November 27th, 2024 by moragA coalition of environmental charities has welcomed the publication of Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity that outlines the Scottish government’s action plan to halt and reverse nature loss.
This strategy and accompanying delivery plan, alongside the Natural Environment Bill and legal targets for nature recovery, sets the stage for urgent action to address Scotland’s biodiversity crisis.
Scotland has suffered a high historic level of nature loss and faces even greater threats to the environment today. Urgent, transformative action is needed to restore nature and to ensure Scotland is resilient in the face of climate change.
Key measures included in the plan include a programme of ecosystem restoration, action to protect threatened species, and ambitious deer management measures.
Members of Scottish Environment LINK are committed to supporting the implementation of the strategy, but they stress that success will depend on strong leadership, effective collaboration, clear targets and dedicated funding.
Alistair Whyte, Head of Plantlife Scotland and Convener of LINK’s Wildlife Group, said:
“Scotland has endured significant historic nature loss, and the threats to our environment are greater than ever today. It is vital that we act now to protect and restore our precious natural environment, not only for ourselves but for future generations.
“This framework outlines ambitious steps to restoring nature and, by introducing statutory targets, Scotland will acknowledge that nature restoration is as urgent and vital as other climate action.
“However, reaching these ambitions will require increased investment and clear leadership from right across government, such as through agricultural reform.**
“To succeed, we need a whole-of-society approach. Communities, landowners, businesses, and industries must come together as stewards of our land and seas. By working collectively, we can restore nature and create a greener, fairer, and more prosperous Scotland for everyone.”
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** This Delivery Plan outlines what Scottish Government will do between now and 2030, but to reach the 2030 milestone, whole society buy in and delivery will be needed. Enabling this to happen will be a litmus test for this strategy.
Image: Sandra Graham
The Scottish Government must protect spending on the natural environment in its upcoming budget, campaigners have said.
The call comes after it was announced that the Scottish Government will receive an additional £3.4 billion in funding following the UK budget.
Earlier this year Scottish Ministers were criticised after money allocated to councils for nature restoration and flood prevention projects were diverted to fund pay settlements.
The in-year cut followed other cuts to environmental spending, including significant cuts to the Forestry Grant Scheme which funds woodland creation, and to nature funding available to farmers.
Recent polling commissioned by Scottish Environment LINK found that 8 in 10 people in Scotland have noticed environmental harm in their local area.
Deborah Long, Chief Officer at Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“Scotland loves nature, and people expect government to act to protect the environment around them.
“But government can’t tackle the climate and nature crises with shrinking budgets.
“After the UK budget we now have certainty that the Scottish Government can more than afford to protect environmental spending in real terms.
“The First Minister has been clear that protecting the environment is a priority for his government – that needs to be reflected when we see the Scottish budget next month.”
Jo Pike, Chief Executive at Scottish Wildlife Trust, added:
“Direct spending on nature is tiny compared to its importance in our lives. Nature is our life support system, the foundation of our society and economy, and a vital part of tackling climate change. But nature is in decline and we urgently need more investment to help it recover. Key budgets have been squeezed in recent years and the reality is that every day we delay finding the investment, the more expensive it becomes to find solutions.
“Helping nature recover will deliver a huge number of benefits for people, communities and Scotland as a whole.”
Find out more about the Scotland Loves Nature campaign
Image: Ross MacDonald / SNS Group
A coalition of environmental charities are calling for the Scottish government to allocate the money in its new farm funding system in a way which encourages farmers and crofters to adopt climate and nature-friendly practices. This follows a consultation from the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), a Scottish government group supporting the reform of agricultural policy.
The charities, part of the coalition Scottish Environment LINK, have argued consistently for 75% of the farming budget to be allocated to Tiers 2, 3 and 4 of its new funding system. They argue that this will be more effective in driving forward the profitability and sustainability of the sector than the current budget, which does not encourage enough environmentally friendly agriculture practices.
Given that the Scottish government has decided to allocate 70% of the budget to direct support in Tiers 1 and 2, it’s essential that at least 50% of that budget now goes to Tier 2 to support climate and nature friendly practices, as set out in the SNP’s 2021 election manifesto.
Scottish Environment LINK supports NFU Scotland’s call for a larger farm budget to support Scotland’s farmers and crofters to do more for nature and climate while still producing as much food for people.
Convener of Scottish Environment LINK’s Food and Farming group, Pete Ritchie, said:
“Farmers and crofters want to do more for nature and climate. Making at least 50% of the direct support payment conditional on good environmental practices would reward those farmers and crofters who are already doing the right thing. And it would provide a strong incentive for those farmers who haven’t yet made the transition to more environmentally friendly practices to step up to the plate and deliver more for climate and nature with the public money they receive.”
Co-director of Soil Association Scotland and Vice-Convener of LINK’s Food and Farming group, David McKay said:
“The government’s own analysis shows the current funding system is not an effective use of public money, so it needs to change. That means targeting payments towards measures that we know can help to deliver on the headline policy objectives to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate, restore nature, improve animal health and welfare and produce high quality food.”
Vicki Swales, Head of Land Use Policy at RSPB Scotland said:
“Farmers and crofters are in the front-line of climate change and nature loss and many are already experiencing the impacts of these on food production and their livelihoods. Without using a larger share of farm funding to support a shift to nature and climate friendly farming methods, many more farm businesses will become increasingly vulnerable to present and future shocks.”
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Image: Yellowhammer – © Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
The benefits National Park status brings for farmers operating within them have been set out in a new report published today and commissioned by Scottish Environment LINK. Scottish Ministers have committed to the designation of a new National Park for Scotland by 2026, and in July confirmed that Galloway is their proposed location. This report builds on a LINK report published two weeks ago, which looked at the wider socio-economic benefits National Parks bring.
Farm businesses in Scotland’s two existing National Parks – Cairngorms and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs, both designated more than 20 years ago – have access to the full range of support available to farmers elsewhere in the country, but both National Parks have also set up additional support funds to help businesses succeed in line with the Parks’ wider social, economic and environmental objectives. These funding streams are backed by external sources specific to National Park Authorities, from the Scottish Government and other external funders, including lottery funding.
These funds include the Cairngorms 2030 Future Farming Initiative and the Nature Restoration fund offered by Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority. Some of the grants they provide support marketing measures, some help deliver nature restoration projects, and others support the development of high value farming income streams in ways that fit the objectives of the National Park.
In addition, operating within a National Park brings marketing opportunities, such as the special branding available to food producers working in the Cairngorms, which is used by more than 200 companies.
Many farm businesses – inside and outwith National Parks – have diversified to include accommodation, recreation and other tourism-based revenue streams, and both existing National Parks Authorities work to support these objectives, while sensitively managing visitor numbers. Both National Parks have the resources from the Scottish Government to employ countryside rangers, deliver suitable signage, invest in bike trails and car parks, and to encourage responsible tourism within our most iconic landscapes.
Deborah Long, Director of Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“In Scotland, National Parks are intended to protect and enhance the special qualities of an area’s landscape, including both natural and cultural heritage. Scotland has very little true wilderness, and in many cases, those special qualities are a result of the way the land has been used and worked for many generations by farmers, crofters and other land managers.
“A key objective of our National Parks, existing and future, is therefore to support farming and other food production. Farmers working in both the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Parks have access to the same funds as farmers elsewhere, but on top of that, additional money is made available within them for work which supports the National Parks’ aims.”
Kat Jones, Director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland, said:
“One of the key roles of National Park Authorities is around planning, helping to support the right projects coming forward and approving them accordingly. The result is that businesses and residents in Scotland’s existing National Parks actually have a slightly higher chance of getting planning permission than those elsewhere in the country.
“One of the reasons for this is that – in law – a majority of a National Park Authority’s board must be local, either as councillors, or as local residents elected directly. This local control is what drives the success of our existing National Parks, and will do for those designated in future, including in Galloway.”
Neil Picken, who has a 330 acre farm on the Solway coast, within the area currently under consideration for the proposed Galloway National Park, said:
“A National Park will bring investment to the area, and we need to bring in well-paid jobs to stop our young people leaving. Schools are shutting for lack of pupils. We can sit back and do nothing but this is our golden chance to do something different.
“National Parks are successful worldwide, we need to grasp this opportunity. We need to get people back on the land and in the villages.”
“Now there’s opportunities to discuss with NatureScot, and we need to take these, it’s far better to engage than to oppose as there are so many possibilities for win-wins. We need people on the ground getting involved with making the policies and getting proactive to make a success of this opportunity.”
Read the report
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Image: Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority
A new report published today, commissioned by Scottish Environment LINK, considers the socio-economic benefits of Scotland’s National Parks for businesses working within them. Scottish Ministers are currently considering whether to designate Galloway as Scotland’s third National Park.
Scotland’s two existing National Parks are long-established, giving a good evidential basis for considering their economic impacts – Loch Lomond and the Trossachs was designated in 2002, and Cairngorms a year later. Between them they generate an annual economic benefit of more than £700m, which is more than 30 times the resource provided to them by the Scottish Government. While not all that economic impact will be directly associated with National Park status, studies in the US and Finland have shown that funding for National Parks has generated a 10 to 1 economic return on investment.
This outcome aligns with one of the four statutory aims for National Parks Authorities, established under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, which is to “promote sustainable economic and social development of the area’s communities”.
Combined, Scotland’s two National Parks directly provide around 250 jobs, across a diverse range of roles, many requiring professional qualifications and practical skills and experience. This broadens the employment options in rural areas and supports the new types of jobs and skills needed to tackle the climate and nature crises, including countryside rangers, planners, archaeologists and education officers.
Scotland’s National Park Authorities have been instrumental in supporting the development of affordable housing in their areas. 62% of homes built in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs between 2018 and 2022 were affordable, well above Scottish Ministers’ national target of 25%, and Cairngorms National Park has a target of 75% new homes being affordable by 2030.
Over a similar period an average of 94.1% of planning applications were approved across Scotland: this was marginally exceeded by both National Park Authorities. The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority approved 94.3% of applications, while the Cairngorms National Park Authority approved 94.7%.
After twenty years, Scotland’s National Parks have broad backing from the public, too: 89% of those surveyed in 2022 supported a new National Park, with just 3% against.
Deborah Long, Director of Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“Scotland’s National Parks are all about supporting natural and cultural heritage, through conservation and restoration and through promoting responsible recreation and tourism. But they also, between them, bring significant sustainable economic and social development for communities in their areas. This should, we believe, be much more widely understood.
“With more than two decades of delivery across the Cairngorms and in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, the results speak for themselves. Our two National Parks deliver substantial economic benefits through direct employment, responsible tourism and other indirect income boosts for businesses operating within them. Fundamentally, they also deliver higher proportions of affordable new housing.
“A National Park is an opportunity for local communities, who always form the majority on a National Park Authority Board, to deliver across all these objectives as a whole. This report helps make the case not just for the designation of Galloway, currently under consideration by Ministers, but for further National Parks elsewhere in Scotland in the future.”
Nikki Sinclair, National Parks Strategy Project Manager for the Scottish Campaign for National Parks and for Action to Protect Rural Scotland, said:
“This report sets out how our existing National Parks deliver for people living and working in them, and for businesses based in them. It seems that residents of communities in iconic landscapes across Scotland have missed out, economically, over the two decades when not one new National Park was designated.
“Our National Parks do of course support the protection and restoration of nature, and this is likely to be the basis for the overwhelming public support for them. But the evidence is clear: the social and economic case for them is also strong.”
Craig Mills, CEO of the Cairngorms Business Partnership, said:
“Being part of the Cairngorms National Park significantly boosts local businesses by leveraging the park’s strong branding and reputation. We have found that this association helps our tourism businesses grow and attract new customers, bringing in valuable investment and development.
“A strong partnership has been built between our members and the National Park Authority as we work together to boost the appeal of the area and support the growth of the local economy.”
Morven Taylor, Acting Chief Executive Officer of The Communities Housing Trust, said:
“The Communities Housing Trust have worked on many affordable housing projects within the Cairngorms National Park Authority area.
“The National Park has demonstrated its determination to provide affordable housing in the park and we support their target of 75% of new housing being for social rental, mid-market rental and other affordable categories that provide affordability in perpetuity.
“Our own projects have housing tenures including low-cost home ownership with a Rural Housing Burden title condition to protect future affordability in perpetuity, Rent to Buy homes and protected discounted self-build plots. We have worked in partnership with many local community organisations and businesses to establish their housing requirements. Creating opportunities to make the local communities thrive and remain vibrant is at the heart of our work.”
Access the report
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Image: Sandra Graham
Commenting on the Programme for Government, Deborah Long, Chief Officer at Scottish Environment LINK, said:
“The First Minister’s commitment to introduce a Natural Environment Bill is great news for everyone who cares about Scotland’s environment.
“Through the Scotland Loves Nature campaign, more than 40 organisations had called on the Scottish Government to bring forward this Bill and to introduce legal targets to restore nature.
“Our call for legal nature targets is backed by three quarters of people in Scotland.
“Legal targets can help drive fundamental change in how we look after our environment, and we look forward to working with all parties as this Bill is progressed.
“It is also welcome that the Heat in Buildings Bill, a critical part of reaching our climate targets, has been confirmed.”
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Image: Colin Hattersley
NatureScot today announced the launch of new deer management incentive pilot schemes. Responding to this, Duncan-Orr Ewing, the Convener of LINK’s Deer Group said:
“We welcome the announcement of deer management incentives by NatureScot. In the absence of natural predators, deer populations need to be managed to prevent damage to habitats and species, and also for public health and safety reasons.
Sustainable deer management is critical to deliver native woodland expansion, peatland protection, and is consequently a critical theme for the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.
We have the highest deer populations on record of over 1 million animals so clearly new and innovative thinking is required to reduce deer numbers. Ultimately, we would like to see a national deer management incentives scheme building on these pilot schemes and applying the learning, however the announcement today is a very good first step.
It is right that the hard work deer managers do in in the public interest, often in difficult terrain and antisocial hours, is recognised and paid for.”
Three quarters of Scots back legal targets to restore nature
Leading environmental groups have today launched a new campaign calling on the Scottish government to bring forward legislation to protect nature.
The campaign, Scotland Loves Nature, is backed by 43 organisations, including RSPB Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and WWF Scotland.
The coalition are demanding the Scottish government introduce a Natural Environment Bill to bring in legal targets to restore nature. These targets would commit the Scottish government to preventing the extinction of wildlife and halting the decline of nature by 2030, and to make significant progress in restoring Scotland’s natural environment by 2045.
The health of Scotland’s natural environment has been in long-term decline, and today 1 in 9 species are threatened with extinction.
Ministers had previously committed to the proposed Bill, which has since been delayed. The campaign groups are calling on John Swinney to include the Natural Environment Bill in his upcoming Programme for Government, expected this September.
The campaign launch comes as a new opinion poll shows three quarters of Scots back legal nature targets.
The poll, conducted by Diffley Partnership, found that 74% of people in Scotland support legal targets to improve the natural environment, with only 11% opposed.
Deborah Long, chief officer of Scottish Environment LINK, commented:
“People in Scotland truly love nature, and they expect our government to take care of it.
“Nature makes an enormous difference to our wellbeing and quality of life, and a healthy natural environment is our first line of defence against climate change.
“Sadly our environment faces enormous challenges, and we risk losing some of our iconic species altogether. But we also know that nature can recover.
“The overwhelming majority of Scots back our call for legal targets for nature recovery.
“We are calling on the Scottish government to bring forward a Natural Environment Bill and get nature back on track.”
Campaigners have renewed calls for the Scottish government to deliver sustainable farming, as the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill passed into law yesterday evening.
Members of Scottish Environment LINK want the Scottish government to replace its outdated farm funding system with one that helps farmers and crofters produce food in ways that help tackle climate change and restore nature, and supports them in the transition to sustainable farming.
Farming is currently Scotland’s second biggest source of climate emissions, and a major cause of nature loss.
The bill passed yesterday will enable the Scottish government to create a new system of financial support for farmers and crofters, but lacks detail on how the farming budget will be spent and what it will achieve. The government has said it will produce a Rural Support Plan to set out how it will fund farming.
Campaigners are calling for at least three quarters of farm funding to be spent on helping nature and climate.
Under the current system, most funding is spent on area-based ‘direct payments’ which require farmers to meet only basic environmental conditions. The government’s own analysis shows that this is a poor use of public money, yet it has no clear plans for spending that money better.
Pete Ritchie, convenor of Scottish Environment LINK’s food and farming group and director of Nourish Scotland, said:
“Farming has to change, not only because the climate and nature crisis demands it, but because the market is changing. People want sustainably produced food, retailers are requiring sustainably produced food, and business as usual is no longer a viable option. By failing to set a clear direction of travel in this bill, the Scottish government is failing to help farmers adapt to that changing market.
“The Rural Support Plan must give farmers and crofters the clarity and support they need to act for nature and the climate. And public money for farming has finally to move away from paying people for how much land they have towards paying people for how well that land delivers what we all need – a stable climate and a healthy natural environment that will underpin our food security for generations to come.”
Image credit: Sandra Graham
A new report launched today urges action and sets out a comprehensive strategy for tackling the issue of invasive non-native species (INNS) in Scotland.
Invasive Non-native Species in Scotland: A Plan for Effective Action is published by Scottish Environment LINK and supported by a host of member organisations.
INNS constitute one of the five principal direct drivers of biodiversity loss globally, and in Scotland are among the biggest pressures on our biodiversity, with additional significant economic impacts.
The report shows that established INNS are spreading across marine, terrestrial and freshwater habitats in Scotland, with new INNS arriving every year. Although there are examples of action on INNS prevention, surveillance, eradication and control to date, success is patchy and best practice not always followed.
However, this report collates thinking across the environmental NGO network in Scotland to propose ten INNS response principles, which should be applied in all future initiatives and indicate how best practice can be defined, adopted and applied.
Additionally, specific high priority INNS issues are signalled in the report which should be targeted and prioritised as an essential and urgent element of the collective effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. These include the need for a national strategy for rhododendron ponticum management, and firm government-led action to prevent the incursion of grey squirrels into the Highlands.
Paul Walton, Head of Habitats and Species at RSPB Scotland and co-author of the report stated:
“We believe there is a series of basic key principles that, if adopted, can put Scotland at the forefront of tackling INNS.
“INNS represent a present and rapidly intensifying environmental pressure – but, with the right approach and the will to succeed, it is one that Scotland can effectively tackle.”
Read the report
Image: Bob Coyle
