31 January 2012, Scottish Environment Week

Explore the Environment Constituency Visits programme

As part of the Scottish Environment Festival programme, MSPs, their partners, children, staff and friends are invited to pick a visit(s) from the programme to a site in or near their constituency.

25 January 2012, LINK Climate Adaptation Taskforce

Five Principles for Adapting to a Changing Climate - LINK Position Statement

In 2013 the Scottish Government will publish a statutory Adaptation Programme. This is a requirement of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and will set out Government’s plans for how Scotland adapts to a changing climate.   LINK recommends that five principles are followed during the development of Scotland’s Adaptation Programme:
1. Develop knowledge – of climate impacts and the impacts of our adaptation actions – and then make decisions based on it.
2. Plan strategically - with a flexible, long-term view and in a joined-up integrated way.
3. Build resilience – in the infrastructure, systems and environment we currently have.
4. Accommodate and enable change – so people and wildlife can transition and thrive in new ways and in new places in response to climate changes and impacts.
5. Adapt sustainably – to avoid maladaptation and detrimental impacts on other elements of the environment.
 

18 January 2012, LINK Agriculture Taskforce

LINK Parliamentary Briefing for debate on CAP reform

CAP reform will to have a strong impact on how Scotland’s land is managed in the years to come. LINK continues to advocate that the allocation of public money should be based on the broadest range of public and environmental benefits. This is best achieved by approaching land management in an integrated, cross-boundary approach. Scottish Environment LINK, therefore, welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to ‘Getting the best from our land’ through using the Scottish Land Use Strategy. LINK believes that the resolution of land use conflicts can be helped by a Land Use Strategy that offers mechanisms and processes for dealing with land use conflicts.

16 January 2012, LINK

LINK Newsletter Winter 2011-12

Latest update covering the Members' Congress, some of the task forces, Local Government election preparation and Scottish Environment Festival, with articles from Planning Democracy, Stop Climate Chaos, Archaeology Scotland, the Forest Policy Group and the IUCN UK Peatlands Programme.

6 January 2012, LINK Woodlands Taskforce

LINK Response to the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group Call for Views

LINK believes that the resolution of land use conflicts can be helped by a Land Use Strategy that offers mechanisms and processes for dealing with land use conflicts.  LINK does not believe we have this yet but is hopeful that the LUS Action Plan will help to improve matters.  CAP reform will to have a strong impact on how Scotland’s land is managed in the years to come. LINK continues to advocate that the allocation of public money should be based on the broadest range of public and environmental benefits. This is best achieved by approaching land management in an integrated, cross-boundary approach. The importance of compliance with existing regulations, guidelines, standards and policies for the location and design of woodland expansion and forest management, can seem undervalued and poorly applied. LINK wishes to see stronger adherence to the existing standards and believes that better adherence would help to resolve conflicts in land use. LINK wishes to see more effective use of indicative land use and woodland expansion plans/strategies, which are designed to create habitat networks and landscapes that protect core priority sites, and integrate with other habitats and environmental features (including cultural assets) in a holistic landscape.

14 December 2011, LINK

Ross Finnie appointed President of LINK - press release

Scottish Environment LINK (the umbrella body for Scotland’s environmental NGOs) has announced that Ross Finnie is to become its next President. Mr Finnie was a MSP from 1999-2011 and Cabinet Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment between 1999 and 2007. He will take up post as LINK President early next year, continuing the excellent work of Dr Helen Zealley OBE, President since 2008.

9 December 2011, LINK Marine Taskforce

LINK response to the Sound of Barra possible Special Area of Conservation consultation

We strongly support the proposed designation of the Sound of Barra as a SAC and believe it would make an important contribution towards completion of the Natura 2000 network within UK waters. Furthermore, designation would contribute towards the creation of an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas as required under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. We also believe the bottlenose dolphin population found within the Sound of Barra should be considered as a feature for which the site is designated. We welcome the opportunity to comment on the proposal.

28 November 2011, LINK

Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth on Active Travel

LINK is concerned at the proposed decrease in funding levels for walking and cycling within the draft Budget. This reduction, to less than 1% of the transport budget, contradicts the Government’s own manifesto commitment to increase spending on active travel (p35). In terms of preventative spend, we believe that encouraging more people to walk and cycle for short journeys will result in enormous benefits across Scotland.

Cabinet Secretary's letter in response here

23 November 2011, LINK Agriculture Taskforce

Parliamentary Briefing on the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

The forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy – and its subsequent implementation in Scotland - will have a significant impact on Scottish agriculture and the environment. LINK supports the need for CAP reform but considers the proposals published in October do not go far enough to ensure the provision of environmental goods and services that the market fails to deliver. This requires a substantive shift in funding from Pillar I to Pillar II. Regarding the current proposals, LINK wishes to see: a regional model of support for the Basic Payment Scheme which actively favours re-distribution (albeit progressively) towards the more economically disadvantaged but environmentally and culturally important farming and crofting systems in the north and west of Scotland; the introduction of meaningful ‘greening’ measures in Pillar I that will deliver environmental outcomes; and, increased funding for rural development in Scotland (through EU funding and voluntary modulation) and a future SRDP that delivers for the environment.

16 November 2011, LINK National Parks Taskforce

LINK Initial Statement on the Cairngorm National Park Plan 2012-2017

Outlining a list of areas where the Park Authority should establish specific objectives and actions, including on Biodiversity, Deer Management, Ecosystem Services, Energy, Housing, Landscape, Woodland and Wildlife.

16 November 2011, LINK Marine Taskforce

LINK consultation response to SNH Guidance on Survey and Monitoring for Marine Renewables

Scottish Environment LINK's marine taskforce warmly welcomes the opportunity to comment on SNH's 'Guidance on Survey and Monitoring in Relation to Marine Renwables Deployments in Scotland'. We strongly support the creation of such guidance, and the move to a more coordinated and coherent approach to survey and monitoring methods.

9 November 2011, Joint LINK

Joint Links press release on CAP reform proposals

Unless the UK takes a strong line on making CAP payments, currently worth over £3 billion per year, do more towards maintaining and improving the natural environment and animal welfare, the current round of reforms may be little more then a ‘green-wash’ for the established status quo

8 November 2011, Joint LINK

Crunch Time for CAP - choosing the right the tools for a richer countryside

The UK continues to face environmental challenges including those driven by CAP incentives and emerging demands on land. Across Europe, soils are depleted and degraded, water is over-extracted and polluted and wildlife struggles to survive across landscapes that have lost many of the features that provide character and distinctiveness. The vision of the joint Links of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales is for the CAP to evolve into an integrated agricultural and environmental policy.  To meet the environmental challenges we face, the CAP must be equipped with tools that will help restore and enhance the natural and historic environment, creating ecological networks at a landscape-scale to achieve multiple benefits over wide areas of countryside. Future CAP payments should be explicitly linked to positive actions that deliver more sustainable land management. Currently, the majority of CAP funds are paid in the form of decoupled payments attached to little more than basic legal compliance. As the next CAP will continue to feature two separate sources of funding (Pillar I and Pillar II), positive action must be secured and integrated across both Pillars and through all payments.

1 November 2011, LINK

LINK Response to the Inquiry into Reform of Parliamentary Business

A response from Scottish Environment LINK to the Inquiry into reform of parliamentary business - remodelling the parliamentary week being held by The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

26 October 2011, LINK

Acting Locally - the Scottish Environment LINK Manifesto for the Scottish Council Elections, 2012

On May 1st, 2012, for the first time since the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Scottish people will have nationwide local government elections in Scotland. This will allow a proper focus on the way that Councils perform as they are held to account by the electorate. In no field of policy will this be more important than the field of protecting and enhancing the environment. Scotland’s Councils are essential to achieving truly sustainable development.  With this manifesto Scottish Environment LINK wants to help our Councils improve their environmental performance.  We also  want to help the Scottish political parties as they establish their policies for the next four years - and to assist them in putting sustainability at their core.  

26 October 2011, LINK

Acting Locally press release

Acting Locally, LINK's Manifesto for the 2012 Scottish Council elections, is designed to assist politicians at all levels ensure that environmental matters are at the heart of their manifestos for the elections to Scotland’s Councils in May 2012.

20 October 2011, LINK Marine Taskforce

Marine Protected Areas - an introduction (Filenote 1)

The first in a series of briefings from Scottish Environment LINK's Marine Taskforce, exploring the creation of Scotland's Marine Protected Area network.

19 October 2011, LINK

Governance Matters - The Environment and Governance in Scotland

Scottish Environment LINK and its member organisations have long been involved in policy development in Scotland and have contributed to the development of the methods and processes of government – our governance. At the same time we have played a part in the discussions of the constitutional structures of government. As Scottish politics enters another period set to be dominated by constitutional debate we will continue to work in all three fields - but in this paper we seek to turn attention once more to issues of governance. We review our experience of the methods and processes in the legislative, executive, judicial and civil branches of government in Scotland over the years since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 – and present our conclusions and recommendations to the rest of the Scottish policy community.

19 October 2011, LINK

Governance Matters - Press Release

Scottish Environment LINK today  published a major report – Governance Matters, The Environment and Governance in Scotland – reviewing the environment movement’s experience of working with all branches of government since the 1999 re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament.  While welcoming the democratic progress made in Scotland since devolution, the report notes and offers criticism of serious limitations on citizen participation in government. Strong recommendations are made for debate on further reforms and improvements to the method and processes of government.

29 September 2011, LINK Marine Taskforce

Consultation on Fisheries Management in Luce Bay Special Area of Conservation

LINK strongly believes the creation of an ecologically coherent network of well-managed marine protected areas, including European protected sites and Nature Conservation MPAs, is essential to address these concerns, helping to protect and recover the health of our seas. The successful management of SACs, including Luce Bay, is crucial to the creation of an ecologically coherent network of MPAs, as required under national and international obligations.  We strongly support SNH’s recommended management approach, and believe it is essential that mobile fishing gear is prohibited in the areas of the Bay identified in the consultation as ‘most’ sensitive and ‘moderately’ sensitive.  Further, we believe it may also be appropriate to prohibit fishing with mobile gear within the ‘least’ sensitive sites. While the sensitivity of subtidal sandbanks varies, and their capacity to recover is higher than reef structures, there is evidence that trawling reduces structural complexity in the habitat with consequential decrease in biodiversity .
 

29 September 2011, LINK Marine Taskforce

Scoping Report Sectoral Marine Plan for Wave and Tidal Energy in Scotland’s Renewable Energy Zone

As identified in Scotland’s Marine Atlas, LINK recognises that along with fishing, climate change is one of the most widespread pressures on our marine environment. We therefore support the deployment of renewable energy technology as a vital part of the transition to a low carbon Scotland.  However, given the novelty of many of these technologies, and the limited understanding of impacts and baseline conditions, we believe a precautionary approach must be adopted in order to ensure the development of the sector is sustainable , and avoids sensitive sites for wildlife.  There will be many ‘unknowns’, including development scale and device type, which may make assessment of the Plan particularly challenging. We will therefore be seeking robust mitigation measures, including thorough monitoring programmes, to address these uncertainties. In particular, the assessment must include consideration of the ability to monitor, understand and mitigate cumulative impacts over the wider region.
 

27 September 2011, LINK Planning Taskforce

Letter to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park re proposed Cononish Goldmine

The proposal would represent a significant industrial development in one of Scotland’s  National Parks.  The decision of the National Park Authority could set an important precedent for similar development elsewhere. We therefore hope that the National Park Authority will give appropriate weight to the 4 aims of the National Park when considering this application and, as required by the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, give greater weight to the first aim, to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area1. We also note that the first condition of identifying a National Park is that the area is of outstanding national importance because of its natural heritage or the combination of its natural heritage and cultural heritage2. Before reaching a decision on this proposal, the Authority must ensure it has considered whether this proposal is compatible with the nationally important, outstanding natural and cultural heritage of the area.

14 September 2011, LINK

14 September 2011, LINK

The LINK Newsletter Autumn 2011

Latest news from the network covering the August Economics seminar, taskforce work, liaison meetings and the AGM. News from members includes a tribute to Alan Blackshaw; latest on FoES Access to Justice campaign; the Cairngorms Campaign and others appeal for its court action; RAFTS Biosecurity Initiative; Bumblebees and Paths.  

14 September 2011, LINK

LINK Briefing for the Local Government and Regeneration Committee meeting of 14th September, 2011

LINK written evidence to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee covering planning; regeneration; local government, sustainability and Scotland's environment.

13 September 2011, LINK Local Governance Taskforce

Revising Scotland's National Performance Framework

This is a briefing prepared by Friends of the Earth Scotland, WWF and Oxfam Scotland support by LINK's Local Governance Task Force.

9 September 2011, LINK Biodiversity Taskforce

LINK proposals for Scotland's National Performance Framework Indicators on Biodiversity

LINK member bodies have assessed the current biodiversity indicators included within the government’s National Performance Framework.  In our view, the current indicators do not measure progress with biodiversity delivery as part of Scotland’s’ sustainable development. LINK suggests measures on species, sites, ecosystems and engagement.

11 August 2011, LINK Environmental Governance

LINK letter to Ian Hooper, Rural and Environment Directorate

LINK letter to Ian Hooper, Deputy Director, Rural and Environment Directorate on National Performance Framework and Indicators 2011