Scotlink/Our Work/Our Land/Wildlife

Wildlife

The Wildlife Group works to achieve its aim to ensure Scotland’s natural heritage, on land and sea, is complete in its diversity, composed of fully functioning ecosystems and resilient to accelerated environmental change.

Group Objectives

Ensuring the Natural Environment Act delivers strong, ambitious and measurable nature targets, through robust secondary legislation that drives real biodiversity recovery and accountability.
Maintaining a close focus on delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) and its Delivery Plan, ensuring progress is tracked and gaps in implementation are identified and addressed.
Strengthening action on Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS), focusing on effective implementation of the Scottish INNS Action Plan, improved coordination across agencies and adequate resourcing to reduce ecological impacts.
Delivering meaningful outcomes from 30×30, ensuring protected areas and Nature30 sites are effectively managed, monitored and contributing to real biodiversity gain rather than existing only on paper.
Advancing Nature Networks and landscape-scale restoration, ensuring these are properly funded and embedded in land use and planning decisions to improve habitat connectivity and resilience.
Supporting integrated approaches to wildlife policy across land and sea, ensuring biodiversity priorities are reflected in wider decision-making and delivered in practice.

Convener

Bruce Wilson (Scottish Wildlife Trust)

Vice Convener

Dr Paul Walton (RSPB Scotland)

Staff Liaison

Juliet Caldwell

Subgroups

INNS Subgroup – Focuses specifically on invasive non-native species policy. It develops shared LINK positions, coordinates engagement with NatureScot and Scottish Government and pushes for stronger implementation of the INNS Action Plan and better resourcing for prevention, control and eradication.
30×30 Subgroup – Works on Scotland’s commitment to protecting at least 30% of land and sea for nature. It focuses on engaging with NatureScot to ensure protected areas and Nature30 sites are effectively designated, properly managed and deliver genuine biodiversity outcomes, including through monitoring and implementation of Nature Networks.

The Wildlife Group also run the Nature Champion Initiative, which asks Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to lend political support to the protection of Scotland’s threatened wildlife and habitats by becoming ‘Nature Champions.’

Latest News

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How to hit Scotland’s nature targets – new report

01 Apr 2026

Focused leadership, expert staffing and an ‘early warning system’ will be key to meeting Scotland’s targets to restore nature, according to a new report released today by Scottish Environment LINK. The coalition of more than 50 environment charities calls on the Scottish government to set ambitious but achievable targets, and makes a series of recommendations on how to ensure these are met in its report, ‘Hitting the targets: Delivering Scotland’s […]

Scotland’s new INNS Action Plan: progress made, but delivery must follow

30 Mar 2026

Scottish Environment LINK notes the publication of the new Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) Action Plan 2026–2032 by NatureScot. The Plan is a step forward. It sets out the scale of the problem, the impacts on nature and the economy and the need for action at a landscape and catchment scale. We recognise the inclusion of […]

Being a Nature Champion is not just for Parliament!

26 Mar 2026

In June 2021, in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, MSPs logged on to a Nature Champions webinar to begin their journeys as Nature Champions in the 6th Scottish Parliament. It’s hard to imagine that, in just under five years, so much has been achieved! Since then, more than 100 MSPs have become Nature Champions for some of Scotland’s extraordinary species […]