Strategic Biodiversity Framework Delivery Plan 2024–2030

Introduction: From Strategy to Delivery

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045: tackling the nature emergency is the first part of the Strategic Framework for Biodiversity and sets out the compelling evidence of long-standing global and Scottish biodiversity loss. The Strategy sets our high-level goal: to halt biodiversity loss and be Nature Positive by 2030 and to have restored and regenerated biodiversity by 2045.

This is embodied in the Strategic Vision:

By 2045, Scotland will have restored and regenerated biodiversity across our land, freshwater and seas.

Our natural environment, our habitats, ecosystems and species, will be diverse, thriving, resilient and adapting to climate change.

Regenerated biodiversity will drive a sustainable economy and support thriving communities, and people.

The Strategy identifies a series of outcomes which capture what success looks like across our landscapes and marine environments.

A series of rolling Delivery Plans form the second part of the Strategic Framework and will ensure our approach is agile and dynamic, responding to conditions on the ground and at sea. This Delivery Plan is the first in the series and should be considered in conjunction with the Strategy. It covers the period 2024-2030.

Identifying Delivery Plan Actions

Within this first Delivery Plan, care has been taken to draw out priority actions needed to achieve the 2030 aim of a Nature Positive Scotland. These actions are essential to ensure we are on the right trajectory to restore nature at pace and scale.

In this Delivery Plan priority actions are described under the six objectives set out in the strategy. These objectives are aligned to, and consider, the IPBES drivers of biodiversity loss, within the Scottish context:

1. Accelerate ecosystem restoration and regeneration

2. Protect nature on land and at sea, across and beyond protected areas

3. Embed Nature Positive farming, fishing and forestry

4. Protect and support the recovery of vulnerable and important species and habitats

5. Invest in nature

6. Take action on the indirect drivers of biodiversity loss

A wider range of supporting actions were developed through a logic modelling process with input from our Programme Advisory Group experts, scientists and key stakeholders. The actions identified were then refined through discussion with policy experts and delivery partners based on an assessment of deliverability and impact. Two public consultations were undertaken, the first on the draft strategy in 2022 and a further consultation on the overall strategic framework which included the final draft strategy, delivery plan and proposals for statutory targets for nature restoration. More information on the logic modelling approach can be found here Prioritising Actions for the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Plan – Methodology. Consultation analysis reports and Scottish Government’s response can be found here Biodiversity - strategic framework: consultation analysis.

Consultation responses alongside further discussion with Scottish Government policy teams, as well as agency, local authority and other delivery partners has helped to further refine the actions that are set out in this Delivery Plan, and to make them as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) as is possible at the time of publication. It is important to note that this Delivery Plan is not a static document – actions will continue to be reviewed and refined on a rolling basis.

The tables in Annex 1 include the priority actions as well as supporting actions needed to deliver each of the objectives. The lead responsible organisation is also identified, alongside any delivery partners. We recognise that some of the actions identified are already under way, and that others need further developed and resourced.

For actions that are yet to be fully developed we will continue to work with our wide range of stakeholders including our nature agencies (e.g. NatureScot, SEPA), delivery partners, local government (recognising existing and potential future financial challenges), and directorates across Scottish Government.

Governance, monitoring and evaluation

A governance, monitoring and evaluation document sits alongside the Strategy and Delivery Plan. Our approach is designed around Scotland’s particular needs and circumstances including assessment of progress towards achieving the outcomes in the Strategy, determining whether the actions in the Delivery Plan are being delivered and identifying any additional or different actions needed to achieve the outcomes in the strategy and inform future delivery plans. Our approach will also allow us to meet our international and statutory reporting obligations.

Delivery mechanisms

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy sets the direction for a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach as advocated for by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) within their Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) – no one organisation or sector can work alone to solve this most pressing of issues. This Delivery Plan includes the wide range of actions that government and public bodies are doing to achieve the vision and the outcomes in the strategy. Government recognises that across Scotland NGOs, land managers, farmers and fisheries play a central role in addressing the nature crisis. Government are committed to driving change working across the full range of levers including our ability to lead and convene, to legislate, regulate, deliver and invest. Our approach to governance, monitoring and evaluation alongside statutory nature restoration targets will ensure that the collective effort is delivering the transformational change needed to be a Nature Positive nation.

Spatial Considerations

There are many pressures on our land and seas across Scotland, so it is right to take a place- based approach toward identifying local and regional priorities, including nature restoration and conservation.

However, the Strategic Framework set out here is not the right place to specify the spatial delivery of the work that needs to be undertaken across Scotland. The identification of local and regional work will mostly take place through the further development of the individual actions within the Delivery Plan and supported through our terrestrial and marine planning processes. Tools and Initiatives such as the Big Biodiversity Layer (BBL) and the Landscape Scale Natural Capital Tool and, the development of Landscape Scale Nature Restoration projects will inform this process helping to build a national overview and identify spatial priorities for nature restoration, addressing the demand for clarity on where and at what scales the aims of the SBS will be delivered.