species Champions at the Bill debate.
Click here to read LINK’s response to the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill.
104 MSPs have signed up to be champions for a range of animal and plant species, with more information available here.
Juliet Caldwell
Species Champion Coordinator at Scottish Environment Link
The Manx shearwater is a beautiful and mysterious seabird. It feeds far from shore, only returning to its colonies at night – nesting in deep burrows, often at high altitude on inaccessible island mountainsides.
Because of this, shearwaters are notoriously difficult to study – but Scotland is home to around 40% of the entire world population. Yet over recent decades, at least ten Scottish shearwater breeding colonies have been lost. When rats or other predators are introduced, often unintentionally, by people onto islands, shearwater chicks are easy prey and breeding numbers fall.
Stories of human actions impacting wildlife and the climate are all too familiar. Climate change, however, brings new threats to species and habitats. Ongoing human pressures on biodiversity – like non-native mammal introductions on islands – are being compounded and intensified by the changing weather. In the marine environment, warming sea surface temperatures are driving profound changes in the biomass and species composition of plankton at the base of the food-web. Seabirds are top predators in that web, and the impacts are clear. The 2019 State of Nature report tells us that the average abundance of 12 breeding seabird species in Scotland declined by 38% between 1986 and 2019.
This is just one part of a much wider picture. Of all the Scottish species assessed in that report, 49% have declined in abundance, with one in nine at risk of national extinction. Across the world, species are being lost at a rate unprecedented in human history. Climate change is both a direct driver of this loss, but also a new context within which the other drivers – land-use change, pollution, over-exploitation, invasive species – operate and impact.
The global climate emergency and the ecological crisis are therefore deeply and inextricably linked together – and this simple truth must guide and frame our collective response. It means our approaches to the climate emergency must deliver both carbon answers and halt the biodiversity declines.
‘Nature-based Solutions’ to climate change is the term for this goal, now in common use around the world, and global thinking is developing on what sound principles for Nature-based Solutions are. They must be a vital part of the collective response but are not a substitute for rapid fossil fuel phase-out; they must protect and restore multiple ecosystems on land and sea; they must work with communities and build people’s capacity to adapt to climate change; and they must sustain or enhance biodiversity – which includes species that are not known to deliver direct carbon benefits.
2020 will be a pivotal moment in determining how we deliver those solutions – and two critical United Nations meetings are happening here in Scotland this year. In April, a major workshop in Edinburgh under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will feed into new global targets for nature; and the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow will determine the global response to the climate emergency.
Scotland has an unprecedented opportunity to lead the way in delivering Nature-based Solutions to the climate crisis. Managing carbon in soils is a central challenge, and peatland habitats are now recognised as among the most important global soil carbon assets. Stopping their degradation and restoring them to good ecological health delivers direct carbon benefits but also supports and builds resilience in the unique wildlife communities in these habitats. With a long track record of effective collaboration and delivery of peatland restoration, and the Scottish Government showing real commitment on future funding, Scotland is becoming a global exemplar on peatlands.
If we can extend Nature-based Solutions across our ecosystems, though, we can become genuine world leaders. To do this, tree planting targets must deliver carbon storage alongside native woodland regeneration and better connectivity for our reduced and fragmented Celtic rainforests and Caledonian pinewoods; agriculture must be strategically supported to deliver for threatened wildlife together with sustainable soil and carbon management; saltmarshes, kelp forests, and seagrass beds must be restored and protected; and we need an invasive species inspectorate to implement biosecurity and best practice – protect peatlands and build resilience in seabirds and other species, so they can meet the climate challenges ahead.
Our climate change response must have ecological roots, and we must remember that complicated problems very often have complex solutions. We are already seeing Nature-based Solutions being re-framed by some actors as ‘Natural Climate Solutions’, or other similar, vague phrasing. If this language drift signals a priority shift moving nature away from the core of our climate responses to the fringes, our opportunity to lead could be missed – and our legacy to future generations deeply compromised. Yet, the identification that the solution to our crisis is in the preservation of our nature and biodiversity mean that there is the possibility we may, given uncompromising stamina and determination, have reason to hope.
Dr Paul Walton, Head of Habitats and Species at RSPB Scotland, and LINK Trustee
A version of this blog was printed in The Scotsman on 13 March 2020.
This year sees biodiversity placed at the forefront of the global sustainable development agenda. The theme of World Wildlife Day 2020; ‘Sustaining all Life on Earth’ encompasses all wild animal and plant species as key components of biodiversity as well as the livelihoods of people and is more important than ever in a time of climate emergency and nature crisis. It further highlights the importance of nature-based solutions in response to climate change, as well as supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 14 and 15 and their wide-ranging commitments on preserving biodiversity.
Scottish Environment LINK welcomes the motion Gillian Martin MSP has lodged in celebration of World Wildlife Day 2020 on 3rd March. We urge all MSP Species Champions to support this motion, to stand up for their species and to call for action to address the twin climate and biodiversity emergencies in Scotland. As highlighted from the United Nations annual event, nearly a quarter of all species are presently at risk of going extinct in the coming decades.
The motion highlights the State of Nature Report 2019, by government agencies and leading wildlife organisations, which calls attention to how Scotland’s biodiversity is suffering from the impact of pressures such as habitat fragmentation, climate change and invasive non-native species. The State of Nature Scotland Report 2019 reveals that since recording began 49% of Scottish species have decreased and 28% have increased, that our nature is changing rapidly with 62% of species showing strong changes, and of the 6,413 species found in Scotland that have been assessed 11% have been classified as threatened with extinction from Scotland. Many of the species outlined in the report are represented by MSP Species Champions and findings from the report highlight the importance of initiatives like Species Champions in raising the profile of our most threatened species and demonstrating the importance of biodiversity in our environment.
The Species Champions initiative, coordinated by Scottish Environment LINK and supported by 20 LINK member organisations, aims to raise awareness and promote action in the Scottish Parliament, to safeguard Scotland’s most iconic and threatened species. Since its launch in 2013, the Species Champions initiative has gone from strength to strength: at the start of the current parliamentary session in 2016, 56 MSPs were signed up. Today, over halfway through the current parliament session, there are 104 MSP champions, representing 81 percent of the chamber. The success of the initiative is not only measured by the number of MSPs involved but also the influence MSP Champions have on safeguarding Scotland’s environment.
Species Champions initiative has been developed as an advocacy tool and has built a pro-active group of MSPs who are informed and passionate about nature in Scotland. Practical engagement activities, such as site visits, gives MSP champions the opportunity to participate in and learn about the conservation of their species, working with experts, volunteers and members of the community. The result of MSP Species Champions getting to know their species and the threats they face can encourage actions such as lodging motions or involvement in parliamentary debates that link their species to wider issues. At a time when environmental issues are increasingly brought to the fore, the need to have informed, passionate and supportive MSPs in Parliament ensuring our wildlife has a voice has never been more critical. An increasingly knowledgeable, interested and pro-environment group of MSPs will have a demonstrable impact on issues right across the environmental agenda. This initiative provides a clear and accessible way for MSPs to do their bit for Scotland’s nature and future generations.
With 1 in 9 species at risk of extinction in Scotland, we need a strategic approach to protect our environment and ensure that our nature is healthy and thriving for future generations. We hope that Members of the Scottish Parliament, and in particular Species Champions MSPs, will stand up for nature and support strong and effective laws that will protect and enhance our environment.
They have called on the government to back up this commitment with legally binding targets for nature recovery and an action plan for delivery.
The charities, members of Scottish Environment LINK, also welcomed the announcement of a new environment watchdog to oversee compliance with environmental law, but cautioned that the new body must have real independence and power to protect Scotland’s iconic nature.
More than 30 organisations launched the Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign in 2018, calling for an independent watchdog to enforce environmental protections after Brexit. The European Commission and Court of Justice previously played a key role in holding government to account on the environment, on issues ranging from air pollution to protections for marine animals.
The charities also welcomed the reiteration of the government’s commitment to embed crucial European environment principles in Scots law – another key demand of their campaign.
The charities believe the new watchdog must be independent of government and must have sufficient resources as well as the ability to investigate complaints from the public, charities and businesses, and to impose sanctions when standards are breached. Public support is strong – a recent opinion poll in Scotland found 81 percent of Leave voters and 91 percent of Remain voters supported a new body to provide continuing environmental oversight.
Charles Dundas, Chair of Scottish Environment LINK, said today:
It’s fantastic to see such a bold vision for the protection of Scotland’s environment, which, as the Scottish Government says, is fundamental to our future. Now we need to see the strategy backed up with clear, binding targets for the recovery of our amazing nature.
“It’s also great news that the government plans to set up a new environment watchdog. We look forward to seeing the full details, and trust MSPs will scrutinise these closely. It’s essential that citizens are able to hold government to account. We need a watchdog with teeth: real independence, the power to enforce protections, and the people, expertise and funds to do the job.”
On Thursday 20 February, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) launched their manifesto for the future, offering a blueprint for action under 3 pillars of planet, humanity and citizenship, and which recognises the need for a thriving, sustainable third sector, able to work together and with government to make the transformational changes we all require. SCVO is the national membership organisation for the third sector and provides a national voice to the sector and champions innovation and improvement. Environmental issues are clearly fundamental in addressing Scotland’s wellbeing and LINK works with SCVO to explore how those principles relate to all SCVO members and their work.
On Wednesday, the day before, the First Minister opened the SVCO Gathering, with panel of experts, who each described the scale of the challenge facing us under these 3 pillars. For the planet, I described the absolute need for everyone to work together if we are to restore and maintain a healthy planet where we all live and without which society cannot survive.
The fact of the matter is that we are in climate and nature emergencies: the two are inextricably linked. And progress for one should result in progress for the other. Action for climate should definitely not act against action for nature: this is where nature solutions to climate change are so important because they respond to both emergencies. We can and must take action now: the First Minister has made that very clear. And there are a number of things we can do right now. Here are just a few examples:
Carbon sequestration, that is storing carbon in nature systems – we need to do more of that by restoring peatlands so they store carbon and water in times of excessive rainfall; woodland regeneration – not just planting where commercial sitka plantations in the wrong place causes declines in biodiversity but more native woodland, most easily addressed through the management of wild deer population so that trees can regenerate and not be eaten off; and blue carbon – enabling marine systems to store carbon – for example kelp dredging – removes a key habitat both for nursery fish stocks but also key protection against storms like Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis. What’s more we should be managing our land with nature in mind so it can survive and thrive across the landscape. And we need to practice a much more circular economy: from energy to plastics, we need to use less and waste nothing.
To get there, we need a global change in mindset that rebalances economic success with environmental protection and restoration. Today’s preoccupation with economic development and GDP as a measure of success is what is leading to the climate and nature emergencies and needs to stop.
We are very fortunate to live in Scotland: we have a fantastic environment prized across the world, we have a benign climate (even though it doesn’t always feel like it), and we have amazing nature. We want it to stay that way for future generations. But for that happen we need to work together. This is a tough call and the only practical solution is for us to work together to halt the loss of nature and to prevent irrevocable climate change. Our future well being – of Scotland’s people – depends on a healthy environment where people and nature can thrive. You can’t have one without the other. That’s why the manifesto goals, for immediate action before 2030 are so important. They sit alongside objectives that we at LINK have identified to deliver the real change we need to see if we are to address the climate and nature emergencies. LINK’s objectives, outlined in our new strategy, 2020 – 2024, identifies 7 key areas where we need to make immediate progress:
1. Provide environmental leadership: LINK and its members are ready to provide the leadership and vision required for the transformations required 2. From rhetoric to reality: Scotland has some world leading environmental legislation and the ambition to do more: we need to implement that legislation to make real progress 3. Land use that is nature and climate friendly 4. A circular economy with zero emissions 5. All major infrastructure projects deliver for biodiversity, climate and society, with cumulative impacts mapped and audited 6. The 4 environmental principles that will lost from law under Brexit are embedded in Scottish legislation. These are the precautionary principle, polluter pays principle, rectification at source principle and the preventative action principle 7. A Green Deal that delivers a fair and just transition where the impact of change required is spread fairly across society and on those with most resilience and capacity
The intergovernmental panels on biodiversity and on climate change have both said, independently and on independent evidence bases, that we have roughly a decade to make the scale of changes required. We need to act now.
Above all, if together we are to secure a sustainable future for Scotland, we must ensure that all activity in Scotland is measured against environmental outputs – if we continue to trash the planet and go on as we are, future generations stand to inherit a much poorer place than we currently enjoy and which we know is under huge stress.
We, Scotland’s people, love our nature. Our beautiful and varied natural environment is integral to who we are and how we see ourselves.
Yet we know that nature is in trouble and needs our help. The start of a new decade provides us with unique opportunities we must seize. This year, in which Scotland hosts the UN Climate Summit for the first time, we must focus on our ailing planet and the chance we still have to put things right.
From the iconic Scots pine to the Golden eagle and some of the world’s oldest coral reefs to one third of Europe’s breeding seabirds, all depend on Scotland’s natural environment being healthy to survive. We are also home to 5% of the planet’s peatlands. At first glance these may not seem like much, but they store a staggering 25 times more carbon than all the land-based vegetation in the UK.
But in Scotland 1 in 9 species, both plant and animal, is at risk of extinction. We urgently need concrete steps with joined up legislation that protects our natural world and allows it to flourish. Simply hoping for the best and letting the true effects of our broken nature to kick in would be catastrophic. If we act now, we have a precious window of opportunity to put nature back on the road to recovery.
Scotland’s natural environment is of world importance and has received millions of pounds in funding from the European Union. As much as 80 per cent of Scotland’s environmental protections also stem from EU legislation and Brexit will deprive us of crucial safeguards, just when we most need them. This is why Scottish Environment LINK, a coalition of more than 30 of Scotland’s leading environmental charities, has launched a bid under the campaign Fight for Scotland’s Nature for Scotland to have its own Environment Act.
People living in Scotland value the immense nature on our doorstep. In a poll conducted last summer, more than 90 per cent said they saw Scotland’s nature as important to our national identity, our economy, our health and wellbeing and in making Scotland a good place to raise a family. However, the way we use our land and seas and the growing pressure of climate change are taking their toll. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can halt the rapid decline in Scotland’s wildlife.
Nature is driven to perpetuate and reproduce itself and is able to recover. Just look at the return of Scotland’s otters. Confined to the highlands and islands in the 1970s due to pesticide pollution, thanks to vital legislation and funding otters are now found in most of our lochs and rivers, including in towns and cities.
Internationally, throughout 2019, we saw people across the globe join forces to call on governments to act before it’s too late. We are also seeing a growing awareness that stopping and reversing the nature emergency is within our grasp and goes hand in hand with tackling climate change. The loss of nature is far from a fait accompli.
In Scotland, the first hurdle in restoring our nature is to make sure Brexit does not unravel the environmental protections we already have from the EU. The Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign is pushing for urgent legislation to embed European environmental principles in Scots law and to establish an independent watchdog to hold government to account.
But given the challenges now facing our environment, only fighting to keep the protections we have at present will not be enough. We need the Scottish Government to set clear, bold, legally binding targets to stop and remedy the loss of Scotland’s biodiversity on land and at sea. And, to make this a priority. Fast.
In November, Glasgow will host COP 26, the UN Climate Summit. This will follow the UN Biodiversity Conference in China in October, which will set international targets for the restoration of nature over the next decade.
Here, the world’s eyes will be on us and the Scottish Government will have the chance to lead by example. It will have to prove on a world stage its commitment to tackling climate change and the worryingly rapid loss of species and habitat, starting at home.
Today marks the start of the UK’s new relationship with the European Union, and while this personally makes me extremely sad and disappointed, it also marks the start of a different way of doing things. 2020 marks the start of the United Nation’s Decade for Ecological Restoration and in the build up to that, we want Scotland to be on the right trajectory.
2019 was a tumultuous year, with its ups and downs. The challenges we faced included Brexit and the many implications of the changes that is bringing, notwithstanding political confusion and uncertainty at UK, Scotland and European levels. This will be brought into sharp focus from today I’ve no doubt. Here in Scotland, we continued see the unhelpful focus on GDP as a measure of our success as a nation and the State of Nature 2019 report for Scotland, reflected ongoing declines in biodiversity. In contrast, the opportunities we faced included massive public support for action on climate change, ocean plastic and biodiversity loss through the school strikes, extinction rebellion and the Planet Earth effect. This focused government minds with the declaration in Scotland of the climate and nature emergencies. In Europe, with the new administration of Ursula van der Leyen, we saw the opportunities of an EU Green Deal.
As environmental NGOs in Scotland, LINK and its members continued our work to influence government and policy making through consistently high quality and coherent policy proposals and ongoing informative and positive engagement with policy makers. We have persistently presented the argument for a better way of doing things that respects planetary boundaries and puts true sustainability at the centre. For this persistence and the successes that have resulted, our network and members should take both credit and encouragement.
However, there is no room for complacency. We need to step up – not back. We still need to devise and deliver strategies to limit climate change to 1.5°C, halt and reverse biodiversity loss, increase resource efficiency and circular economy and build well being on the top of those.
In a global context, we remain in a highly volatile situation with the European Union still being the best hope for environmental sustainability and leadership to make transformational changes needed. We know we won’t now be part of that but it is important to keep pace and show leadership from within UK, to prevent descent to lowest common denominator. Scotland is looking to provide that leadership although real progress in environmental terms, beyond declarations, is yet to be seen. Across the UK and Europe, LINK and our sister organisations need to be working with EU to prevent UK’s apparent determination to push for a divergent, deregulated model that could pose a threat to future environmental ambition not just in the UK but also in the EU.
In Europe, we see key milestones in the European Green Deal ahead. These include an EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (March) in the lead-up to the crucial Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Kunming in the autumn; a new Circular Economy Action Plan (March); a ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy (spring); measures to increase EU climate ambition (starting with a proposal for an EU Climate Law in March); a chemicals strategy for sustainability (summer); and a new legislative proposal to improve access to justice through revising the Aarhus Regulation.
In Scotland, we are arguing to keep pace, and not regress on European progress. Areas of activity will include Scotland’s own Circular Economy Bill, consultation on an environment strategy, updated biodiversity plans to 2030, a revised Climate Change Plan, regional land use planning, an Agriculture Bill and hopefully progress on whatever succeeds land management subsidies. There is a long way to go on all of these if delivery and action is to meet the ambitions of the declared emergencies in April and June last year.
As for LINK, we have Fight for Scotland’s Nature gearing up to continue pushing for non-regression and an independent watchdog as well as legislatively underpinned nature recovery targets in an Environment Bill.Save Scottish Seas continues to work for ocean recovery through robust implementation of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, including completing and properly protecting the Marine Protected Area network, and pushing for ecosystem-based fisheries management and marine planning. The newly launched Environmental Rights Centre Scotland will focus on accessing environmental justice and implementing the Aarhus convention. This is underpinned by our new Strategic Plan, which provides LINK with a strong position for moving forward with focus on partnerships. All this is possible thanks to our member reps, the LINK staff and Board, all of whom are extremely hardworking and often overstretched. This is the essence of LINK as a membership organisation. The engagement and commitment of our members is what makes LINK so effective and so much more than just another lobby group.
By working together, LINK as a network will be assessing all possible implications for the environment of the ongoing political shifts, whether that be independence for Scotland, rejoining the EU, remaining in the UK with close or distant alignment to the EU. Whatever the outcomes, the environment needs a strong voice, now more than ever, a voice that calls for real and effective delivery to meet the climate and nature emergencies, cross border co-operation, wherever those borders are, and political commitment to make a difference.
Brexit trade deals could put iconic Scottish wildlife at risk at a time when 1 in 9 species in Scotland is at risk of extinction, say Scotland’s leading environmental charities. Otters, bottlenose dolphins, puffins, bats, Golden eagle and osprey are among a host of species that will face increased threats after 31 January.
Many of Scotland’s most important wildlife species and habitats benefit from high levels of protection originating from the EU.
The charities, members of Scottish Environment LINK and behind the Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign, fear that a rush to rapidly agree bilateral trade deals with other countries after 31 January could lead to the slashing of environmental standards, including crucial protections for Scotland’s wildlife. Swiftly agreed trade deals with countries such as the United States and China could lead to weaker regulations on animal welfare standards, food quality and environmental protections.
The US has banned mention of climate change from trade talks with the UK. It also wants the UK to move to a US system where things are assumed safe until harm or damage is proved.
The EU exit deal itself also poses a risk to Scotland’s nature and landscapes, say campaigners. Safeguards contained in Theresa May’s deal, aimed at preventing environmental standards being lowered, have been removed from Boris Johnson’s deal.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly said it will not water down environmental protections after Brexit. But campaigners fear that if standards are slashed in the rest of the UK, there could be huge pressure on Scotland to follow suit.
The charities also warn that without the option for people to raise complaints to the European Commission, existing protections may not be enforced, leaving wildlife vulnerable to further declines and destruction of habitats. Under the banner of Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign, they are calling for the Scottish Government to create a new, independent environment watchdog for Scotland, and to embed crucial environmental principles, previously applied through European law, into Scots law.
Charles Dundas, Chair of Scottish Environment LINK, said:
Brexit will leave the Scottish wildlife we all love open to a host of new threats if environmental standards are lowered, just when we most need to stop nature’s decline and help it recover. The Brexit deal and the pressure of new bilateral trade deals make it more urgent than ever that the Scottish Government acts to ensure our environmental protections remain intact.”
In celebration of Scotland’s precious wetlands, ahead of World Wetlands Day 2020 a members’ business debate led by John Finnie MSP, took place in the Scottish Parliament on the 15th January to discuss the importance of Scotland’s wetlands as sites of important biodiversity. The climate emergency poses an existential threat to the future of Scotland’s wetlands which not only provide us with a host of essential systems we cannot live without, such as vital flood control and water filtration, but also a unique home for a wide variety of mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates.
World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2nd February in order to mark the date of the adoption of the Convention of Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, which was signed in 1971. The Convention’s mission is to conserve wetlands through local and national actions as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development and protecting biodiverse habitats.
This debate offered MSP Species Champions the opportunity to discuss the importance of wetlands in relation to their species’ habitat, in the Scottish Parliament chamber.
Gillian Martin MSP spoke of the coastal wetland region the Ythan estuary, where the dune ecosystem is under threat. The Ythan estuary is also home to the grey seal, for which she is the Species Champion. Gillian Martin explained how the number of grey seals has now increased to over 1,000 due to protected seal haul-out zones which protect the seals from any reckless or intentional harassment, especially during pupping season. Out and about, Gillian Martin has involved herself in raising debate about the seals, in beach cleans, and with meeting constituents who are concerned about the estuary.
The MSP Species Champion for the natterjack toad, Emma Harper MSP, talked about the importance of Mersehead Nature Reserve and Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve as extensive wetland and salt marsh areas. Both of these nature reserves are part of just a few locations in Scotland where the natterjack toad can be found. Wetlands are vital to the dune system and to the continued survival of the natterjack toad which depends on the dune pool habitats to survive. Emma Harper underlined the importance of protecting wetlands both to support biodiversity and to provide a habitat for endangered species such as the natterjack toad to avoid extinction.
The Species Champions initiative allows MSPs, such as Gillian Martin and Emma Harper to engage with and visit their species, to keep up to date on relevant conservation work and to stand up for their species in parliament. Over 100 MSPs have signed up to be champions for a range of animal and plant species, with more information available here.
Juliet Caldwell
Species Champion Coordinator at Scottish Environment Link
Many people in Scotland suffer from a polluted environment, particularly those in poorer communities, and, across Scotland, environmental crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, toxic air and plastic pollution are becoming ever more pressing. There is a growing and increasingly complex body of environmental law in Scots law – some of it world-leading – and at the EU and international level that attempts to address aspects of these problems.
However, the Scottish legal system makes it extremely difficult for citizens and NGOs to hold government and private bodies to account over harm to the environment. Scotland has a distinct and separate legal system from the rest of the UK and has lagged behind England and Wales in developing a public law culture that enables people and NGOs to access justice and pursue public interest litigation in general and specifically in relation to the environment. What is more, to date the Scottish Government has taken a half-hearted, piecemeal approach to implementing the UNECE Aarhus Convention’s requirements on access to justice, resulting in repeated rulings of non-compliance from the Convention’s Compliance Committee.
In March 2018, Scottish Environment LINK commissioned a feasibility report , which found evidence that, in Scotland, people and communities struggle to identify their legal rights and how to exercise them. Ten detailed case studies demonstrate a breadth of issues relating to unenforced planning and environmental law, and the barriers people faced in trying to access justice for their communities and the environment. These include communities blighted by opencast mining; landfill sites; incinerators; loss of greenbelt and public amenity; air and water pollution. The playing field is very far from level when it comes to engaging in the planning system – the route by which people generally encounter environmental law – with the resources and experience developers can rely on far outweighing what communities can hope to access.
Significant barriers of cost, uncertainty and technicalities exist for professional environmental NGOs as well as communities and individual citizens in terms of exercising legal rights. Even environmental NGOs in Scotland have very limited legal capacity, with inhouse lawyers almost unheard of in the sector.
This is why Scottish Environment LINK is working to establish an Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, as a means of tackling these interlinked, systemic problems. In July 2019, LINK was delighted to be awarded funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to set one up. This is funding to kick start the initiative over the next 3 years, and fundraising is underway to meet the funding gap in future years.
The work is overseen by LINK Legal Strategy Group who worked with LINK staff to appoint two new staff members: Shivali Fifield, ERCS Development Manager and Ian Cowan, ERCS Programme Manager. Both staff start in their new roles on 20 January 2019.
The purpose of this new centre is to: • deliver public legal education enabling individuals, communities and eNGOs to understand better and access their legal rights and responsibilities in relation to the environment; • offer advice and assistance on planning and environmental law to individuals, communities and eNGOs; • advocate for reform for a legal system that is fit for purpose, including compliance with the UNECE Aarhus Convention, as environmental law becomes increasingly complex and environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution become increasingly pressing; and • pursue strategic litigation where necessary to secure progress on key environmental issues.
In working to achieve this long term purpose, our short term plan is to establish a stand-alone SCIO (a form of Scottish charity) with its own Board of Trustees to oversee the work of the Centre. When this is up and running, management of the Centre will transfer from LINK to the new body.
At the same time, Shivali and Ian will focus on developing and agreeing a strategy for the Centre’s development, including its phased establishment and growth. It is clear that our purpose will not be achieved on day one! This strategy will also address the recruitment of Trustees and fundraising for the medium and longer-term.
Why do we need an Environmental Rights Centre in Scotland?
Environmental democracy in Scotland There is a gap in access to affordable legal services in public interest environmental law in Scotland and this is one of the issues that leaves Scotland in breach of the Aarhus Convention. The Aarhus Convention aims to protect the human right to a clean and healthy environment. It recognises this right, and a corresponding duty for people “to protect and improve the environment”. Successive Scottish Governments have failed to address this is in a comprehensive or adequate manner.
Central to this is that affordability of advice and representation is the major barrier to access to environmental justice in Scotland. LINK’s Governance Matters report noted how the costs of environmental litigation have meant that most citizens or non-governmental organisations simply could not afford to take cases challenging the Government’s application of the law to the Court of Session – especially where taking such a case was likely to result in the need for an onwards appeal. For example, the John Muir Trust’s unsuccessful judicial review of the Stronelairg windfarm development led to the Trust owing £539,000 to the Scottish Government and developer SSE. This was eventually negotiated to £125,000.
Current problems with the planning system in Scotland also limit environmental democracy in Scotland: evidence collated in LINK’s Rhetoric to reality report show that communities feel excluded; the planning system is seen as biased in favour of developers; planning authorities take decisions contrary to their plan and their planners’ advice. Planning appeal rights in Scotland exist only for those making applications for planning permission. Applicants can appeal refusals of planning permission, whereas communities, who may be directly affected by planning decisions, cannot appeal permissions. The only route for communities to challenge planning decisions is through judicial review, which is unaffordable for all but a wealthy few. What’s more, judicial review is a largely procedural process which focusses on legality and does not address the substance of a decision. LINK member, Planning Democracy, argues for an ‘equal right of appeal’ – whereby communities should also have the right to appeal decisions which affect them.
There is also a looming environmental governance gap as we face Brexit and with it the loss of oversight of EU institutions such as the European Court. Given the unaffordability of and lack of environmental specialism in the Scottish Courts this poses a real risk. An Environmental Rights Centre can help advocate for robust environmental disputes mechanisms, including the option for a new Environmental Court for Scotland.
Promoting environmental protection and sustainability Systemic substantive environmental problems persist in Scotland, particularly in relation to air and water pollution, wildlife crime and biodiversity. The 2019 State of Nature report reflects the scale of the issue in Scotland, to which an urgent response is required. In addition, there are a number of ongoing and impending constitutional developments, which require expertise and advocacy to protect and improve environmental law. These include devolution and the development of ‘Scottish environmental law’, the threats of lower environmental standards and a ‘governance gap’ after Brexit and the need for new fora to hear environmental disputes in Scotland.
While environmental law centres exist in England and Wales, Environmental law in Scotland is different. The unique legal situation in Scotland requires legal specialism – and effective law reform or campaigning work requires an understanding of the Scottish political context.
Economic benefits The UK Law Centre Network has contracted several research projects on the economic benefits of law centres. The 2014 ‘Funding for Law Centres’ report found that law centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland deliver several positive economic outcomes. Their use of early intervention and advice avoids costs in the justice system by preventing court actions, and their use of negotiated solutions for clients helps to avoid the social costs associated with outcomes such as evictions, bankruptcy and forced deportations. It found that the pure fiscal benefits of law centres amount to at least twice the amount for which they are funded. In addition to this, it found that Law Centres create a number of non-quantifiable wider economic benefits to society.
Our aim in launching the new ERCS in January is to build a sustainable mechanism to address these issues at a time of crucial importance for the environment, not just in Scotland but across the world.
Contributors to this article: Mary Church (Friends of the Earth Scotland), Dr Deborah Long (Scottish Environment LINK), and Lloyd Austin (LINK Honorary Fellow)
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