The end of a year seems like a good time to pause and reflect on what we have achieved in the last spin around the sun. Because, although there is always more work to be done to protect nature, it’s important to look back and see what we’ve achieved together.
Most of all, we wanted to say thank you. We're hugely grateful for your continuing support. It’s absolutely crucial to our work here at RSPB Scotland. Now, let’s reflect on our biggest achievements of 2024.
We showed why Nature Matters to people in Scotland
For our #NatureMatters campaign, we received dozens of incredible messages from people all over Scotland explaining why nature is so important to their mental health, wellbeing, family businesses and for future generations.
We even took your stories to Holyrood and read them out to MSPs. They were powerful evidence of how much people in Scotland care about nature and want it to be protected.
Alex from Fife sums it up well: “Nature needs our help and needs it now. This is our legacy to protect the vulnerable and endangered species so they can thrive and be enjoyed by our children’s children and for generations after.”
Your stories were an important part of our campaign calling for legally-binding targets for nature recovery in Scotland, to be secured with a Natural Environment Bill.
As part of that, more than a thousand of you added your voice to an action by Scottish Environment LINK, sending a total of 13,156 emails to MSPs calling for the Bill.
And our efforts paid off. We were happy to see the Natural Environment Bill announced by the Scottish Government back in September. This was a game-changing moment for nature and biodiversity in Scotland.
Now we need to see what the Bill looks like. It is expected to go before Parliament in the New Year, so we’ll being watching closely.
We helped secure a lifeline for Scotland's seabirds
After decades of campaigning, industrial sandeel fishing was stopped in Scottish waters and the English North Sea in April 2024.
This is a huge lifeline for struggling seabirds like Puffins, Kittiwakes, and Razorbills who rely on the fish to feed their chicks.
Climate change and overfishing have vastly depleted sandeel populations, having a devastating knock-on effect on seabirds, which are already experiencing devastating declines.
More than 11,000 people in Scotland spoke up to give our seabirds a chance, signing our petition to end sandeel trawling in Scottish waters.
But the fight isn’t over yet.
The European Commission has decided to trigger an arbitration process over the sandeel fisheries closure. We believe this flies in the face of its commitment to protect and restore marine ecosystems.
Working closely with our partners at Birdlife Europe, we will be pushing to keep these fisheries closed.
In the meantime, we’re also calling for the Scottish Government to take urgent action to address the crisis facing our seabirds.
You can add your voice to our action now. https://action.rspb.org.uk/page/154240/action/1?ea.tracking.id=rspb_scotland_blog
Andy Hay
We stood up for Coul Links
Coul Links, an extraordinary and unique coastal dune habitat in East Sutherland, with national and international designations for nature, is again under threat from the development of a golf course.
Despite hundreds of objections – including from RSPB Scotland, and other members of the Conservation Coalition, Buglife, Butterfly Conservation Scotland, Plantlife, Marine Conservation Society, NTS and Scottish Wildlife Trust and NatureScot – councillors narrowly voted to approve this second application in December 2023.
But thousands of nature lovers sent a wave of messages to the planning minister, calling for him to save Coul Links.
We think this made an impact. The Scottish Government announced in spring it would “call in” the application triggering a public inquiry with public hearing sessions held in November 2024.
We are immensely proud of our team, and members of the Conservation Coalition, for their hard work putting their case to the inquiry.
After the public inquiry wraps up in early 2025, we will await the recommendation from the inquiry’s reporters to Scottish Ministers, who will make the final decision on the fate of Coul Links. Keep an eye out for further updates from us in the New Year.
We spoke up for birds of prey
After decades of campaigning for better protections for birds of prey, a game-changing piece of legislation passed this year.
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act, which become law in April, licences grouse shooting and regulates the use of traps and muirburn.
It means estates that kill protected raptors or commit wildlife crimes will now face the potential loss of shooting rights.
We believe this will provide a meaningful deterrent to those who continue to break the law. However, there are concerns the act could be undermined by a new loophole.
We championed nature-friendly farming
Meanwhile, we’ve been speaking up for the importance of nature and climate friendly-farming.
More than three quarters of Scotland is farmed, which means farmers and crofters have a big role to play in our response to the nature and climate crises.
In July 2024, the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill became law. This key piece of legislation will provide the framework for future farming policy, with a goal to support nature restoration and climate mitigation and adaptation. We believe this offers hope and makes real progress possible.
Then in autumn, we called on your support for nature-friendly farming. Thousands of you from all over Scotland signed our petition calling for the UK Government to invest more in nature-friendly farming.
If you haven’t signed already, the petition is still open. You can add your voice here. Thank you for speaking up for farmers, crofters, and nature.
What’s in store for 2025?
None of these milestones could have been achieved without you, our supporters. You’re pure brilliant.
But what’s in store for next year? Well, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the Natural Environment Bill as it goes before Parliament and will be calling for an effective Climate Change Plan. We’ll continue to champion farmers taking action for nature and call on the government to support them. Meanwhile, the fight continues for Coul Links. And we won’t stop speaking up for our seabirds.
There’s plenty more work to be done in 2025. We’ll see you there.
Main image: Razorbill swimming near Shiant Isles by Aidan McCormick