CAMERAS: Scottish environmental monitoring strategy

Purpose

Environmental monitoring in Scotland has been developed in an iterative manner by a range of organisations in response to statutory drivers and environmental issues of concern.

This strategy provides a framework for monitoring which will encourage practical steps to improve the co-ordination of environmental monitoring programmes in Scotland and therefore improve the cost-effectiveness of monitoring activities.
This strategy will:

• help focus the allocation of environmental monitoring resources upon the most important environmental issues facing Scotland
• promote a wide perspective in the design of detailed monitoring strategies so that they fully take into account the information required by other organisations and thereby deliver multiple benefits
• promote the collection of social and economic information and thereby help us understand the causes of environmental impacts and their consequences
• identify gaps in monitoring where reallocation of resources or better coordination would deliver significant improvements to our understanding
  of the environment
• provide information on environmental resources to support sustainable development

This strategy is not intended to:

• require action where existing monitoring programmes are already well
  co-ordinated
• adversely affect existing operational priorities and policies
• impose significant additional resource demands upon organisations
• cover research and development requirements

This strategy is intended to cover all Government-funded environmental monitoring in Scotland. This extends beyond the Co-ordinated Agenda for Marine, Environment and Rural Affairs Science ( CAMERAS) partners to the wider public sector including Scottish organisations such as Local Authorities and UK organisations such as the Met Office.