Scottish voters will go to the polls next month in an election that will bring a massive turnover in elected representatives. As many as half of the MSPs being sworn in are likely to be fresh faces, and – regardless of the winning party – the Cabinet and Ministers will look very different.
The 2021-26 parliament was a rollercoaster for environmental policy, with substantial progress in some areas alongside notable failures in others. The Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens set the agenda for the next five years with a range of commitments on climate and nature, not all of which came to pass.
New laws and policy wins
The high point for Scottish Environment LINK was the introduction, after years of campaigning, of a requirement for the Scottish government to set legally binding targets on nature.
The Natural Environment Act is a real win for environmental campaigners. As well as the new nature targets, the Act contains powers on issues like deer management and forestry which – if used effectively – could make a real difference.
Of course, targets alone do not create success. Good policy and sufficient funding are essential. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and its first delivery plan are the key documents outlining how the outgoing Scottish Government intends to meet its nature targets.
This parliament was a busy one for environmental legislation. Alongside the Natural Environment Act, we had new legislation on agriculture, the circular economy, land reform, and wildlife and muirburn. The Circular Economy Act is another piece of legislation which follows years of campaigning by LINK and our members.
One of the frustrations shared by many campaigners and politicians is that much of this is ‘framework legislation’ – providing the government with powers to act, or requiring strategies or targets, but containing little detail in the law itself. This flexibility is not always inherently bad, but it does limit the ability of parliament to influence outcomes.
The environmental sector is not always good at recognising our successes. There is much to be proud of over the past five years: the establishment of the Nature Restoration Fund; the regulation of burning on grouse moors; the long overdue implementation of fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas. There is also much more to do.
Room for improvement
The most notable failure in this parliamentary term was on climate – with the government conceding it could not meet its annual emissions targets and being forced to legislate to change them. This experience has led us to increase our focus in the next parliament on successful delivery of Scotland’s nature targets, as outlined in our most recent report Hitting the targets.
There were other failures: the collapse of the Deposit Return Scheme, the withdrawal of proposals to implement Highly Protected Marine Areas, and the failure to establish a new National Park were all high-profile issues that sucked up time and political capital.
The wider pace of change on issues like agricultural reform and marine protection is too slow and ambition must be raised in the next parliament to meet the scale of the environmental crises we face.
What to expect in the next parliament
With 2030 acting as a milestone for ambitions to stop biodiversity loss, this parliament will be a crucial one for environmental policy.
Most parties are yet to publish their manifestos, and those will give us a stronger idea of the political appetite for change over the next five years.
LINK’s priorities for the coming term are set out in our manifesto. To deliver for nature the next Scottish Government must:
- Introduce statutory nature targets as soon as possible
- Meet the 30 by 30 objective of protecting 30% of our land and sea by 2030 by expanding the protected area network, increasing the level of monitoring, and making targeted interventions to improve the ecological condition of protected sites.
- Deliver effective Nature Networks by supporting planning authorities to go beyond a “mapping” approach and to deliver change in communities across Scotland.
- Protect our seas with the early introduction of inshore marine protected area fisheries management measures and the roll out of Regional Marine Plans.
- Reform agricultural funding to support farmers and crofters to restore nature, reduce emissions, and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- Use new legal powers to tackle deer overpopulation and reform forestry funding to support biodiverse woodlands through increased support for natural regeneration and colonisation.
- Deliver landscape scale nature restoration through effective action on the drivers of biodiversity loss
With lots to be done in coming years, the LINK network of over 50 members will be working with all parties where we can find common ground to support good policymaking and hold the Scottish government to account on delivery.