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The LINK newsletter The quarterly update from Scottish Environment LINK Autumn 05
Scotland's SEA Bill-a welcome milestone
on the road to sustainability The Strategic Environmental Assessment
legislation passed through Stage 3 on 9 November 2005, the final consideration
in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament. Planning-the campaign continues In the wake of the woeful democratic deficit implicit in the Planning White Paper LINK and the Association of Scottish Community Councils joined forces under the everyone banner to Stand up for Real Rights in the planning process. The campaign centres on a petition which will run until the end of the year. Already thousands have signed the e-petition from the website and signatures are arriving back from numerous NGO members and others who have been angered and concerned by the fact that 86% of respondents to the Scottish Executive's 2004 consultation in favour of a limited third party right of appeal have been effectively ignored. The petition calls upon the Scottish Parliament to seek to secure real rights for all in the planning system by ensuring that the forthcoming Planning Bill will:
Public support for the LINK/ASSC position was evident during the Communities
Day Marine LINK was pleased at the opportunity to put forward two senior representatives to the Environment Minister's High Level Marine Group, which will develop the Executive's Strategy for the long-term sustainability of Scotland's Coasts, the content of which LINK fully supports. Lloyd Austin (LINK Chair) and Richard Dixon (WWF Scotland) will represent LINK on this group which first meets on 14 November and will report by September 2006. The requirement for new legislation is central to its agenda as is Marine Spatial Planning, Marine Protected Areas, and more, all key to the LINK Marine Task Force's focus over several years. LINK has three delegates on Scottish Natural Heritage's stakeholder group developing proposals for Scotland's first Coastal and Marine National Park (CMNP), which meets between September and December. Rebecca Boyd (Joint Marine Project officer for SWT and WWF Scotland), Robin Turner (Historic Environment TF) and Ian McCall (Access Network) between them cover a breadth of interests within the LINK membership. A briefing Coastal and Marine National Parks-Scotland's opportunity outlining the views of many LINK member organisations was produced for the group and is available on the LINK website. LINK co-hosted a useful seminar on 4 November to further explore the cultural heritage aspects of a CMNP. In October LINK stood down from the steering group of the Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative, a decision made on the basis of the value of continued LINK input now that the pilot projects are up and running, although member bodies will continue to be involved with these projects as they develop at local level. The SSMEI project will report to the new Ministerial High Level Marine Group. LINK will follow progress and comment within that forum. LINK hosted a seminar on 7 September to share the experience
of pioneering Marine Reserves in New Zealand, demonstrating their value
to fisheries, tourism and marine wildlife alike. Maureen McMillan MSP
chaired the discussions with guest speaker Bill Ballantine which generated
some cross party interest in marine protected areas. Richard Dixon (WWF Scotland) and Kara Brydson (RSPB
Scotland) represented LINK at the inaugural meeting of the Minister's
Sea Fisheries Advisory Group on 12 October. Working groups will be taking
forward specific actions in the Sea Fisheries strategy. The September
meeting of the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group accepted recommendations
on the geographical boundaries and constitution of the new Inshore Fisheries
Group, as proposed by the sub-group chaired by Kara Brydson. The Marine
TF was dismayed at the latest draft of the Industry Code of Good Practice
of the Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquaculture, which inadequately
reflects commitments already made in the Framework. LINK delegates Lloyd
Austin and Simon Milne (SWT) fed back concerns to the Ministerial Working
Group on Aquaculture. LINK Members' Congress The theme of the Members' Congress (25
& 26 November) is Engaging for Change; active citizens for a better
environment. Main speakers are Angela O' Hagan of Oxfam on the experience
of the Make Poverty History campaign and Struan Stevenson MEP on his experience
of being a 'target' of LINK's everyone European campaign in 2004. There
will be plenty of opportunity for discussion with panellists Pete Wishart
MP, Richard Dixon WWF Scotland, Francoise van Buuren, moved lately from
the NTS to the Cairngorms National Park, and Angela O'Hagan on hand to
give their experience and views. A wide range of guests have been invited
to take part and it promises to be a lively gathering. LINK is grateful to Perth & Kinross
Council and the Triodos Bank for financial support of Congress. This support
makes it possible to keeps costs down so that all categories of member
body can take part. In the Spring, LINK explored options for moving to
ethically based banking and begins a new relationship with the Triodos
Bank. New Corporate Strategy Over the last six months member bodies have reviewing their operations and relationships as LINK members and their priorities for working together for the next three years. Bruce Britton, of Framework Consultants, has overseen a very inclusive review and planning process with Informing our Future, involving workshops, interviews, and questionnaires. LINK's new Corporate Strategy 2006-09, with its strategic themes of making Scotland sustainable; providing a strong voice for the environment; and being an efficient accountable network; has been very well-received by member bodies and will be formally signed off at the Members' Congress. LINK is grateful to Awards for All for support towards the consultancy costs. Forward Planning LINK task forces, member bodies, trustees and staff came together on 25 October for the annual forward planning meeting, an opportunity for improving integration between 20+ different work areas and initiatives operating under LINK auspices. As recommended by Bruce Britton's review, there was greater evaluation and analysis of outcomes which will inform future work. Changes in staffing Alexandra Hopkinson has joined LINK's Edinburgh office
as Administrative Officer replacing Sam Murray who departed in April,
and has found her feet very quickly. Alex has additional responsibilities
for organising elements of Scottish Environment Week. Jane Herbstritt,
formerly of the Scottish Civic Forum, joined LINK from November as Parliamentary
Officer, replacing Jessica Pepper who has moved to WWF Scotland. In her
five years with LINK Jess's contribution to the quality of LINK's relationship
with Parliament has been outstanding, as has her contribution to LINK's
development. We wish her very well. Task Force Updates Access LINK Access Network organised a seminar in Stirling on 10 September for recreation interests involved in Local Access Forums and is considering future events of this type. Network members meet on 11 November to assess how implementation of the access legislation is progressing. Agriculture The focus this quarter continued to be engagement with the SEERAD Land Management Contract (LMC) and Scottish Rural Development Partnership (SRDP) process. LINK has three places on the SRDP stakeholder group, which first met in August, and is represented also on sub-groups developing priorities for the new SRD plan. This consultation is expected in November. Also, the TF has made written submissions to SEERAD on the review of the Rural Stewardship Scheme and on LINK's priorities for Tier 3 content. The TF commissioned the Macaulay Institute to undertake an audit of Scotland's farmed environment in 2005. The audit will be published within the next few months, and will inform LINK input to the SRDP consultation. Biodiversity
The TF has completed a quantative
assessment of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Implementation Plans
to assess progress of all the Plans on an annual basis and the progress
towards achieving the 2010 government targets of halting loss of biodiversity.
The LINK TFs involved in the various Implementation Plan sub-groups have
contributed to the evaluation and monitoring protocol. The first report
will be available on the LINK website from early December. The TF plans
to meet civil servants shortly to discuss the content of the report and
will issue a briefing for MSPs. Climate Publication of the Scottish Climate Change Programme (SCCP) is expected by November and input to this has been the main focus for TF members. Briefings on several key areas are in preparation and climate change views prepared for submissions to strategic government consultations on forestry, agriculture, energy and transport. The updated LINK Climate Action Plan is on the LINK website. The Scottish Executive Climate Team met the TF as part of the consultation on the review of the SCCP to discuss target setting and environmental assessment of the Programme, and LINK has agreed to participate in the EA of the Programme. LINK is on the stakeholder group for the Programme Review and it is expected that this group will continue to meet once the Programme has been published. A TF sub-group including TRANSform Scotland and convened by John Lauder (Sustrans) met on 31 October to prepare a contribution for the forthcoming consultation on a national Transport Strategy and the plan to set up national and regional transport authorities. In September LINK participated and assisted with the launch of the Stop Climate Chaos movement in Scotland, a coalition of environment, development, faith-based and other organisations campaigning to limit climate change. The TF maintains close liaison with members of the SCC in Scotland. Deer The LINK Deer Group has been formally constituted as a task force, with Duncan Orr-Ewing (RSPB Scotland) as convenor, and a further ten LINK organisations as members. The TF has been carrying out some initial fact finding work, and has met Scottish Natural Heritage and the Deer Commission for Scotland. Regular bi-lateral meetings are established with both organisations. At the initial meeting with DCS LINK presented a paper on Collaborative Deer Management, which will almost certainly be developed into a public document for wider circulation. The TF workplan is likely to revolve around the promotion of Sustainable Deer Management and encouraging the DCS/SNH "priority sites process" to help SNH ensure that 80% of the special features on our nationally important designated sites are in favourable condition by 2008. The TF has been involved in some press work in relation to the proposed DCS/SNH management measures to reduce deer numbers in the Caenlochan area of the Cairngorms. FORGE The Fundraisers' task force met in September and exchanged information about a wide range of funding opportunities and planned speakers to invite for future meetings. The guest speaker was Philip Raines from the Scottish Executive who gave a very useful update about EU Structural Funds and the post 2006 situation. The next meeting on 7 December in Edinburgh will hear from Danyal Sattar of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation on recent changes to the Foundation's priorities. FORGE bade a fond farewell to Alan Drever who retired from Scottish Native Woods at the end of September. He will be missed, and FORGE meetings definitely won't be the same without him. Thanks from us all for Alan's considerable contribution over many years. Freshwater The TF engaged with the consultation by the Water Industry Commissioner on the Strategic Review of Charges 2006 - 10 for Scottish Water, which proposes a 70% reduction in the spending allocated to Scottish Water to invest in the environment. The TF response made a case for the designation of the new Water Industry Commission (economic regulator for Scottish Water) as a responsible authority being a necessary step to achieve sustainable water services in Scotland. The TF responded to the SEERAD discussion paper on designating 'responsible authorities' under the Water Environment and Water Services Act, and discussed the issue with officials from the SE Water Division. The TF, in tandem with the Agriculture TF, has engaged with the Scottish Executive's Agricultural Division in CAP/LMCs reform reviews, and will participate in the LMCs working group on natural resources. The TF has also joined an SE working group on the proposed Fisheries Bill. Historic Environment Robin Turner (NTS) representing the Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS), has been invited to join the Historic Scotland steering group responsible for the new Heritage Audit for Scotland. The Audit has been the focus of the TF since 2001; with the Heritage Audit now progressing the LINK and BEFS members will meet mid-November to discuss how best to influence and assist this process. Landscape The TF met in August and October. LINK has requested a meeting with the Deputy Environment Minister to establish what steps the Scottish Executive is taking on landscape legislation. The TF began a programme of inviting speakers from bodies that effect the Scottish landscape with two landscape architects from the Forestry Commission taking part this quarter. TF members have been engaged in the Beauly-Denny power line Environmental Statement, and some have placed objections to extension of the Glensanda superquarry. Planning The TF is meeting regularly to implement the plan of action in response to the Planning White Paper. The LINK response to the White Paper has been submitted. Meetings with MSPs, civil servants and researchers have been held to discuss LINK's concerns and proposals. Anne McCall sits on a Scottish Executive steering group undertaking a Strategic Environmental Assessment of NPPG 6 on Renewables. Sustainable Scotland The TF met the Scottish Executive Sustainable Development Team in September to discuss the forthcoming sustainable development strategy and LINK priorities for inclusion. A briefing for MSPs will be prepared for the Parliamentary debate on the strategy. Dan Barlow (WWF Scotland) takes over from Richard Dixon (WWFS) as convenor of the TF. Woodlands
The TF met Bob McIntosh, Hugh Clayden and Gordon Patterson from the Forestry
Commission Scotland to discuss LINK priorities for the review of the Scottish
Forestry Strategy. This was followed up with the submission of a 'mini
manifesto' for the review and response
to the consultation. The TF will also be participating in the Strategic
Environment Assessment process for the strategy.
News and Views from Members The following contributions are from LINK member bodies and guest contributors
Andrew Raven- An Appreciation, by Bob Aitken, LINK Honorary Fellow
It was through the JMT that Andrew first appeared in LINK in his role as a JM Trustee, and from 1995 as JMT Director of Land Management. He made an immediate impact that was sustained until 1998 when-his talents and breadth of experience having been rapidly recognised by the Powers That Be-he moved on to take up a sheaf of public appointments after Devolution. LINK being LINK, there were early suspicious rumblings about his landowning background, instantly quelled by Andrew's fiercely positive and practical contributions through Task Forces and general meetings. Land reform and the Millennium Forest were only two of a wide range of issues to which he gave freely of his energy and experience. A large presence in his familiar well-worn tweed sports jacket, NHS-style glasses, and usually tousled hair, Andrew sometimes resembled a genial bear, but in meetings he was intensely focused and incisive. It is true that he could also be abrasive, with a streak of what some felt could be intellectual arrogance, but that usually emerged only when he was arguing hard in a cause for which he felt passionately and wanted to get to the heart of the matter. At a personal level he was a man of profound consideration and kindness. With Simon Pepper, Michael Scott, and
Kevin Dunion, Andrew not only made a fundamental contribution to LINK,
helping to develop its policy, its ethos, and its standing in the radically
changing Scottish political scene of the past decade, but then went on
to promulgate the Faith through a major role in public bodies. He had
already achieved so much for conservation and for the modernisation of
Scottish land management in the post-Devolution dispensation that it is
deeply poignant to consider how radical an influence he might have exercised
had he been given another twenty years to realise his full capacity. One Planet Scotland? If everyone in the world consumed at the rate we do, we would need three planets to survive. But now the UK Government is committed to a One Planet Economy through One future - different paths - The UK's shared framework for sustainable development. The forthcoming Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy (expected November 2005) should tell us more about how the Scottish Executive plans to move Scotland towards one planet living. The Ecological Footprint analysis can inform policies to ensure they help move us in the right direction. For example, in a recent report for the Welsh Assembly Government, the following scenarios showed real footprint reductions are possible:
WWF believes the Scottish Executive should adopt the Ecological Footprint as one of a set of headline sustainable development indicators. It is the best available indicator to tell us if we are living within environmental limits. Secondly, it should use the analysis to inform policies in the areas of energy, food, waste, transport and education to achieve footprint reduction. Scotland's Global Footprint Project is already testing the footprint as an indicator and policy tool in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and North Lanarkshire Councils. The councils will set out how they are going to reduce their area's footprint in Spring 2006. Meanwhile, the project is taking its exciting interactive exhibit - The Footprint Shopper - to various venues around Scotland (it appeared at the SSN conference Achieving More - Using Less on 27-28 October and at the Green Party Conference on 5 November). The Shopper scans products like potatoes, ready meals, and light bulbs and gives a message about the footprint impact and what an individual can do to tread more lightly on the planet. The SSN conference on sustainable consumption and production had a special session on the ecological footprint on October 28 with speakers from the Global Footprint Network and the Stockholm Environment Institute. If you weren't able to make it - view the presentations at the SSN website. In January 2006, ecological footprint results for all local authority
areas in the UK will be made publicly available through the Ecological
Budget UK project and the Stockholm Environment Institute. If you want
to register your local authority's interest in using footprint as a policy
tool, please see
the website www.ecologicalbudget.org.uk Sustainable Development Education Update Over the last twelve months the Sustainable Development Education (SDE) Policy Network (of which several LINK organisations are members) has been lobbying hard and we are pleased to report that the Scottish SDE agenda has taken a few small but significant steps forward. In November 2004 the Scottish Executive Education Department published 'A Curriculum for Excellence' setting out proposed changes to the 3-18 schools curriculum. In the Ministerial Response sustainable development is identified as an "in-depth activity which extends across and beyond subjects" that should "lie at the heart of the curriculum, not as (an) add-on". This is the first ever commitment to sustainable development education in schools and this commitment was further reinforced when Peter Peacock, Minister for Education, set out his sustainable development action plan at the annual SDE Network conference in June. Members of the Network are continuing to work with the Executive to ensure that these commitments are turned into action when the new curriculum comes into force in 2007. Earlier this year we submitted an amendment to the Further and Higher Education Funding Bill to include an obligation for universities and colleges to have regard for sustainable development. The amendment was approved and the Bill passed in April. This is another sustainable development first in Scottish education and puts sustainable development on the same footing as the economic and skills needs of Scotland. The Network will be following this issue closely to monitor the extent to which Further and Higher Education Institutions take this on board. As the publication of the Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy gets closer we were pleased to hear that 'Learning to live differently' will form an overarching part of the Strategy. Following the publication of the Strategy, the Network are planning to hold a seminar for MSPs focusing on the new knowledge, understanding and skills sustainable development will require. Over the next twelve months we will continue to work to ensure that sustainable development lies at the heart of education and education lies at the heart of sustainable development. Recent changes at the John Muir Trust The John Muir Trust exists to protect and conserve wild places and to increase awareness and understanding of the value of such places. The Trust has been through some significant changes lately - both in its areas of work and its staffing. The Trust believes that working with local communities to secure the preservation and enhancement of wild land is critical. So the Trust was delighted to help the Assynt Foundation this year in raising the funds for a community buyout at Assynt and, also, to be part of an ongoing management team for the area. JMT is also working in partnership with other trusts which have resulted from community buyouts - the North Harris Trust and the Knoydart Foundation. Alongside these partnership activities, the John Muir Trust has very recently increased its land ownership with the acquisition, thanks to an anonymous benefactor, of Quinag which lies to the north of the Assynt estate. Before JMT bought the land, talks were held with local communities to ascertain that they were not intending to buy the land. This addition means that JMT is sole owner of nine estates which include some of the most beautiful wild land in Britain. The expansion in activity has also led to a need for more staff to ensure that the properties are managed to enhance their wild land attributes. To help with land management and also to work closely with communities, two new Partnership Managers have joined the Trust - Kirsty Leitch, based in Pitlochry, and Mick Blunt, based in Lewis. To help ensure that the Trust's voice is heard in policy consultations and debates, a new Policy Officer, Helen McDade, has also recently joined the team.
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