Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045

Introduction

1.1 What is Biodiversity and why is it important?

Biodiversity is the web of life. It is the variety of all living things and the ecosystems where they live (on land or in water). It comprises the living organisms in a particular space, whether in a window-box, garden, park, meadow, peatland, river, loch, estuary, ocean, beach or mountain top.

Biodiversity inspires people. It has enormous value in its own right but is also central to our survival as a species. Our economy, jobs, health and wellbeing depend on it and it is an integral part of our culture and way of life. More than half of the world’s GDP (US$44 trillion) is thought to be dependent on nature in some way. Yet humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants.

Nature is our home … Good economics demands we manage it better. We are part of nature, not separate from it.”

The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review

Biodiversity supports food production and security: through insect pollination in farming and horticulture; and our fishing industry, which depends on resilient and productive seas. It provides the blueprint for many modern medicines and contributes to our wellbeing, providing recreation, relaxation and a sense of place. Healthy biodiversity protects soil from eroding, purifies water and helps prevent and mitigate flooding.

We face twin reinforcing crises: a decline in biodiversity will exacerbate the climate crisis – and a changing climate will accelerate the rate of biodiversity loss.

The role biodiversity plays in addressing and mitigating the impact of climate change is vital. Globally, when they are functioning well, ocean and land ecosystems remove around 50% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions each year. The more the world warms, however, the more stress will be placed on ecosystems, triggering feedback loops that will accelerate warming and extreme weather events. Protecting and regenerating biodiversity is the best chance we have to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Biodiversity, Nature And Natural Capital

These terms are often used interchangeably but they are not precisely the same. In this document:

biodiversity refers to the variability among living organisms within terrestrial, marine and aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes they are part of. This includes diversity within species, between species and across ecosystems.

nature includes biodiversity, geodiversity and the natural elements of our landscapes and seascapes. It encompasses all the underpinning features and forces that have continued since the Earth was formed from summit to seabed including rocks, landforms, soils and processes like weather systems. Nature has shaped our history, culture and identity. The best way to truly understand the importance of biodiversity is to imagine what nature would be like without it.

Natural Capital is a concept that recognises Nature as a valuable asset which provides a stock and flows of ecosystem services (for example clean air, carbon storage, flood management, food production and recreational opportunities). Collectively these underpin and benefit our society and economy. Framing the natural environment in this way emphasises the need to invest in, and manage, this asset within safe environmental limits.

1.2 Why do we need a Biodiversity Strategy?

The Strategy sets out a nature positive vision for Scotland – one where biodiversity is regenerating and underpinning a healthy and thriving economy and society and playing a key role in addressing climate change. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy will sit alongside Scotland’s Climate Change Plan and, through developing and driving investment in nature-based solutions, will play a significant role in delivering our commitment to Net Zero. In its own right, it sets out how we will protect and regenerate biodiversity to ensure the sustainable flow of ecosystem services on which we all depend. The Strategy also speaks to the economic and social opportunities regenerating our biodiversity will bring – new investment, new job opportunities for communities and for our overall health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy is for everyone – large corporate players, small businesses, land managers, non-governmental organisations and Scotland’s communities and citizens whose decisions in everyday lives as producers and consumers have an impact on biodiversity. Only by coming together to deliver substantial changes in the way we use and manage the asset which is our natural environment can we avoid irreversible damage to biodiversity.

Scotland is fully committed to implementing international obligations and participates actively in international multilateral fora, supporting the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and implementing key regional agreements such as the Bern Convention and the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), as well as to maintaining or exceeding European Union (EU) environmental standards.

Delivering a nature positive future for Scotland requires a multi-sectoral, whole of society approach. Key policies and strategies increasingly recognise the fundamental importance of biodiversity to achieving broader environmental, economic and social objectives. The Strategy provides a significant and unique opportunity to draw on a range of policy levers and mainstream positive outcomes for biodiversity across Government.

1.3 An international Biodiversity crisis

At the time of writing, biodiversity is declining faster globally than at any other time in human history. The IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity (May 2019) identified five direct drivers of global biodiversity loss:

• changing use of the land and sea especially for agriculture, forestry, fish farming and coastal infrastructure.
• direct exploitation of organisms via harvesting, logging, hunting and fishing.
• climate change.
• pollution.
• invasive non-native species (and growing prevalence of pathogens).

These direct drivers are associated with a range of indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, including socio-cultural values and behaviours, demographic and consumption factors, poor governance and the impacts of some technological innovations. The global use of natural resources has more than tripled since 1970 and continues to grow. This, in turn, has led to a huge increase in waste of raw and manufactured food and other goods, and an entire industry based on recycling the materials and embodied energy they represent.

Both increased consumption and, in response, production is an outcome of people’s increasing distance from, and understanding of how the products they consume are produced and their impact on biodiversity and the natural environment more generally.

“In the past 50 years, the human population has doubled, the global economy has grown nearly fourfold and global trade tenfold, together driving up the demand for energy and materials.”

IPBES (2019) Global assessment report on biodiversity.

1.4 Drivers of biodiversity loss across Scotland’s land and seascapes

In Scotland, the evidence around the scale and nature of the biodiversity crisis is also strong and continues to mount. The evidence base points consistently to a natural environment that has been heavily degraded, with continued declines across much of our land and seascapes. Evidence derived from monitoring and evaluation will be key to assessing progress and determining the future actions we take to deliver our Vision and Outcomes, which will be set out in our three-yearly statutory reports on implementation of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

On land

Around 70% of Scotland is solely or partially managed for agriculture (roughly 10% arable and 20% pasture, with the remainder rough grazing, which in the uplands is often secondary to grouse moor and red deer estate management).

There have been profound changes in agricultural practices in Scotland over the last century. Prior to the First World War, horses were the primary source of power on most farms, spilled grain provided food for birds such as sparrows and stock ponds and their margins were valuable habitats for a wide range of plants and animals.

Since then, increased mechanisation has led to the loss of drinking ponds for working horses or for cattle on their way to market. In some parts of Scotland, the decline in the number of small farms has led to a decline in diversity in the countryside as fields were enlarged and rationalised.

Changes to ploughing and crop rotations, increased fertiliser use and high livestock numbers have negatively impacted soil and water quality, carbon storage and resulted in increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Large-scale heavy grazing and browsing pressures have reduced the diversity, complexity and resilience of soils and plant life, leading to further reductions in invertebrates, birds and other animals. The past 50 years has witnessed a loss of non-cropped habitat and major loss and fragmentation of all farmland habitats.

The outcome has been substantial long-term decreases in key farmland bird populations: declines of more than 50% for greenfinch, kestrel, and lapwing and 25- 50% declines in oystercatcher and rook since 1994. There have also been substantial long-term decreases in pollinators and species-rich grasslands, for example a 39% loss of lowland meadows.

There are however some nascent signs of recovery across Scotland’s farmland landscape. Many farmers across Scotland have managed to incorporate improved levels of biodiversity through protecting and restoring features such as ponds, hedges and wildflower margins.

The drainage of ponds and marshes has increased the rate and extent of wetland loss. Reduced water storage capacity and soil compaction has intensified flood risk. Soil erosion through cultivation and trampling by animals close to watercourses has added individually small, but cumulatively large, pollution loads to freshwater bodies. Nitrogen pollution and nutrient enrichment of water courses and bodies is linked to a reduction in the diversity of aquatic plant and animal life.

Scotland’s uplands (above the limits of enclosed farmland) comprise a range of habitats including moorland, rough grassland, blanket bog, woods and species-rich grasslands. The majority of this land is managed for field-sports and livestock grazing and some multi-functional uses (e.g. renewable energy, nature conservation and amenity interests). Management practices giving rise to high stocking densities of sheep, heavy impacts of grazing, browsing and trampling by deer and inappropriate muirburn especially on deep peat has led to the degradation and loss of upland and peatland habitats. Deer management groups across the Highlands have made significant efforts and progress to reduce upland deer populations. However, more work is required to allow our habitats to regenerate. Overall at least 25% of wider uplands are considered to be in poor condition. A range of species and habitats is declining, especially waders, hen harriers, mountain willow and juniper. The greatest decline in birds has been in uplands, with 18% decline since 1994; 17 species contribute to this indicator with 9 in long-term decline.

Scotland is the most wooded of the UK countries (19% woodland cover) but this is well below the current European average of 37%. Approximately a third of Scotland’s woodland is considered native. This includes globally important areas of Scottish rainforest, including oak and hazel woodland, and Caledonian pine forest – recognised as being of very high value to biodiversity, but currently fragmented, lacking understorey and restricted in range. Woodland biodiversity faces a challenge from red and roe deer numbers and ranges, and invasive non-native species, specifically rhododendron, which restrict natural regeneration, habitat restoration and undermine replanting efforts. However there are positive signs we are turning the tide: Scotland is currently creating around 80% of the UK’s new woodland – 40% of which is native and the woodland birds indicator shows a positive trend (increasing 58% between 1994-2018).

Urbanisation continues to steadily impact on lowland particularly through the expansion of low-density housing and associated developments. Some amphibians, for example, are good at exploiting urban infrastructure such as sustainable drainage systems but others struggle in modern cities with urban birds declining steadily since the early 2000s.

In our rivers, lochs and wetlands

Scotland’s rivers, lochs and wetlands supply drinking water, support fisheries and aquatic biodiversity, generate hydropower, mitigate flood risk, store carbon and are an essential resource for business and recreation.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) monitoring shows that overall 64% of our rivers and lochs are in good or better than good condition in 2020. This is based upon an assessment of water quality, flows and levels, physical condition and barriers to fish migration. This is an improvement of three percentage points since 2015. Scotland’s third River Basin Management Plan (2021-2027) and the Wild Salmon Strategy are key. The former plan aims to achieve 81% of the water environment being in a good or better condition by 2027 and 90% in the long-term once natural conditions have recovered.

Issues which need tackling include increasing water scarcity and abstraction, rising water temperatures, rural diffuse pollution, wastewater, man-made barriers to fish migration and physical modifications to rivers, invasive non-native species (INNS) such as Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and North American signal crayfish have considerable impacts on freshwater ecosystems and these are intensifying. Healthy riparian woodlands are critical for the health of water systems and bodies but they are in declining coverage and condition. Poorly vegetated upper catchments and canalised river systems exacerbate downstream flash flooding events.

In marine environments, seas and on our coasts

Scotland’s seas are highly dynamic, supporting a diverse range of habitats and species. They are of significant cultural and socio-economic importance, especially to local coastal and island communities, and support an array of marine industries. If managed sustainably, Scotland’s seas can continue to provide a range of ecosystem services, including food (through fishing and aquaculture) and renewable energy.

Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020 (SMA 2020) highlights the increasing impacts of climate change and ocean acidification. It notes that disturbance of the seabed by bottom-contact towed fishing gear remains a significant, and the most widespread pressure, with the ‘no loss in extent’ target for subtidal biogenic habitats indicator not being met. The last 30 years have also seen significant changes in the plankton community with potential implications for marine food webs, including commercial fish species. The abundance of some offshore whales, dolphins and porpoise has remained stable, whilst the abundance and distribution of coastal bottlenose dolphins on the east coast has increased. The grey seal population has increased but while the harbour seal population is recovering on the west coast, it continues to decline in the North Coast and Orkney Islands marine regions.

Seabird numbers have been largely stable since 2011, but at a greatly reduced level compared to the 1986 baseline. Across species there are markedly different trends with the most significant decreases in surface-feeding birds. Overall, Scotland’s wintering waterbirds continue to increase in abundance, although species exhibit different trends with some changing their range in response to environmental change.

Scotland’s coastal habitats are experiencing pressure from climate change. Rising sea levels and larger and more frequent storm-surges are causing erosion and reducing the connectivity of some beach, dune and machair habitats. These factors have led to changes in species composition. Saltmarshes and some dune systems play an important role in increasing the resilience of coastlines to these pressures by reducing and absorbing wave energy and providing a buffer for sensitive inland habitats. However, these may be adversely affected by higher seasonal rainfall, increasing variation in groundwater and freshwater run-off.

Scotland’s estuaries are vital for waterbirds such as waders, ducks and geese. They provide safe feeding and roosting areas, enabling many thousands of waterbirds to use them as places to winter and refuel on their way to other destinations. Climate change is resulting in shifts in populations of some of our waterbirds, but coastal areas in Scotland remain internationally important.

Case Study: Landscape Scale Catchment Restoration in Glen Muick

A river catchment is an area where water is collected naturally by the landscape. Planning nature restoration at this scale allows projects to be located in the best place, taking account of the shape of a glen, structure of a river network and other natural features, such as floodplains and landscapes.

The River Dee Trust and the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board, supported by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, have been working with land managers to re-naturalise one of the major upland tributaries of the River Dee, the Muick. This is a great example of landscape scale river restoration bringing long term, multiple benefits. River restoration, alongside nearby peatland restoration and woodland expansion, will benefit many species and deliver multiple ecosystem services.

Removing flood banks and creating shallow scrapes has reconnected the river with natural channels and floodplains, which will reduce the impact of floods, droughts and low flows, and improve water quality.

Large trees and roots anchored to the riverbed naturally create new pools and gravel beds, shelter from predators and a source of invertebrates; spawning and feeding grounds for species including salmon and freshwater pearl mussel.

Deer legs, leftovers from surrounding sporting activities tied to the riverbed, pump nutrients into an impoverished system.

Riparian woodland planting in previously bare uplands supplies the fallen trees of the future and shades burns which are now too warm – lethal to young salmon.

These works are also catalysing a new, green economy – creating jobs in the design, build and monitoring of restoration schemes as well as supporting the traditions and economy of an internationally renowned salmon fishing river and creating a more sustainable, resilient river of the future.