This week the Scottish Government laid out its plans for its next year in parliament, promising to deliver a wealthier, fairer, and greener Scotland.
We know that a significant increase in the scale and pace of nature restoration across the country will be critical to achieving this. Action to restore nature delivers multiple wider benefits for the people of Scotland, making our environment, economies, and communities more resilient over the long-term, improving natural flood defences, storing more carbon, delivering green jobs, and improving people’s health and wellbeing.
The latest State of Nature report revealed that 1 in 9 Scottish species now face the risk of extinction, and globally Scotland ranks in the bottom 25% of nations in terms of its biodiversity intactness.
RSPB Scotland applaud First Minister John Swinney’s clear recognition that the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss represent “the greatest existential threat of our times”. The Scottish Government has also just been elected President of Regions4, a global network of subnational governments which are committed to leadership on biodiversity and climate.
Our natural environment needs action starting now and lasting into the future. Is the Scottish Government underpinning its commitment to global leadership with genuine action to achieve this?
Natural Environment Bill
RSPB Scotland has heralded the inclusion of a Natural Environment Bill within this Programme for Government. This game-changing piece of legislation will allow the Scottish Government to set legally binding targets to halt and reverse nature’s decline. In doing so, this government can step up efforts to address the nature crisis and to regenerate biodiversity. Establishing these targets will also help to mainstream the protection and enhancement of the natural environment, holding current and future governments to account to deliver for nature.
This Bill will also bring forward vital reforms to the management of deer in Scotland and provide an opportunity to strengthen the role of National Parks to allow them to lead nature’s recovery at scale. There is also a commitment to a range of action to bolster climate adaptation through our forthcoming National Adaptation Plan – including establishing new local partnerships, tailoring approaches to adaptation to the needs of local areas, providing new sector specific support for businesses on climate resilience, and providing practical support for the development of climate-resilient local development plans.
However, the Scottish Government fall short on action to restore peatlands and to guarantee a right to a healthy environment.
In an effort to reduce biodiversity loss and protect Scotland’s largest land-based carbon store, the Scottish Government has committed to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030. However, it has so far achieved just 20% of this target. This government must urgently increase rates of restoration - a commitment to restore just 10,000 hectares of peatland over the next year falls significantly short of what is required. Without a step-change in ambition, the Scottish Government’s 2030 target will be missed by a large margin.
The Scottish Government has also failed to introduce measures to protect peatlands from needless destruction for horticulture. This is despite making clear its intention to bring about an end to peat sales and launching a public consultation last year which found widespread support for a ban.
Plans to introduce a Human Rights Bill – which would include a right to a healthy environment – have also been abandoned by this government.
Looking ahead
There are still some unknowns – including precise details on woodland creation, proposed changes to the Habitats Regulations and Environmental Impact assessments, and more details on the future of the Nature Restoration Fund - which has been cut by a total of £6 million - and we will be keeping a very close eye on these.
But the Scottish Government has committed to keeping pace with Europe and is making moves to position itself as a global leader on action to tackle the interlinked nature and climate crises. The 2024-25 Programme for Government contains groundbreaking legislation which will hold this and all future Scottish Governments to account to halt and reverse biodiversity loss – exactly the sort of ambition required to turn thing around. The significance of the Natural Environment Bill for the future of nature conservation in Scotland cannot be overstated.
However, in other areas it appears that the Scottish Government is still failing to grasp the severity of the crisis we have on our hands. The lack of action to meet peatland restoration targets coupled with recent cuts to the Nature Restoration Fund threaten to undermine the ability of this government to meet its own targets – it’s time for a joined-up approach.