In the run up to the Scottish Elections in May we will be talking to you about the transformative changes that politicians in Scotland must make to recover Scotland’s amazing nature and how you can help. Today, we look at actions that would benefit and protect some of Scotland’s extraordinary wildlife.
Restoring nature and protecting Scotland’s iconic species
There are two actions in our joint Nature Recovery Plan that focus on protecting species from being accidentally or deliberately harmed by people and would deliver huge benefits for nature and the climate.
Scotland is home to some incredible and iconic wildlife from golden eagles to a third of Europe’s seabirds. However, 49% of species in Scotland have declined and one in nine is threatened with extinction.
Current policies are failing to protect wildlife and the places they live from damaging impacts of human activity and fall far short of allowing them to thrive as they could and should.
That’s why we are calling on the next Scottish Parliament to take 11 actions to address the nature and climate emergency. Two of these relate to human activities that directly and substantially harm wildlife through either deliberate intent or carelessness.
Ask #3: License driven grouse moors by the end of 2021
For more than 22 years Scotland’s politicians have been condemning the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and warning the game management industry to get their house in order. Despite these warnings and two decades of piecemeal changes to wildlife protection laws, self-regulation has been a complete failure and there is still substantial and often shocking evidence that human persecution of birds of prey persists.
Hen harriers, red kites, peregrines, golden and white-tailed eagles and short-eared owls have perished in large numbers in those decades at the hands of criminals.
We know that both the range and number of some of Scotland’s most iconic birds of prey, including golden eagles, are far smaller than the availability of habitat and prey could support because of wildlife crime. And that the situation in the central, eastern and southern grouse moors of the Scottish mainland is in stark contrast to the western Highlands and Islands where many of these species are thriving. The technology of GPS satellite tagging of various species, including golden eagles and hen harriers, has shone a bright spotlight on the persecution hotspots, where marked birds simply disappear without trace and in highly suspicious circumstances.
This is devastating for everyone who follows and takes an interest in the journeys of these birds and is emotionally exhausting for those working to protect them.
There are also other unsustainable management practices on driven grouse moors such as muirburn on peatland soils, as well as using lead ammunition – neither should have any place in Scotland given the climate and nature emergency we face.
The Scottish Parliament had already taken the welcome step to stop the mass culling of mountain hares on grouse moors. Then late last year, there was some promising news when the Scottish Government responded to the independent Grouse Moor Management Group Report. It proposed with widespread support from other political parties and people across Scotland, that measures to license grouse shooting and muirburn should be introduced as soon as possible.
We are calling on the next Scottish Parliament to swiftly deliver on this and bring about an effective licensing system as part of measures to help address the nature and climate emergency; encourage sustainable management of our uplands; and to ensure the illegal killing of Scotland’s iconic birds of prey becomes a thing of the past. Only then will we have Scottish landscapes we can truly be proud of.
Ask #9: Establish a Scottish Invasive Non-Native Species Inspectorate by 2025
Globally, invasive non-native species have contributed to 40% of animal extinctions in the last 400 .
Invasive non-native species (INNS) are animals or plants which have been moved and introduced to places where they do not occur naturally, through deliberate or accidental human actions, and where they cause negative environmental, social and/or economic impacts in those areas.
Those impacts include bringing new diseases, unprecedented predation pressure and competition with native species for resources. However, INNS can also have cultural and economic impacts, for example affecting property prices (Japanese knotweed) and cause health concerns (giant hogweed). Efforts to address the damage come at a cost of well over £2 billion pounds each year across the UK.
One example in Scotland is Rhododendron ponticum. This non-native plant escaped from gardens and is spreading rapidly, smothering woodlands and causing huge damage to Scotland’s rainforest on the west coast, and its unique wildlife.
As in many things, prevention is better (and far cheaper) than cure. However, at least 12 new non-native species are establishing on the island of Britain each year. The increasing globalisation of trade and climate change improving conditions for new arrivals increases the already significant risks.
We are calling on the next Scottish Parliament to create and invest in a National INNS Inspectorate for Scotland to establish preventative biosecurity capacity, and to initiate and guide the ecosystem restoration of our rivers, islands and woodlands. Taking biosecurity seriously is the most sustainable and cost-effective way to prevent further nature loss from INNS. To take just one example, only a long-term commitment to biosecurity can ensure that Scotland’s highly vulnerable islands can remain home to our internationally important populations of seabirds.
Scotland’s nature is in decline and desperately needs us to make changes. Those elected for the Scottish Parliament on 6 May have the opportunity to do that.
Why not check which candidates and parties have made these commitments and let yours know that nature is important to you by calling on them to champion nature? You can record how they measure up against all #11Actions using our Election Scorecard and find out more about the Nature Recovery Plan at rspb.org.uk/reviveourworldscotland.