Scottish Environment LINK welcomes the Scottish government’s update of the National Performance (NPF) indicators which takes us closer to realising the full potential of the NPF as a tool for measuring progress towards sustainable development.
“NPF is key to measuring government performance against quality of life and the state of our natural environment as well as economic indicators, and tracking progress towards sustainable development. Including indicators to measure the state of Scotland’s natural capital and ecosystems as well as accessibility to green spaces is therefore a step in the right direction”, said Deborah Long of Plantlife, member of LINK’s Economics Group. “However, to ensure that environment indicators such as the Natural Capital Index are a valuable addition to the NPF indicator suite, further investment is needed to measure the status of biodiversity at the base of ecosystems, such as flowering plants and pollinators. Our members are committed to supporting the Scottish government in this respect and will work with officials to roll out current and proposed monitoring schemes for plants and pollinators wherever possible”.
LINK members support the NPF and are confident that by incorporating social, economic and environmental metrics, it will be able to accurately measure Scotland’s transition towards a more sustainable and fair society. The addition of new indicators on underemployment and the living wage will give us a fuller picture of our economy and how it is contributing to wellbeing. Further progress could be made by incorporating indicators that tell us about the impact of our consumptive lifestyle in terms of the raw materials that we consume from around the world. This would also be in line with Scotland’s circular economy ambitions.
As indicated in LINK’s Holyrood 2016 manifesto, we hope that in the next parliament Scottish political parties will continue supporting an ambitious NPF that can tell us whether the policies and legislation we adopt are helping us make progress towards a sustainable Scotland.
Download the full press release here.
Contact details
Phoebe Cochrane, LINK Sustainable Economics Policy Officer at phoebe@scotlink.org or 0131 243 2723/ 07419 373320
Daphne Vlastari, LINK Advocacy Officer at daphne@scotlink.org or 0131 225 4345
Scottish Environment LINK is the forum for Scotland’s voluntary environment community, with over 35 member bodies representing a broad spectrum of environmental interests with the common goal of contributing to a more environmentally sustainable society.
LINK is a Scottish Charity (SC000296) and a Scottish Company Limited by guarantee (SC250899). LINK is core funded by Membership Subscriptions and by grants from Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Government and Charitable Trusts.
Visit us at ukvps3.ie-dev.co.uk/scotlink-wordpress/ or follow us on @ScotLINK
For more information visit about the NPF updates please visit: http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/NPFChanges#2016 refresh