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Large landowners should be forced to set out plans for nature recovery as part of Scotland’s Land Reform Bill, says the Scottish Green party.
Today sees debate on Scotland’s latest Land Reform bill in the Scottish parliament, and with 400 amendments tabled it is likely to be a long slog.
The Scottish Greens' amendment around large landowners is just one of these amendments to a bill that is part of an ongoing programme of land reform and taps into deep feelings about unfairness in a country that is still, on land ownership, one of the most unequal in Europe – with half of Scotland’s land owned by less than 1% of people.
According to Andy Wightman's, Who Owns Scotland 2024, 83% of rural Scotland is privately owned. "Private rural landownership," he wrote, "has become more concentrated over the past 12 years with 433 landowners owning 50% of the privately-owned rural land in 2024 compared to 440 in 2012."
Ariane Burgess, the Scottish Green MSP behind the amendment, said; “Our country should belong to all of us. We need to ensure that the large landowners are using their land in ways that benefit our nature and our environment, while giving local communities a say in how this is taken forward.
“Too many of the biggest land hoarders have shown that they can’t be trusted to do it of their own accord, so it is time for legislation that makes them do it.
Burgess will bring a vote on the proposals to compel large landowners to set out plans for nature recovery in consultation with local communities. The amendment would require large landowners to set out robust plans for how they will manage their land to promote nature’s recovery.
The Scottish Greens have also tabled an amendment that would give ministers the power to block any land sale if the prospective buyer already owns more than 500 hectares of Scotland – but this is an amendment with nature at its heart.
Burgess said: “Scotland’s nature is in crisis and it is being made worse by years of neglect by too many vacant landowners who are letting it die around them. There is so much to do if we are to have any chance of restoring our habitats, woodlands, rivers and seas, but we are being held back by a small number of people who are happy to exploit the land around them without any care for the impact they are having.
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“If we take bold steps to look after nature then it will look after us. With the right political will we can start to reverse the decline of nature while creating green jobs, boosting sustainable food production and ensuring clean air and water, and healthy rivers and seas.
“It would allow us to diversify how we use our land, helping us to change the story of climate change and nature loss into one where biodiversity thrives, and more rural jobs exist.”
Such an amendment would likely be popular with the Scottish public, 78% of which, according to the The Revive coalition’s Big Land Question consultation, back requiring large landowners to meet climate and nature targets – almost as many as said that the Scottish Government should do more to encourage community ownership.
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What about nature in the Natural Environment Bill?
Repeated reports have revealed that the state of Scotland’s nature and biodiversity is not what it should be – perhaps the most profile being that, one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, ranking in the bottom 25% of nations in terms of its biodiversity intactness.
How we protect it is therefore crucial, and in policy and legislative terms it’s a big week for nature. Not only will the Land Reform bill see its final debate, but also Scotland’s Natural Environment Bill’s stage one passage through parliament is set to conclude on Friday.
Scotland’s public nature agency, NatureScot, describes the bill as important legislation that can help “stop the decades-long decline of nature”.
It's interesting to look at what Professor Colin Galbraith, chair of NatureScot, picks out as important in the Bill, which he says, “has the potential to accelerate the urgent action that is needed to boost nature recovery in Scotland”.
“This includes," he says, "the opportunity to create legally binding targets that can help reverse nature loss, regenerate our biodiversity and build resilience against climate change.”
But it's not all targets. The Bill will set out three further areas for change and improvement, all of which are around issues frequently raised in the articles I have written over the past few years – whether on National Parks, woodland restoration or deer management.
One is sustainable deer management. Galbraith writes: “Deer are an important part of our biodiversity but in high numbers they can damage woodlands, peatlands and other habitats. The proposed changes will modernise, clarify and streamline deer management legislation in Scotland, meeting many of the recommendations of the independent Deer Working Group. This will, in turn, support work to restore native woodlands and peatlands by reducing the impacts of deer grazing and trampling.”
While this deer management legislation is supported by many nature and conservation bodies, it is controversial and has been criticised by those in the rural sporing sector. For instance, last month when the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee published its report on the bill, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation responded saying that the bill “risks undermining self-regulation in deer management”.
BASC’s Scotland director Peter Clark said: The legislation risks placing heavy burdens on deer managers without clear measures of success or proper financial support."
Another change in the bill is a proposed move to reinstate the power for Ministers to amend the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Habitats Regulations legislation.
“This part of the Bill,” Colin Galbraith writes, “has attracted a good level of scrutiny at stage one, and quite rightly so. Any changes here must be carefully considered so we continue to protect vital habitats and species. It is important, however, that we make sure the framework and regulations are flexible enough to adapt to our changing climate. For example, where a climate event is sudden, or potentially catastrophic for nature and people, Ministers need the ability to act quickly. Flexible legislation can help make that response happen.”
Still another is the modernising of National Parks “aims and powers”. This, says Galbraith, means that their “vital work can be accelerated”. “It is one crucial way of tackling the nature and climate emergencies in these important parts of our country.”
What do other organisations think? It's possible to see responses online, including those from the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, Action to Protect Rural Scotland, and Environmental Standards Scotland.
One body that has a wide overview is the Royal Society of Edinburgh which came back with 29 recommendations. Among these are that the bill “be amended to regulate that all forestry planting applications over 50 ha be subject to a compulsory EIA”, that it should “specifically state that there should be no tree planting or other destructive activity undertaken on peats or peat-rich soils” and that it should be amended “to give NatureScot powers of enforcement of deer management plans”.
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