Dr Deborah Long, chief officer, Scottish Environment LINK
Clean rivers and seas, teeming with wildlife. Native woodlands for everyone to explore. Fields buzzing with pollinators, and healthy soils for growing food. Local greenspaces where we can connect with nature.
We all want these things for Scotland, and last week, something happened that could bring them within our reach. The Scottish government’s Natural Environment Bill, published on 19 February, could be a turning point for Scotland’s nature, stopping its long decline and setting it on the path to recovery.
Scotland’s people love nature, and many are joining efforts to help it – planting trees, restoring native oysters, or growing wildflowers in their gardens to help bees and butterflies. In lots of places across Scotland, we can see nature returning.
But the overall picture is one of loss. Almost half of Scotland’s species have decreased in number since the 1970s, and one in nine is at risk of extinction.
Scotland’s seabirds have halved in number since the 1980s. Kestrels, curlews and lapwings, all of which are farmland birds, have all decreased by more than 60 percent since 1995. Pollinating insect populations have plummeted.
We know nature can recover if we create the right conditions. But to make this happen on a large scale, to bring Scotland’s nature back to health, we need action across society. And we need the people in power to make nature a priority.
The Scottish government publicly recognises that tackling the nature crisis is as urgent as tackling climate change. But so far, its action has fallen far short of its rhetoric. The Natural Environment Bill could be the thing to change that.
The bill requires ministers in the Scottish government to set targets for the recovery of Scotland’s nature. The targets will be legally binding, like Scotland’s climate targets.
While the climate targets have not always been met, and have, disappointingly, been subject to recent revisions, it’s undeniable that they’ve galvanised significant action across society to reduce our emissions. Without them we simply would not have made as much progress as we have, and it would have been harder to hold the government to account.
Scotland’s environment charities, witnessing the lack of progress in halting biodiversity loss, have called for many years for equivalent targets for nature.
Once the new targets are in place, government ministers will have to report on their progress every three years. The law will apply to future Holyrood governments regardless of the political parties involved.
To succeed, the targets should push the Scottish government to think strategically and to work with every industry and every sector, from farming and fishing to forestry and construction, to make the big changes needed. And the ambition will need to be matched with funding, and with support for communities to restore their local environments.
Nature matters to all of us. We love our hills, beaches, rivers and parks, and we know how important it is to our health and wellbeing to be able to connect with the natural world.
Nature is also vital to the fight against climate change. Healthy ecosystems on land and at sea will store carbon, limiting the rise in global temperatures, and will increase our resilience to the changes that are already happening to our climate. Nature can protect us from flooding and soil erosion, provide shelter and shade, and enable us to adapt the way we grow food in the face of changing weather patterns.
We need Scotland’s new nature recovery targets to work. The publication of the Natural Environment Bill is just the first step, but it signals that finally our politicians are willing to treat the state of our nature with the seriousness it, and we, deserve. Let’s hold them to that.
This article was first published in The National on 26 February 2025.