Jim Densham, Senior Land Use Policy Officer, Climate, RSPB Scotland
Nature is good for us. Watching birds in the countryside might be your thing and bring you joy and a sense of wellbeing. But what if it’s not?
Well, nature is still good for you – even if you don’t know it. Our natural environment provides us with food and drinking water; supplies building materials and energy sources; it holds floodwater and can regulate the climate; it can also improve our health. Great. But in a future with a changing climate won’t we have to rely more on our human ingenuity and high-tech solutions to solve our most pressing problems – including the extreme impacts of climate change? Well, did you know that nature can provide natural solutions which are flexible, sustainable and cost-effective?
Ptarmigan – Tom Marshall (rspb-images.com)
Last week we published Helping Nature to Help Us – Natural solutions to living in a changing climate, an RSPB Scotland report which explains how nature can be our ally in response to climate change. Seven short chapters each look at a specific example of some of the goods and services we need as a society, and show how nature can be employed to provide them. Case studies show real-life examples in Scotland where these solutions are working, and each chapter is endorsed by at least one partner organisation.
The report explains that our urban and rural habitats, and natural ecosystems, can only do this properly if they are healthy and in good condition. At present, many are not in great shape and as a result we are seriously under-using this potential. What is more, our special wildlife in Scotland is not resilient to climate change trends and shocks and doesn’t have the capacity to adapt as the climate shifts.
We need to help nature now to make the best of these potential benefits, and in readiness for living with climate change and a range of impacts further down the line. We need to change the norms of how things are done in all aspects of our economy and society, to work with nature and employ natural ecosystems to provide natural solutions. We need vision, commitment and action to make them more commonplace throughout Scotland.
The forthcoming Scottish Climate Adaptation Programme can help us to achieve natural solutions, adapt to climate change and thrive in an uncertain future. We will be working, with many partners, to help make this happen. Will you join us?