LINK Thinks

LINK Thinks is a space for members and others to express their views about Scotland’s environment. If you would like to contribute a blog please contact information@scotlink.org. The opinions expressed in this blog are the author's and not necessarily those of the wider LINK membership.

World Ocean Day: protecting at least 30% Scotland’s seas for ecosystem recovery

08 Jun 2022

Meeting commitments to protect at least 30% of Scottish seas for ecosystem recovery by 2030   Evidence is growing to show that the health of Scotland’s seas has been in decline for some time. Seabed habitats are a shadow of what they once were, fish stocks have dwindled, and coastlines are changing due to the […]

National park plan should be an opportunity to secure and increase rural jobs, not threaten them

01 Jun 2022

The consultation on the Cairngorms national park plan has generated a huge response, with nearly 1,500 people – residents and visitors alike - making their views known. While 75% of respondents were supportive, fears have been raised over rural workers’ jobs.

Scotland and the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration: 5 priorities for the coming year

23 May 2022

How important is nature to us all? We live in an ever changing world with biodiversity loss and ecosystem that no longer function, extreme climate changes and pressures of war, costs of living, energy and food security issues, all impacting us all now, here in Scotland and across the world. Is it self indulgent to […]

Invasive Non-Native Species: Should all Nature be Championed?

18 May 2022

Invasive Species Week  The international community is facing twin emergencies: climate change and biodiversity loss. These entangled crises demand swift action from policymakers and Nicola Sturgeon’s recent commitment to showing leadership on both crises is very welcomed. Tackling the nature crisis can feel even more complex than the climate crisis and yet it is paramount […]

Land and People in Scotland: the new Cairngorms National Park Plan

06 May 2022

Land and People in Scotland: the new Cairngorms National Park Plan showing the way in this Decade of Ecosystem Restoration Despite its status as the birthplace of John Muir – ‘the patron saint of national parks’ – Scotland arrived late on the scene.  More than a century behind the USA, and half a century behind […]

Wake-up Call

26 Apr 2022

Since the 1970s our global consumption of natural resources has tripled – taking a devastating toll on our planet. Our lifestyles and ever-increasing appetite for raw materials have now destroyed [i]two-thirds of the world’s rainforests, [ii]half the coral reefs, and [iii]87% of all wetlands. A staggering [iv]90 percent of the world’s biodiversity loss has been […]

Nature and farming: where next for both?

21 Apr 2022

Farming has profoundly shaped Scotland: our people, our economy, our traditions, our landscapes and our wildlife. Nature is also a key part of Scotland’s identity. In a 2019 survey for Scottish Environment LINK, 94 percent of the Scottish public saw our natural environment as ‘very important’ or ‘quite important’ to both Scotland’s economy and its […]

Fostering Connection between Parliament and Nature

20 Apr 2022

“To save wildlife and wild places the traction has to come not from the regurgitation of bad-news data but from the poets, prophets, preachers, professors, and presidents who have always dared to inspire.” J. Drew Lanham   Scotland currently ranks 28th from the bottom in the Biodiversity Intactness Index (RSPB & Natural History Museum, 2021). […]

From Rhetoric to Reality revisited: a new report

11 Apr 2022

In 2011, LINK published our first Rhetoric to Reality assessment. In it, we commissioned an independent consultant to assess 8 key areas of environmental policy on how far reality on the ground had matched the rhetoric of policy. Now, ten years on, we’ve commissioned another assessment. A decadal review seems timely: it covers the life […]

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