Last week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP and Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater announced that their respective parties would hold ‘formal talks’ on a potential cooperation agreement. The SNP-Green Party talks represent an exciting opportunity for the new government to prioritise nature’s recovery by adopting statutory Nature Recovery Targets – but it won’t happen without your help.
The SNP manifesto makes a welcome commitment to introduce a new Biodiversity Strategy for Scotland by autumn 2022. However, the ultimate success of that strategy will depend heavily on whether the government adopts legally binding Nature Recovery Targets – commonly referred to as statutory targets. While the SNP manifesto makes no public commitment to statutory targets, the Scottish Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green manifestos back legally binding targets. With cross-party support already evident in parliament, this is the ideal opportunity for the new government to demonstrate real commitment to delivering for Scotland’s nature by agreeing to statutory targets. By writing to your SNP and Green MSPs, asking that they recognise the emerging consensus and commit to statutory Nature Recovery Targets in their negotiations, we can revive nature in Scotland and make an important contribution to global restoration.
You can find the name, party affiliation and email address for your constituency and list MSPs by entering your postcode into the Scottish Parliament ‘Find MSP by postcode’ search tool. Almost everyone is represented by a Green or SNP MSP in their constituency or on the regional list. Once you’ve identified your Green and SNP MSPs, download our template email below, allowing you to contact each MSP individually and speak up for nature in a matter of minutes.
You can find out more about the benefits of legally binding Nature Recovery Targets in this blog.