The Biodiversity Strategy should help deliver the transformative action that is so desperately needed to halt and reverse nature loss, but the current draft falls far short of being the Nature Emergency Strategy we need at this critical moment. Read on to find out what is missing and how you can help try to make it better.
Nature is being lost around the world faster than ever. This nature crisis in combination with the climate crisis poses a real threat. We are already witnessing the consequences of inaction around the globe. If we don’t act now, the wellbeing and livelihoods of future generations hang in the balance. Saving nature is also the right thing to do, we cannot just stand by and watch the wildlife we share our planet with disappear.
Historical nature loss has led to Scotland being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. But we are still losing nature now: since 1970 half of our species have declined, with 1 in 9 at risk of national extinction.
The stated ambition from the Scottish Government to address this has never been higher. It has incredible opportunities to turn this unprecedented ambition we’ve heard from elected officials into real action through the Biodiversity and Seabird strategies and the Agriculture Bill.
We were therefore surprised and disappointed when we saw the consultation documents for Scotland’s next Biodiversity Strategy – a strategy which will set the ambition for nature right up to 2045.
What’s the problem?
While it does an excellent job at describing the current state of nature in Scotland, the challenges and pressures affecting nature, and where we need to get to, it fails to set out how we achieve this and lacks meaningful actions for nature’s recovery.
We’ve identified four main gaps:
Gap 1: Species recovery. Species are the building blocks of living systems. Despite historic losses, Scotland still hosts internationally important populations of wildlife. The importance of protecting species, restoring their populations and making sure these are strong and healthy has never been clearer and is particularly highlighted by the unprecedented bird flu outbreak that’s killed so many seabirds this year. Scotland is home to 56% of the world’s population of breeding bonxies (great skuas), but this species has suffered catastrophic declines due to bird flu. And many seabird species were already severely struggling due to human-generated pressures before this latest threat emerged.
A world-leading Biodiversity Strategy for Scotland should include targeted actions for the recovery of species like great skuas, gannets, puffins, beavers, red squirrels, threatened wildflowers, bumblebees, butterflies and fish through a national programme of species recovery.
Gap 2: Ecosystem restoration. Scotland’s rivers, kelp beds, machair, rainforest, pine forest and other critical ecosystems, are key national assets. They are home to some of our most iconic wildlife, as well as providing critical services like clean water and carbon storage, and yet they are degraded and fragmented. We know from some excellent work on peatlands that the Scottish Government can design, fund and deliver targeted ecosystem restoration. This is a model that could be adapted and extended to other ecosystems in a phased, rolling programme of ecosystem restoration.
Gap 3: Protected areas. The draft Strategy not only misses opportunities for restoration, it even fails to account for our very best places for wildlife – our network of protected wildlife areas. These need to be actively cared-for, monitored and managed, and their benefits extended across landscapes through nature networks. Yet Protected Areas hardly feature in the draft strategy and the Scottish Government’s commitment to protect at least 30% of Scotland’s land and sea by 2030 isn’t even mentioned, despite that target being a key part of the government’s approach to nature’s recovery. There should be a clear link made in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to plans for expanding our protected areas and an action plan for improving our existing nature sites.
Gap 4: Being clear about what needs to happen and when. The draft includes some welcome high-level outcomes, but no clear targets to guide how they will be achieved. It must set quantified, ambitious targets for restoring nature. While much of the detail is likely to be contained in an anticipated Delivery Plan the Strategy should clearly set out the overall target ambitions. This will drive collaborative action across sectors and provide a measure to indicate whether sufficient progress is being made. These targets need to be enshrined in law in the forthcoming Natural Environment Bill. And all government departments must play their part to achieve them. Without this, the strategy risks becoming nothing more than nice words.
What do we want to see?
The Scottish Government has delivered some welcome actions (including the much-needed Nature Restoration Fund) and many good statements on the importance of nature. Sadly, the proposed biodiversity strategy just doesn’t match this, but we hope changes will be made before it is completed.
Without four key changes – ecosystem restoration, species recovery, actions to improve protected areas and clear targets alongside the high-level outcomes – this strategy will not be fit for purpose.
We are urging the Scottish Government to match their welcome words with action and to grasp this unique opportunity now, before it is too late.
How can you get involved?
Update 20 September: The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy consultation closed on 12 September. During that time, more than 600 people took part in our e-action, with responses going to both the government officials responsible for the consultation and to Lorna Slater, The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.
While that feedback is being assessed, you can still make your feelings on the nature crisis and the biodiversity strategy known by directly emailing the ministerial email address at MinisterGSCEB@gov.scot.
In our previous blog about the strategy, we promised we would share some information to help you complete the consultation. We must admit that we had a trickier job putting together a quick guide to the 40 questions than we expected, but we provided some thoughts on most of them in this document here:
7444.1538.7462.A guide to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy consultation.pdf
We hope you might still find them useful.
A Nature Positive Scotland by 2030, adapted from the Global Goal for Nature. For more information please visit https://www.naturepositive.org/
Main image: Puffin on a cliff edge by Aidan McCormick (rspb-images.com)
7573.3632.7853.1777.A guide to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy consultation.pdf