When did we all start talking about a nature crisis in Scotland?
It wasn’t in 2017 when I started with NatureScot. There wasn’t even talk of a climate emergency.
Then in 2019, Scotland was the first country to declare a climate emergency, the same year as a startling UN publication on the state of global nature. In 2020, the Scottish Government declared a nature crisis, twinning it with the climate emergency.
So, as I prepare to leave NatureScot, it seems remarkable what we have achieved in seven years. In 2017, I couldn’t imagine that we would now have a £65m Nature Restoration Fund with over 240 projects from Shetland to the Solway. I couldn’t imagine a Natural Environment Bill with statutory nature targets. Landscapes, our coasts and our seas are changing and benefiting communities. Still too few, but the movement is growing.
The pandemic slowed down our approach to nature recovery across Scotland. But now, the Scottish Government has launched its strategy to tackle the nature emergency. The call to action to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and regenerate nature by 2045 is now clearly articulated in a way that it wasn’t in 2017.
Beavers will be part of that story. In many ways they – and their reintroduction to Scotland – have been both a joy and a pain. They symbolise our rewilding as a nation, and with any big change, a challenge to some. But if there was one species that for me represents the change we have seen in those seven years, it’s been the beaver; pictured here are fine specimens in Doune, Perthshire. Our approach has shifted from controlled reintroductions to statutory protection to managed expansion, in partnership. We have been knocked for supporting expansion without care by some, and for being too slow by others. Criticism, especially from faceless social media avatars, is easy. NatureScot’s job is to move from the middle ground to the common ground cooperatively and I believe this is yielding the transformation we want to see.
Change doesn’t happen in isolation. A major change I have seen is how we at NatureScot work with those managing land and sea. It’s not always easy to reach common ground. NatureScot is asking people, particularly our farmers, crofters, land managers and fishing communities, to do things differently. Encouragingly, I think we have moved on significantly from the false choice of economy or environment to a place where people see that both are possible, and necessary. For me, resilience is at the heart in our economy and our natural world. Building resilience to climate change connects people and nature like nothing else.
Would I have liked progress to have been faster? Of course! Agricultural reform and land use change, supported with the right balance of public and private money, is where NatureScot and our partners have been most impatient. The urgency to restore nature and hit net zero carbon emissions is clear.
And then, perhaps, above all, we need to rewild ourselves. For many, the connection to nature in our everyday lives is lost or worse never made. We need to inspire a new generation so that nature has a part in everyone’s heads and hearts.
Francesca Osowska is Chief Executive of NatureScot
Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk
