On the Islands

Some reflections on the Islands Act and how it will be important to our wildlife and environment.

On the Islands

On the 6^th July 2018, the first ever Scottish legislation focused exclusively on islands entered the statutes. This is a significant milestone - and a major achievement - for island communities across Scottish archipelagos. It signals a refinement of political representation, and further devolution of powers for those communities. It also provides legal underpinning for the ‘island proofing’ of current and future plans, policies and legislation, ensuring they account for the special circumstances met on islands, ensuring that people living and working in the islands are not disadvantaged. Having been involved with, and part of, island communities for almost a century, RSPB Scotland naturally welcomes these progressive changes.

We are truly delighted, however, that the new Act, following Parliamentary debate and scrutiny, now also reflects the massive significance of Scottish islands for nature and our country’s wider environmental wellbeing.

The Shiant Islands, declared rat free in 2018 following a RSPB Scotland-led Island Restoration Project, in partnership with the Nicolson family and funded by the EC LIFE fund, private donors and SNH. Photo © Phil Taylor.

Scotland’s 1,382 [1] islands are some of the most important places for wildlife in the whole of Europe. They comprise around 13% of our total land area, yet host 40% of our internationally important wildlife sites. They hold fully half of the world population of Northern Gannets, including the world’s largest and second largest colonies; 40% of the world Manx shearwater population; 60% of the world population of great skuas; the only arable Machair grasslands on Earth, and a host of agricultural wildlife now rare across the continent, with key populations of great yellow bumblebees, corncrakes, marsh fritillary butterflies, Irish lady’s tresses orchids and many more threatened species.

It’s a huge credit to Scottish Parliamentarians, and our legislative systems, that a Bill not initially designed to focus on environmental matters can be pragmatically and consensually extended by Parliament to capitalise on a key opportunity for protecting and enhancing the natural heritage. This heritage, and environmental wellbeing, now feature explicitly in the final Act. Uninhabited islands, often the key wildlife sites, are included in the Act’s scope. Perhaps most innovatively, biosecurity action to prevent invasive non-native species establishment is also an explicit inclusion. Invasive species are a key threat to island ecosystems, seabirds and waders in particular, and preventative action is critical both in terms of biodiversity conservation and in terms of long-term cost efficiency. Important lessons from current problems, such as the introduction of stoats to Orkney, are evidently being learned.

The Act requires Scottish ministers to lay a national Islands Plan before Parliament in advance of July next year. This is where the Act has the potential to drive real, positive change - and that plan must have full regard to these environmental matters. There will of course be debates, disagreements and compromises as the plan is developed over the coming months. But this ground breaking new law is surely also an invitation to collaborate and construct a better future for all our island communities, and for the priceless natural wonders that they support and live alongside.