Species are fundamental units of biodiversity. From bacteria to blue whales, life is divided into these interbreeding groups of individuals with shared characteristics. Species combine and interact to create ecosystems, living networks that generate and sustain the environment in which we all exist. Each species is unique, the product of 3.7 billion years of change and adaptation, yet all are related. Each one is irreplaceable.
Yet species loss is happening now at a rate faster than ever before in human history. Our world’s nature is in crisis. Many think that Scotland is somehow immune to this. Famous for wild beauty and rich nature, biodiversity loss has been seen – often deliberately framed – as something that happens away out there, abroad, down south. Not here in our bonnie home. But this is wrong. Scotland ranks among the most nature depleted countries on Earth. Historic losses - massive deforestation of native woodlands, centuries of overexploitation of fish and quarry, clearance of land for agriculture, wholesale persecution of competitor species – have all taken a huge toll on Scottish wildlife.
Curlew by Andy Hay
Now, at last, the loss of Scottish biodiversity is getting the recognition it deserves. The language in the draft ‘Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045’ (SBS) is stronger, more visionary, than any previous official outputs on Scottish nature. The Scottish Government’s Nature Recovery Fund is a welcome start to the better resourcing of nature renewal, and the forthcoming Natural Environment Bill offers a once-in-a-decade chance to bring forward legislation and legally binding national targets that will drive positive change.
So, we are in a uniquely promising time for nature conservation in Scotland. The new draft strategy includes welcome outcome targets for species – that our internationally important species will have increased and have resilient populations, and that the abundance and distribution of species will have recovered. But among all the discourse, dialogue, and proposals, there is a startling and fundamental gap: direct and meaningful action for species. The Scottish Government’s draft SBS shows inadequate ambition for species conservation and, despite persistent calls from the conservation movement, little ground has been given on this critical point. The SBS frames no more than a stand-still ambition, that the Scottish Government will “Continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes”. No new work, no step-up to tackle the ongoing losses of species abundance and diversity.
Government officials have suggested that in focusing on ecosystem restoration, and protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030 (‘30x30’), we will automatically deliver for the species in those ecosystems and protected areas. It’s a seductive story – but it will not halt and reverse biodiversity loss: the Strategy’s top-line ambition. A quick think about past conservation successes tells us the real story. Without targeted species work, we would still be missing Scotland’s sea eagles, for example. This species needed a dedicated translocation programme to re-establish populations lost to Victorian persecution. The current Bird Flu crisis for Scotland’s wild birds surely must teach us that threatened species need targeted action over and above broad landscape-scale initiatives. Ecosystem renewal work is and will be completely essential – but, on its own, it will be insufficient to deliver real biodiversity recovery. We need a Species Framework working alongside a Programme of Ecosystem Recovery, so we can prioritise and deliver specific action to recover our threatened species. This absolutely does not mean that we need recovery projects for every single species – but equally, we absolutely cannot recover nature without a framework of effective action for our most threatened species.
In December 2022, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB COP15) came together in Montreal to agree new global targets for tackling catastrophic biodiversity loss. The language of the COP15 outputs is, as in Scotland, newly realistic about the enormous challenges, and again is newly ambitious in tone. The outputs are, moreover, crystal clear on the importance of species, with species conservation receiving unprecedented prominence:
This ambition is significantly higher in terms of real management action and ambition to halt extinction than in the Scottish Government’s draft SBS. Fortunately, the SBS document remains a draft so that the Scottish Government can incorporate the outputs from COP15. The Scottish Government will also be bringing forward 5-year Delivery Plans for the SBS – together these will, we hope, specify actions to deliver the vision in the Strategy.
Mountain hare by Ben Andrew
There is therefore still every chance to ensure the SBS and its Delivery Plans properly reflect these vital new international global goals for species. We call for new priority to be given to species conservation, elevating it to align with the settled will of the global community. If this does not happen, current losses of species abundance, range and diversity will, we fear, continue. We may be a nature depleted country - but Scotland still has so much incredible nature in our lands, freshwaters and oceans. Let’s not forget that the red squirrel, the puffin, the great yellow bumblebee and a host of iconic native wildlife species, carry more cultural significance and resonate more strongly with people’s emotions than any concept on paper. This must be the generation that gets the ambition right, turns words into action and finally reverses the ongoing loss of our wild species.
For more information or take our #SaveScotSpecies campaign action, click here.
Header image: Great yellow bumblebee by Colin Campbell