Memorandum submitted by the Scottish Government
BIODIVERSITY DELIVERY
IN SCOTLAND
1. The Scottish Government is working to
create a more successful country where all of Scotland can flourish
through increasing sustainable economic growth. It has made a
firm commitment to build a Greener Scotland and one of the outcomes
of the National Performance Framework calls for us to value and
enjoy our built and natural environment and protect it and enhance
it for future generations. The achievement of this objective will
be measured by three national indicators which relate to biodiversity:
the abundance of terrestrial breeding birds, the proportion of
protected nature sites in favourable condition and the proportion
of adults visiting the outdoors weekly.
2. The Scottish Government provides strategic
policy direction on biodiversity, working closely with key statutory
agencies include Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Scottish
Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Forestry Commission
Scotalnd (FCS). Non-government organisations including Scottish
Wildlife Trust, RSPB and Scottish Environment Link are represented
in the partnership arrangements as are other stakeholder interests
including business, land managers and local government.
3. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy "Scotland's
Biodiversity: It's In Your Hands", published in 2004, set
out a 25 year framework for action to conserve and enhance biodiversity
for the health, enjoyment and well-being of all the people of
Scotland. A Progress Report 2005-07, published in December
2007, highlights examples of progress with implementation of the
Scottish Biodiversity Strategy in its first three years (http://sh45inta/Publications/2007/12/11141751/0
).
4. The Progress Report included the first
suite of biodiversity indicators for Scotland. In summary for
species and habitats these showed:
— Of the 153 UK priority species in
Scotland, nearly 40% are increasing or stable, while 18% are declining.
The status of around 30% of these species is not currently known.
— Of the 41 UK priority habitats in
Scotland, 35% are increasing or stable, while nearly 30% are declining.
For 34% of habitats however the status is unknown.
— Four indicators show biodiversity
responses to climate change across terrestrial, coastal and marine
environments. Major declines in some nesting seabirds are of particular
concern, and may be related to climate change.
5. The delivery of biodiversity in Scotland
has recently been reviewed and we are implementing a revised delivery
structure. This new delivery structure is aimed at achieving an
increased focus on the planning and delivery of effective actions,
and is designed to embed the ecosystem approach. The new structure
will also include a Ministerial chaired group to provide oversight
over the success of the strategy, and reach out across sectors
to achieve progress.
PARTNERSHIP WORKING
THROUGH THE
UK BIODIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP
6. The Scottish Government and Scottish
Natural Heritage participate in the work of the UK Biodiversity
Partnership. The Scottish Government is committed to the principles
set out in Conserving Biodiversity—the UK Approach.
It provides a useful framework for future action, including the
desirability of adopting an ecosystems approach in delivery strategies.
Work is underway in Scotland to explore how the ecosystems approach
could best be given practical effect in Scotland, including the
development of a model ecosystem plan for a pilot area. The ecosystem
approach takes us away from regarding biodiversity merely as something
to protect, often in isolated sites, to an understanding of how
a rich, diverse ecosystem supports and interacts with a successful
society and economy. The projected impacts of climate change give
further impetus to looking at a wider, landscape scale in planning
actions, as well as protecting individual sites which remain a
key element of sustaining biodiversity.
7. The recent publication and launch of the
Invasive Non-Native Species Framework Strategy for Great Britain,
ably illustrates the benefits of joint working where appropriate.
This Framework has been jointly developed by Defra, the Scottish
Government and the Welsh Assembly Government working as equal
partners. It is clear that there is value in working together
to tackle the problems of non-native invasive species across the
landmass of Britain. We look forward to playing our part in moving
forward to implement this framework.
8. As we head to 2010, when European and
international targets halted the loss of biodiversity fall due,
the Scottish Government encourages continuing dialogue, and a
co-operative effort to ensure that all administrations can make
a useful input to the development of reporting on the targets.
It is important that we achieve a balanced and informative reporting
against the targets, that gives due emphasis both to successes
and to remaining challenges. Looking forward, we need to ensure
that the expertise available across the UK is used effectively
to allow actions to be planned in the four nations. We need to
ensure that our planning structures at every level allow a focus
on the ecosystem scale.
9. Mr Russell, Minister for Environment,
has invited his counterparts from the other three administrations
to Scotland to discuss a number of issues which lie ahead, notably
the handling of reporting progress on 2010 and future arrangements
for nature conservation more generally. It is expected that this
dialogue will assist in the sharing of views and the development
of agreed understanding on these issues and it is hoped this meeting
will take place in early autumn.
June 2008
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