Scotland urgently needs strong targets to ensure impact in its forthcoming nature bill, covering areas ranging from habitats to species, experts said during a webinar on Wednesday.
Clear, measurable, and ambitious targets will help drive action on biodiversity across the country, speakers told a webinar hosted by Scotland Policy Conferences. However, a government representative said specifics on targets will not come until secondary legislation, due to their complexity.
Last week, Scotland committed to establishing a Natural Environment Bill by early Jan. 2025 with targets, provisions for national parks, and powers to update habitat legislation.
“We need to be really smart with our targets. We need clear dates. We need them to be relevant, specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic,” said Bruce Wilson, head of policy and advocacy at the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
“We need to be thinking about targets in terms of species abundance, distribution, extinction risk, and overall ecosystem health, connectivity, and resilience.”
Targets could include requirements for using nature-based solutions within local authority projects, and species targets for particular areas, he said, adding that Scotland should leverage its international commitment to 30×30, protecting 30% of its land and waters by 2030, to conserve more areas.
“Let’s be under no illusion. There is now a lot of work to do. We really need to use this as a springboard to crack on with things. By the time this bill is actually in place, we’re going to be significantly down the road to 2030.”
Scotland consulted on its Natural Environment Bill in May. The proposals included providing additional means to require, incentivise, and enforce activities to secure nature restoration outside protected areas.
The consultation proposed introducing targets to help meet its 30×30 commitment, without sharing details on what they would look like.
Emily Wadsworth, senior climate resilience manager at charity Sniffer, also stressed the need for the targets to be driven by 30×30.
“Without the habitats there, the species are not going to survive. Species are incredibly important, but we need to make sure that we’re actually giving them the best start,” she said.
The targets should be focused on habitat quality, connectivity, and ecosystem integrity, she added, saying that the bill must address the drivers of biodiversity loss through ambitious but realistic targets, while being properly resourced.
SECONDARY LEGISLATION
Liz Walker, biodiversity programme manager for the Scottish government, told the webinar one of the priorities of the government was to set nature targets, but that they would come after the bill in secondary legislation.
“There is a high level of complexity in putting nature restoration targets on a strategy footing. And [it] will require careful consideration – poorly formulated targets could lead to poor or even perverse outcomes,” she said.
“The bill will establish the framework, including the high-level topics, but the details of the targets, such as the quantifiable figures, will be included in secondary legislation.”
She said other key priorities for the government are:
- Mainstreaming biodiversity across various government policies and sectors
- Ensuring appropriate governance structures are in place
- Developing an investment plan to identify future funding opportunities
- Establishing a robust monitoring and evaluation framework
- Implementing a programme of public engagement to raise awareness of biodiversity
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
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