At the start of September 2019, while setting out the Scottish Government’s plans for the coming parliamentary year, the first minister declared: “By this time next year… we will have confirmed our global leadership in the fight against climate change”.
To meet this pledge, we must up our game significantly. As a society we have to intensify efforts to address the interlinked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
We know the first minister recognises the scale of the challenge facing us, as she also noted that: “Biodiversity loss and the climate crisis are intimately bound together: nature plays a key role in defining and regulating our climate and climate is key in shaping the state of nature.”
Taken alongside the Scottish Parliament’s backing last week for an ambitious set of targets to cut emissions, the recent Programme for Government contains some encouraging first steps. However, for all the fanfare around announcements such as the new Scottish Green Deal there is a significant omission from current plans.
It is internationally recognised that actions to reduce emissions must also be backed up by increasing the ability of our environment to store carbon and adapt to climate change. Scotland is well placed to invest in these natural climate solutions, including measures such as restoring peatlands, greening towns and cities, planting and restoring native woodland and enhancing the marine environment.
Investment in nature is patently good news for our environment but it can also deliver a range of social and economic benefits, not least improving our health and wellbeing. This is especially important now that the first minister has recognised economic growth should not be pursued at any cost, and “the objective of economic policy should be collective wellbeing”.
Time is running out to make the investment that will help lay the foundations needed to simultaneously deliver improved wellbeing, our new emissions targets, and enhanced biodiversity. The investment in our terrestrial and marine networks of natural habitats and ecosystems must also take the same strategic approach and detailed planning that is normally applied to traditional infrastructure, such as our transport and communications networks.
When world leaders come to Glasgow next year we hope they will see the global leadership that the Scottish Government would dearly love to demonstrate. To get there, we must act quickly and decisively.
Dougie Peedle is head of policy at Scottish Wildlife Trust.
