Category:

In June, the Scottish Government once again failed to take the opportunity to stop the unregulated construction of hilltracks, which is damaging some of Scotland’s most well-loved upland landscapes, when Ministers refused to support amendments to the Planning (Scotland) Bill which were put forward by Andy Wightman MSP of the Scottish Green Party.

There was immediate condemnation of the decision on social media, with outdoors writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish branding it “absolutely bloody shameful”.  Muriel Gray agreed the decision was “baffling”, with Chris Townsend commenting it was “disgraceful”.  Snow specialist Iain Cameron asked, “Can someone explain to me why bringing hill tracks under proper planning regulations has been voted down in the Scottish Parliament? Can anyone give even one good reason why monstrosities like these are allowed to be constructed without any oversight or scrutiny? I’m speechless.” Climber Dave MacLeod commented it was “shortsighted and disappointing.”

So what is the issue with hilltracks?
Partly it’s because tracks are often one cause of the environmental and landscape damage found on intensively managed grouse moors, though many tracks are also built for deer stalking purposes.  The other issue, however, is that they symbolise the abuse of privilege by many landowners.  While ordinary people need to apply for planning permission to build modest extensions to their houses, tracks are being bulldozed up mountainsides causing permanent scars and yet have no requirement for planning permission.  A full planning application would enable local communities and representative bodies to make comments or even object, and for the public interest to be properly represented.

The underlying issue is that tracks built for agricultural or forestry purposes benefit from permitted development rights (PDRs), a situation dating from the post-war period when the priority of the government at that time was to boost productivity after years of privation.  Over the next decades, many landowners took advantage of this planning loophole to construct tracks, even though it’s clear that often their main purpose was not agricultural, but instead to enable shooting and stalking clients to get up a hill more easily.  Given that tracks are used for many purposes, including recreation, landowners were able to claim agricultural use for the tracks as it was impossible for the planning authority to prove otherwise, even when the track led to a row of grouse butts.  Without the public scrutiny that the planning system brings, too many tracks were poorly constructed leading to landscape scars and environmental damage, often in areas much valued for their beauty and as a setting for outdoor recreation.

Concerns were first raised in the 1960s when Lord Dulverton bulldozed a track from Glen Feshie right to the top of the Cairngorm plateau.  The late Adam Watson documented the proliferation of tracks in the Cairngorms over the following years, and many outdoor and environmental bodies have attempted to get PDRs removed from tracks.

In 2012, a government review of PDRs stated that there was “compelling evidence” of the problem and therefore proposed to change the law.  However, the then Planning Minister, Derek Mackay MSP, then announced that he had changed his mind.  This turnaround led to the forming of the Scottish Environment LINK hilltracks campaign in 2013 which started to build evidence of the problem, with its Track Changes report illustrated by case studies based on photos submitted by hillgoers.   Problem tracks were identified from the Borders to Sutherland, including particularly horrendous examples in the Pentland Hills and within the Cairngorms National Park.

This effort led to a legal requirement for landowners to give prior notification of their intention to build a track, but not the full planning application sought by campaigners.  LINK set out to monitor the new system and a further report, Changing Tracks, in 2018 made it clear that the adjustment had not made any meaningful improvements in practice.

The Planning Bill going through the Scottish Parliament then became a target to get the necessary change in the law and Andy Wightman MSP made great efforts to explain the reason for his amendments, both at the Committee stage and then in the full parliamentary debate in June.  In this he was supported by Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat colleagues.  However, SNP and Conservative MSPs joined forces to vote against these amendments and their greater numbers ultimately won the day.  It was particularly galling to those campaigning for change, and many SNP supporters, that the SNP seemed to be siding with landowners to let this damage to the countryside continue.  Climber Ed Douglas tweeted that it was “Bizarre, given the immense reputation the Scottish landscape enjoys around the world, that you would trash it so a few people too lazy to walk can shoot birds.”

The LINK campaign will continue, as the Minister has committed to considering the issue again during a forthcoming review of permitted development rights.  Of course we’ve been here before in 2012, but we’re confident that the strength of public concern over this issue has been made clear to MSPs.  Let’s hope that this issue will finally be resolved by next year.

by Helen Todd, Campaigns and Policy Manager with Ramblers Scotland and co-convener of the LINK Hilltracks Subgroup.

A version of this blog appeared on UK Hillwalking: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/opinions/when_will_politicians_get_a_grip_on_hill_tracks-12077

Members of the LINK Hilltracks Subgroup are: Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group, Cairngorms Campaign, John Muir Trust, National Trust for Scotland, North East Mountain Trust, Ramblers Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Campaign for National Parks and Scottish Wild Land Group. Mountaineering Scotland, while not a member of LINK, also supports this campaign.

No comments yet

EU environmental principles have helped us effectively address environmental issues in a systematic way. They have been fundamental to ensuring consistent decision-making, and therefore providing greater certainty for business and others, as well as ensuring that the way in which we protect our natural wealth and seek to rectify environmental harm is effective and targeted. Whether we are dealing with air pollution, water quality or the protection of our wildlife, EU environmental principles, often stemming from international conventions, have been integral to setting and enforcing environmental standards.

The potential of the UK exiting the EU means that we stand to lose the protection provided by those principles. Unless action is taken, we may find ourselves in the midst of what is now openly acknowledged as a twin climate and nature emergency without key tools that up until now have helped us relieve pressures on our environment.

One such key environmental principle is the principle of ‘rectification at source’. This principle provides us with the ‘how’ in terms of addressing environmental problems. It seeks to ensure that policies and laws regulate pollution at its source rather than remedy its effects.

This may sound obvious, but a simple example would be our approach to improving indoor air quality. One option for improving indoor air quality, if pollutants were found in high concentrations, would be to invest in air filters. But that only masks the problem and does not tackle the underlying issue – namely that the air is unhealthy. In other words, it does not address the root of the problem. If the principle of rectification at source was applied in this instance, the logical thing to do would be to identify the source (whether an object or activity) which pollutes the air and regulate that.

Simply put, this principle guides the regulation of pollution from its source rather than in the wider environment. It helps us prioritise how we should best address environmental harm, and what are the top actions which we should take to redress it.

The concept of rectifying pollution or environmental damage at source also helps us trace back damaging activities to the actual polluter too. This makes it easier for authorities to ensure that polluters pay for the environmental harm that they have caused.

If applied consistently, this principle can drive cleaner processes and products which are inherently good for the environment rather than approaches which treat the problem as or after it occurs.

The principle that environmental damage should be rectified at source is embedded in EU treaties and often reflected in domestic laws. However, to ensure that this principle, as well as all other EU environmental principles, have the same practical effect in Scotland even if Brexit materialises, we need those principles embedded in Scots law. This could be achieved through a dedicated Scottish Environment Act.

No comments yet

Ninety-seven organisations from across Scottish society have written to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calling for a Scottish Environment Act. Download the letter here, or read the text in full below.

The First Minister
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

27 June 2019

Dear First Minister,

As you recently acknowledged, our planet faces a climate emergency. Inextricably linked to this emergency is looming ecological disaster. Time is running out to tackle these huge global challenges. It will take concerted, radical action from leaders around the world to pave the way for transformative change in line with our sustainable development commitments.

We must not let Brexit derail us from tackling these twin problems head on. Whatever the outcome of the current political uncertainties we must set robust, binding targets for nature’s recovery, to safeguard both Scotland’s nature and its people.

This is why we, the undersigned, have come together from across society to ask you to bring forward a new Scottish Environment Act, a step which has already been supported by 22,000 members of the public through the Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign.

Ensuring our world is rich in nature is the best insurance we have against dangerous climate heating. Protecting, restoring and enhancing Scotland’s environment will help to limit temperature increases and help to adapt to some changes that we already cannot avoid.

Restoring Scotland’s natural world to its full potential would give us so much more than insulation against climate change.

Everyone has the right to a clean and healthy environment. Nature enriches people’s lives. It cleans our air and our water, improves our physical and mental health, underpins Scotland’s global image and exports, and improves the places we live.

For all of these reasons, we believe your Government should put forward a new Scottish Environment Act that makes Scotland’s vision to be an environmental world leader a reality.

Yours sincerely,

Aberlour Children’s Charity
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group
Bat Conservation Trust
British Dragonfly Society
British Ecological Society – Scottish Policy Group
Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Butterfly Conservation Scotland
Cairngorms Campaign
Carnegie UK Trust
Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
Clean Coast Outer Hebrides
Coastal Communities Network
Community Resources Network Scotland
Dingwall Wind Co-op
Dumfries and Galloway Badger Network
EAUC – Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education
Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust
Fair Trade Scotland
Fernaig Community Trust
Fidra
Fintry Development Trust
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Friends of the Earth West Fife
Froglife Trust (Scotland)
Greener Melrose
Greenpeace UK
Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
Human Rights Consortium
Huntly & District Swift Group
Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment
Islay Development Initiative
John Muir Trust
Keep Scotland Beautiful
Learning for Sustainability Scotland
Leith Community Crops in Pots
Marine Conservation Society
Mountaineering Scotland
National Trust for Scotland
North East Mountain Trust
North West Mull Community Woodland Company
Nourish Scotland
Paths for All
Permaculture Scotland
Permeate studios
Planning Democracy
Plantlife Scotland
Project Seagrass
Ramblers Scotland
Reforesting Scotland
Revive
Royal Scottish Geographic Society
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
RSPB Scotland
SCAPE Trust
Scotland the Big Picture
Scotland’s International Development Alliance
Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society
Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society
Scottish Badgers
Scottish Campaign for National Parks
Scottish Communities Climate Action Network
Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing
Scottish Community Alliance
Scottish Community Development Centre
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Scottish Countryside Rangers’ Association
Scottish Environment LINK
Scottish Farming and Wildlife Advisers’ Group
Scottish Geodiversity Forum
Scottish Ornithologists’ Club
Scottish Raptor Study Group
Scottish Seabird Centre
Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Scottish Wild Beaver group
Scottish Wild Land Group
Scottish Wildlife Trust
Sealife Adventures
Soil Association Scotland
Southern Upland Partnership
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
Sustaining Dunbar
Sustaining North Berwick
The Conservation Volunteers
Transform Scotland
Transition Black Isle
Transition Edinburgh
Trees for Life
Ullapool Sea Savers
UN House Scotland
United Nations Association Scotland
Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Woodland Trust Scotland
WWF Scotland

No comments yet

© John MacPherson

By Paul Walton, RSPB Scotland

It’s an unavoidable truth that in nature conservation, success can sometimes produce intangible results. Much of what we try to achieve inevitably comprises stopping bad things happening to the environment. A successful bridge-builder has a bridge to look at where there was none; a fund manager, funds to help spend; a medic has well people, who were previously sick. The successful environmental campaigner might find that the output of years of effort is, for example, dunes and maritime grasslands that remain just as they were before. Nothing looks different – all that’s new is the invisible knowledge that these delicate and precious habitats have not been obliterated by the golf course or power station that someone tried to build over them.

Of course, conservation must also work to actively enhance the natural environment and make positive transformations. But this preventative work is and will remain a critical basis for our shared response to the unfolding global ecological crisis – and nowhere is that more important than in the challenge of invasive non-native species.

The recent report of IPBES (the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) confirmed both that nature and the essential services it provides for humanity are deteriorating fast across the planet. This deterioration is caused by 5 major direct drivers: land and sea-use changes; direct exploitation; climate change; pollution; and the introduction of invasive non-native species – INNS.

People moving any animal, plant or other organism from its native range and, deliberately or accidentally, introducing it into the wild, is a potential threat to wildlife. Geographic barriers such as oceans, mountains, deserts and currents have through geological time restricted the mixing of wildlife in different regions. Species develop independently in different parts of the world, and this generates much of global biodiversity. Non-native species introductions, in effect, break down these barriers. The rate of establishment of new species is increasing at world and UK scales. INNS effects are compounded by climate change and are predicted to worsen in future. The globalisation of trade – the most important vector of INNS – is increasing species movements and rates of release.

In Scotland, we already have non-native Rhododendron and conifers damaging our most important woodland and peatland habitats; non-native predators predating seabirds and waders on our islands; invasive marine organisms threatening internationally important marine ecosystems in our sea lochs.

The graph above shows a simplified, but all-too familiar, pattern of establishment of an invasive species. It’s clear that ecological damage increases with spread – but also, critically, the costs involved in terms of both impacts and the necessary responsive action escalate dramatically. Of course, we must work to strategically manage damaging INNS that are already established. But it is hundreds, sometimes thousands of times cheaper to prevent INNS establishing in the first place than it is to manage the issue after the event. Therefore, the Convention on Biological Diversity calls for a hugely elevated emphasis on prevention – often called biosecurity – when it comes to INNS impacts on nature and economies. It is also why the EU Environmental Principle of Preventative Action is a key guiding principle for effective, informed action to protect nature, and one that we must, as a matter of national priority, be enshrined explicitly in Scottish legislation at the earliest opportunity.

Do we really need to prevent every single egg, of every tiny non-native shrimp, from ever arriving here? Thankfully, no. Research is clear that the best predictor of INNS establishment in the wild is simply the rate at which non-native organisms are released. By taking sensible, proportionate, but effective preventative action we can reduce that rate, and thus reduce establishment probability. This became clear in New Zealand through the 20^th century. Firm but proportionate biosecurity measures were introduced – and the results have been spectacular:

Non-native mammals establishing in New Zealand and in Europe over recent centuries. From Armon R.H., Zenetos A. (2015) Invasive Alien Species and Their Indicators. Armon R., Hänninen O. (eds) Environmental Indicators. Springer, Dordrecht

Across the UK countries, funding for INNS biosecurity runs at around £1 million per year. That is just a tiny fraction – less than 1/200^th – of biosecurity investment protecting agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture. In Scotland we have important expertise and projects developing for biosecurity issues: on islands, for example, the RSPB is leading a biosecurity project for all our most important seabird colonies. We can be leaders in this field – but for that, we must protect our environment and our economic future by investing properly in biosecurity now – and we must legislate to bring the Principle of Preventative Action squarely and unambiguously into Scots law.

The Fight For Scotland’s Nature campaign is calling for a Scottish Environment Act which embeds the four key EU environmental principles in Scots law. 

No comments yet

This blog is by the Have You Got the Bottle? campaign, and was first published on the Have You Got the Bottle? website.

Here at Have You Got The Bottle? we’re fighting for Scotland’s nature. We know about the negative impacts that litter has on wildlife; from insects and small mammals getting stuck inside bottles, to seabirds and creatures feeding plastic to their young. Evidence suggests that more than 140,000 bottles and cans are littered in Scotland every single day. That’s why we’re delighted that the Scottish Government have committed to introducing a deposit return system for most PET plastic bottles, steel and aluminium cans, and glass bottles before the end of this parliamentary session.

However, there’s increasing scientific evidence of the critical state of Scotland’s wildlife and habitats, and a deposit return system will only address a small part of the problem. That’s why we’re supporting Scottish Environment LINK’s Fight for Scotland’s Nature campaign. We want to see a Scottish Environment Act that protects Scotland’s wild places for the benefit of people and nature; one that gives clear ambitions for an environmental policy and a positive direction towards a more sustainable future for people and nature in Scotland.

Scottish Environment LINK has noted that while recent consultations on Environmental Principles and Governance have been a step in the right direction, there is much still to be done.

At Have You Got The Bottle? we’re particularly interested in ensuring that Scotland commits to the European Union’s environmental principles. The “polluter pays” principle is especially close to our hearts as it expresses the commonly accepted notion that those who produce pollution or environmental degradation should bear the costs of redressing it. This is exactly what happens in a well-run deposit return system, which is funded in part by a small producer fee for items placed in the system, and also through unredeemed deposits if the consumer chooses not to reclaim their money, thereby increasing the chance of their empties ending up as litter. This is a sound principle that can be applied in many other areas, and has already helped drive up the quality of our drinking water and beaches. Find out how you can support this important campaign at: https://www.fightforscotlandsnature.scot/get-involved/

No comments yet

Bass Rock © Susan Davies

This blog is by Susan Davies, CEO of the Scottish Seabird Centre, and is adapted from Marine wildlife and habitats at risk.

The Scottish Seabird Centre is supporting 37 of Scotland’s leading environmental NGOs in calling for the principles of environmental governance to be spelt out in Scots law.

Without a doubt Scotland’s land, seas and iconic wildlife have benefited from the EU ‘Nature Directives’ – the Birds and Habitats Directive and other environmental pillars such as the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The EU Bathing Water Directive has also encouraged countries to innovate and tackle pollution around our coastline. The protection, monitoring and management standards we have benefited from are, however, at risk of being rolled back years when we leave the EU. That’s why the Scottish Seabird Centre is supporting 37 environmental charities, all members of Scottish Environment Link, to call for the underlying principles of environmental protection to be explicitly set out in Scots law.

Scotland has over 18,000 kilometres of coastline, almost 6 times the area of sea to land (764,678 square kilometres to the 200 nautical mile limit), 61 percent of the UK’s seas and 13 percent of the EU seas. This supports important marine habitats such as cold-water coral, kelp forests and flame shell beds, and iconic species including dolphins, porpoises, seals and basking sharks. Our seas also support a third of Europe’s breeding seabirds and we are proud of the international importance of these breeding colonies.

Much progress to protect our seas and iconic marine wildlife has been made under EU legislation, but the recent IPBES Global Assessment on the state of biodiversity brings into sharp focus the threats that still need to be tackled – climate change, invasive non-native species, changes in the use of the seas, exploitation of our seas and pollution. The global assessment states that 66 percent of our global marine environment has been affected by human action. A stark reminder of this is the visible presence of plastics in our marine environment, which have increased tenfold over the last 20 years, and are impacting on 267 species, including 44 percent of seabirds.

Whilst we welcome the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform’s – Roseanna Cunningham MSP – stated ambition to ensure the important underlying principles of environmental protection (precaution, prevention, polluter pays and rectifying pollution at source) will continue after we leave the EU; there are no certainties this will be the case. Certainty will only be achieved by embedding these principles firmly in Scots law. Appropriate and effective mechanisms also need to be in place to monitor the health of our seas, to scrutinise performance against commitments and to hold the government of the day to account.

Collective cross-parliament support and action, rather than just words, are now required to demonstrate that the ambition is real. That’s why the Scottish Seabird Centre supports the Fight for Scotland’s Nature core recommendation that the environmental principles should be embedded in Scots law.

No comments yet

Read our article by Dr Phoebe Cochrane, LINK’s Sustainable Economics Officer published in the Scotsman today.

Climate change has been ­hitting the headlines ­recently and the Scottish Government has been one of the first to acknowledge the climate ­emergency and swiftly respond to scientific evidence that Scotland needs to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.  The First Minister has ­committed to looking at all our ­policies to make sure they are ­consistent with those ambitions. This is absolutely the right thing to do and environmental ­charities from across Scotland have welcomed this strong response.

One of the most obvious places to look for change is our own carbon footprint. This measure includes all the greenhouse gas emissions that occur in other countries as a result of our choices as consumers and the products we import. Because we import a significant proportion of our manufactured products, often from countries still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, the carbon impact of our imports is significant.  In 2015, these emissions amounted to 41.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, nearly three times the total emission associated with all forms of transport in Scotland. Despite ­Scotland being ahead on achieving our 2020 climate targets, our ­carbon footprint only fell by 8 per cent between 1998 and 2015.

Other far-reaching environmental impacts of our lifestyles have been highlighted recently. We have heard about the extent of marine litter and the harmful effects of plastic pollution on wildlife and human health, as well as the chemicals and quantity of water used to produce much of our fast fashion.

The common thread is the unsustainable nature of our ­consumption – what we buy and how it is made. Recent reports find that consumption of natural resources – things like minerals, metals and ­timber – has ­tripled since the 1970s and is set to further double by 2060.  Ninety per cent of biodiversity loss and water stress is caused by resource extraction and processing. If everyone in the world followed our lifestyle, we would need approximately three planets to sustain us.  Earth Overshoot Day for the UK was 8th May this year. Overshoot Day is calculated by comparing the ­ecological footprint (carbon, food, timber, fibre, land consumption) with the capacity of the planet to renew these resources.

We should tread more lightly on our planet through optimising the use of resources, rather than exploitation for maximum gain – we need a new model for ­production and ­consumption.  Environment charities in Scotland, members of Scottish Environment LINK, are calling for a reduction in our carbon and material footprints through steering our economy to one that is more circular, where products are designed to last as long as ­possible, are easy to repair, and made out of materials that can be recycled. Such an economy should be restorative and regenerative, replenishing and sustaining our natural systems.

This is not a new idea – the Scottish Government has a circular economy Strategy: Making Things Last. There has been valuable work in supporting innovative enterprises and investing in specific institutions, such as the Scottish Remanufacturing Institute. The Scottish Government is ­banning products such as ­plastic- stemmed cotton buds, has introduced levies to disincentivise the use of plastic bags, and is bringing in a deposit return system for ­bottles and cans. The Government has also committed to bring forward a Circular Economy and Zero Waste Bill in this ­parliamentary term. This bill is urgently needed to establish ­legally-binding targets for reductions in our carbon and raw material footprints. The targets should be accompanied by plans which detail the steps required and drive change in ­policy.

Public appetite to address our environmental impact has ­never been higher. Businesses and investors like a level playing field and a clear policy horizon.  Following the Scottish Government’s leadership within the UK on a deposit return system, now is the time to continue to lead the way with a circular economy bill.

No comments yet

A blog by Deborah Long, LINK Chief Officer

On 31 May, Francesca Oswaska, CEO of Scottish Natural Heritage, gave the RSE Peter Wilson lecture: Not too late to act for climate change. In her speech she described the challenging yet opportunity rich moment we find ourselves in.

At LINK we would agree with the three challenges that Francesca outlined on harnessing science, engineering and technology, changing land, water and sea management and shifting behaviours, but we think we need to act quickly.

Given that we have 11 years to realign the world along a low carbon pathway in order to avoid dangerous climate change, recent events underline how much public support there is for real action on this, especially from young people. We have evidence on climate change from the UKCC Net zero report and the IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity starkly outlines the ongoing and catastrophic decline in biodiversity. Francesca made the clear case that a nature rich future provides our best insurance cover against the climate emergency.

The Scottish Government has already acted in declaring a climate emergency and lodging amendments to the climate change bill to achieve greenhouse gas emissions of zero by 2045. However, climate change is just one of five drivers of biodiversity loss – the others are changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms; pollution and invasive non-native species. Albeit climate change is a driver that intensifies and exacerbates the effect of the other four. An example is that climate change is reducing the persistence of year-round snow, which is directly limiting the extent of arctic habitat in Scotland.

Nature based solutions clearly offer us the best and quickest way forward. There are immediate actions that could have a significant impact: ensuring the next climate change plan includes and supports the roll out of nature based solutions such as increasing the ability of Scotland’s peatlands, woodlands, seas and waterbodies to sequester carbon, strengthening the Land Use Strategy and introducing regional land use planning, delivering a National Ecological Network and developing a nitrogen balance sheet.

On land, water and sea management for example, while Scotland can do much more on peatland restoration, the UKCC net zero report recommends releasing 20% of agricultural land for carbon capture and biomass production. Of the 73% of land registered as agricultural holdings, about 36% of this is rough grazing. Reducing grazing pressure and enabling woodland regeneration in this 36% would make a significant contribution to Scotland’s carbon capture and would contribute to reversing the decline in habitat quality and biodiversity loss in the Scottish uplands.

Changing how we manage land, water and seas is only effective where that change is carried out in the right place. And to ensure that the right place is managed for its best purpose is where an actively implemented and effective Land Use Strategy comes in. However, this on its own is not enough. For Scotland to meet the climate emergency and halt the loss of biodiversity, nature needs space too. A National Ecological Network provides a strategic planning tool for the natural environment to enhance connectivity between habitats, give communities better access to high quality, wildlife rich greenspace, provide opportunities to protect and enhance natural capital and improve the range and quality of ecosystem services whilst at the same time making Scotland a more attractive place to live, do business, invest and visit. It is also the most efficient way of ensuring that nature thrives and is woven though our land and sea use. The current approach is nature being left the bits no one else needs is directly resulting in the declines we are seeing and are reported by IPES.

A key part of this are Scotland’s Protected Areas: these are effectively the refuges where nature is doing best and from where nature can spread back into suitable habitat given the space and means to move. Scotland’s current Protected Areas need to be retained, effectively monitored so we can see how the nature is doing, buffered and protected from adverse impacts and connected to the wider landscape though the provision of space and vectors species need to move, be that wind, water or the presence of micro habitats. As they stand today, Scotland’s protected areas are in aspic – constrained, uninvested in and as ecological processes march on, changing sometimes for the better but not always. In the face of climate change, these refuges are needed more than ever for the role they will have to play in boosting the nature based solutions we will need to adopt.

None of this can happen without investment though. The environment sector can offer the range, scale and innovative solutions Scotland needs to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies we currently face. LINK members are working together and with stakeholders to ensure that efficiencies of scale and appropriateness of action are maximised but the low levels of support for nature and landscapes from private funding success outlined in Where the green grants went and the ongoing decline in public funding for nature are insufficient. For too long, nature has been taken for granted and the external costs of resource use and depletion are not being paid. New ways of funding nature based solutions are urgently needed. It is clear that nature is not an added extra and a luxury for those who use the outdoors: nature provides the fundamentals of life for all in Scotland. But it cannot be protected and restored for free.

No comments yet

This blog was first published on the John Muir Trust website

No comments yet

Read our latest blog from our Chief Officer, Deborah Long.

The environment is back. It’s always been there of course, gradually changing but just recently a number of doors have been opened as collectively we start to recognise the enormity of the environmental challenges facing the world. LINK members use science and evidence on which to build effective solutions to tackle these challenges. Together we are working to achieve our aim of securing sustainable development in and beyond Scotland, where all aspects of the country’s environment are valued to enhance the quality of life for all.

Where are these doors?

August 2018: Climate strikes: Governments have been caught unawares by the demands coming from children that they and today’s society leave a decent legacy: a healthy and fully functioning environment, able to support the needs of future generations: ‘we are just passing on the words of science. Our only demand is that you start listening to it. And then start acting.’ (Greta Thunberg).

October 2018: Extinction rebellion: Spooked again by mobilising mass protects against nature loss and climate change: Rebel for life. For the planet. For our children’s children’s futures

28 April 2019: Nicola Sturgeon declares a climate emergency in Scotland: as First Minister of Scotland, I am declaring that there is a climate emergency. And Scotland will live up to our responsibility to tackle it. On 14 May, Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet secretary for the Environment laid out what that would entail: To deliver the transformational change that is required, we need structural changes across the board; to our planning, procurement and financial policies, processes and assessments. That is exactly what we’ll do.

6 May 2019: The UN Global Assessment of Nature: “The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,” said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson. “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”

“The Report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global,” he said. “Through ‘transformative change’, nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably – this is also key to meeting most other global goals. By transformative change, we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.

It’s hard to say how long these doors will stay open before politicians decide that it’s all too difficult and too expensive to act and will take much longer than they have in electoral cycles anyway. The role of eNGOs is to provide the expertise and solutions that should be implemented now to make real and immediate progress in tackling the challenges we all face. LINK is, in effect, getting our penguins in a line ready to provide guidance on solutions we know will work.

To do this, LINK will be:

1. Coherent and truthful
2. Concise and targeted
3. Solutions focussed
4. United in message and approach.
5. Inspiring trust amongst policy makers to enable them to act within public opinion.

We know no one organisation can do this alone. The environment NGO sector in Scotland is sometimes seen as noisy, disagreeable, unable to agree a line and unrealistic to boot. Of course we are. The sector is full of passionate, energetic and expert people. However, we are committed to coming together and we are working on providing a vision for Scotland that enables policy makers to take effective action, by identifying the keystone actions and pursuing those and coming together as united voice, with environmental agencies and supporters in other sectors.

The vison we are starting form was first detailed in our Referendum Challenge in 2014. This, we think, provides the basis of a vision going forward and encapsulate what Scottish Environment LINK and our members are looking for.

A serious surfer doesn’t plan to go surfing next Tuesday at two o’clock. You go surfing when there are waves and the tide and wind are right. (Yvon Chouinard, Funder of Patagonia Inc.)

The tide and wind are looking promising…

No comments yet