LINK is all about its members. Set up in 1987, LINK exists to be the voice of Scotland’s voluntary environment sector and, as the sector, the voice for Scotland’s environment. In the last 37 years, LINK has amplified the voice of our members and brought the environment into the Scottish Parliament.
Our new strategy to 2030 shows how we plan to continue to do that over the next 6 years. It deliberately takes us to 2030, when the intergovernmental panels for both biodiversity and climate have set targets, to halt biodiversity loss and to reach net zero respectively.
Against a background of ongoing nature loss and ecosystem decline, policy obfuscation and rapidly changing ecosystems, the network takes heart from the advances Scotland has made, particularly through the recent forward thinking Bute House Agreement. The commitments in there have helped Scotland make some steps forward, although not yet enough. We look forward to 2030, determined to continue to work with all political parties to build in the very necessary wins that the environment needs. These wins are not limited to policy change but must extend into delivery of those policies so that the people of Scotland see real and effective change on the ground and at sea.
The more than half a million people who support our members expect nothing less of the sector. Working together, our vision at LINK is:
Scotland’s environment is Connected | Restored | Resilient |
Our society has nature at its heart, benefiting people, communities and the planet.
To reach our vision, our new strategy doubles down on our mission:
LINK supports our members to work together on agreed priorities, in order to effect environmental policy change and delivery in Scotland. We build partnerships that create irresistible momentum towards change.
Our new strategy puts in place the structures to enable us to do this. We have identified 6 key transformations that are required to meet today’s nature and climate challenges: these transformations focus on delivery to meet policy rhetoric, leadership, approaches to land and sea use that are nature and climate friendly, with a major role for the National Planning Framework on land and the National Marine Plan at sea, all centred on a justice approach to ensure a just transition to a climate and nature friendly world.
Our new strategy identifies the activities we, as a network, will need to do over the next 6 years to achieve these transformations. The key mechanisms we will be using centre on partnership working, identifying and building common ground, a clear focus on key issues with outcomes and impacts measuring our success and prioritisation to ensure our limited resources have maximum impact. The driving engines for these transformations are our working groups, led by members, with annual work plans and priorities agreed by members. These groups work together to tackle the key issues and actions needed for progress on land, at sea and across society.
We will also be building on our successes to date: with the nature and climate crises impacting on everyday life, LINK, with our members, has designed and delivered effective campaigns, that are able to bring people’s voices directly into Parliament on a range of issues from marine conservation, to a circular economy and farming policy. Over the last 4 years, these campaigns have provided momentum as well as enabling people from right across Scotland to get involved and have their voice heard. A great example was the book of messages we gave to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs with quotes from people describing the change they wanted to see her make to farming support. You can read the messages here.
Our Nature Champions initiative was 10 years old in 2023 and we celebrated its success at Parliament with a public exhibition. We will continue to support this initiative, bring a new cohort of politicians into much closer contact and understanding of species and habitats in 2026 after the next election, bringing nature right into the centre of Parliament.
But finally, the key driver for the success of our new strategy is our commitment to work in partnership. As a network, we know that we can and will achieve much more by working together. Our new strategy helps us scale this up, working beyond our membership and with other supporters and other networks, helping others become a voice for the environment and ensuring that all voices for the environment are heard. Our commitment to being inclusive, more equal and diverse by welcoming everyone into the sector is fundamental to how we work. The groundwork laid between 2022 – 2025 through LINK’s Nature for All project, forms a strong foundation for equality, diversity and inclusivity to be a strong thread through our work into the future.
Working in the LINK network proves John Muir’s observation that: when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
The environment is too important and too interconnected to tackle one issue at a time – and the only way we can tackle all the issues that need our urgent attention now, is by working together, one network supporting the infinite ecosystems of the planet. It is an ambitious vision but one that is utterly necessary for everyone in Scotland today and everyone who will live in Scotland in the future.
You can find our new strategy here.