Future of National Parks: strategic environmental assessment - environmental report

Appendix C Environmental baseline information

Biodiversity and geodiversity

Existing environmental protection objectives

The importance of halting and reversing biodiversity loss is recognised at international and national level, including through the international Aichi Targets and the 2020 Challenge for Scotland's Biodiversity, which set out objectives for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in Scotland.

As the UN moves from the Decade of Biodiversity to the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, Scotland is now the process of setting out a new post-2020 biodiversity strategy which will also have ties to the Natural Environment bill. With the strategic delivery framework for the strategy still to the come, currently it contains 26 of the most urgent Priority Actions which aim to put Scotland on track in halting the loss of biodiversity and being nature positive by 2030.

Habitats and species identified as of particular value are also considered in legislation and policies relating to the protection of biodiversity, flora and fauna. These establish a hierarchy of protection, from the international to local level. Beyond designated sites and species, there are longer-term aspirations for enhancing biodiversity, strengthening nature networks, and addressing the impacts of climate change on the natural environment, so that Scotland's nature is protected and restored.

The environmental protection objectives set out in legislation and policy for geodiversity are broadly aimed at protecting geological and geomorphological features from damage and disturbance. Sites are mainly protected at a national level through designation of SSSI but also through other designations such as National Parks. Some sites also have international recognition as UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

Biodiversity is crucial for the functioning of healthy ecosystems and supports life by providing resources such as clean air, water and food. Biodiversity is also closely linked with the other environmental topics.

Scotland's biodiversity has been depleted due to human activity over centuries, with pockets of rich biodiversity struggling to sustain themselves in the faces of climate change. Scotland's biodiversity is complex and includes varied habitats that make up the diverse landscapes; approximately 90,000 animal, plant and microbe species are found in Scotland along with habitats, ranging from raised bog to native and ancient woodland. Scotland is home to a wide range of species and internationally important habitats. For example:

• Scotland has 90% of the high mountain habitat in the UK, which accommodates some of the best examples of near-natural habitats and wildlife in the northern and remote parts of Europe.
• Wetlands, including peatlands, can be found across Scotland and are a key provider of services such as carbon sequestration and water purification.
• Scotland's seas, which make up around 61% of the UK's total marine area, are highly dynamic, supporting a diverse range of habitats and species and an increasingly varied array of marine industries.
• Agriculture is Scotland's dominant use of land, covering over 70% of the
• country, with woodlands and forests covering 18%. These support a wide range of important flora and fauna diversity, including rare and threatened species.

Scotland's protected areas include 251 Special Areas of Conservation, 153 Special Protection Areas, 51 Ramsar sites and 2 Biosphere Reserves, 1,422 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), 43 National Nature Reserves and 2 National Parks, among other designations. There are also 244 Marine Protected Areas and a wide range of designated Priority Marine Features which help conserve and enhance the marine environment.

Greenspaces such as public and private gardens, parks, woodlands, recreational grounds, green corridors, allotments, and community growing spaces can also provide habitats and ecosystems which are not only important to wildlife, but for human health and wellbeing.

Global declines in biodiversity are mirrored in Scotland and the abundance and distribution of Scotland's species has on average declined over recent decades, with most measures indicating this decline has continued in the most recent decade.

Geodiversity underpins landscape, and protecting our rocks, landforms and soils is also an important part of landscape planning and management. Many places in Scotland are of great importance to geoscience for their rocks, fossils and landforms, demonstrating important geological processes or events that have significant value for education and research and as part of Scotland's geo-heritage.

Geodiversity is also the physical basis for Scotland's varied landscapes (both rural and urban) and scenery. It has a profound influence on terrestrial and marine habitats, wildlife and use of land and water. Geodiversity assets of regional or local importance may be protected as Local Geodiversity Sites but coverage is not complete. Around 9.5% of the total area covered by Scotland's National Parks and 37% of National Nature Reserve areas have Geological Conservation Review site status. Some of these are also protected at the national level by SSSI legislation.

Climatic factors

Existing environmental protection objectives

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as amended ('the Climate Change (Scotland) Act') created a statutory framework for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in Scotland and set targets for reduction in emissions of the Kyoto Protocol GHGs. In direct response to the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, the 2009 Act was amended by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019. This set new, more ambitious, targets to reduce emissions of all GHGs to net-zero by 2045 at the latest, with interim targets for reductions of at least 56% by 2020, 75% by 2030, and 90% by 2040, relative to a 1990/1995 baseline. An update to the Climate Change Plan was subsequently published to set a pathway to achieve the new targets.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act also requires a programme for climate change adaptation to be set out every 5 years. This must address risks identified in statutory UK Climate Change Risk Assessments (UKCCRA), which are also updated every five years, based on independent expert advice. The second Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme (the Adaptation Programme) addresses the impacts identified for Scotland in the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). The Adaptation Programme sets out Scottish Ministers' objectives in relation to adaptation to climate change, their proposals and policies for meeting these objectives, and the period within which these proposals and policies will be introduced.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

There is a global climate emergency. Due to human activities including industrialisation, deforestation, and large-scale agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not seen in three million years. The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature, and there is unequivocal evidence that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.

The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole, and the present state of many aspects of the climate system, are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. Scotland's climate has already changed and is both warmer and wetter on average. In Scotland an estimated 284,000 homes and premises are at risk of flooding; with an additional 110,000 properties predicted to be at risk by the 2080s. As such, Climate adaptation will be crucial to ensure that Scotland's society and economy will be resilient to future climate impacts.

Air

Existing environmental protection objectives

Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 sets out the Scottish Government's air quality policy framework with a series of actions to deliver continued air quality improvement and secure compliance with international commitments. The strategy notes that policies that improve air quality can potentially have multiple co-benefits for biodiversity, population health, for addressing inequality and for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

The National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) (2016/2284/EU) sets national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants in keeping with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution of 197940 (CLRTAP) and, in particular, its 1999 Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone of 1999, which was revised in 2012 (the revised Gothenburg Protocol).

The NECD transposes 2020 targets agreed under the revised Gothenburg Protocol, along with more ambitious targets for 2030. The NECD is part of retained EU law and has been transposed into domestic law through the National Emission Ceilings Regulations (NECR) 2018 with the requirements implemented at UK level through a National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP). Objectives relevant to local air quality management (LAQM) are set out in the Air Quality (Scotland) Regulations 2000, as amended.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

Air pollution effects ecosystems. Air pollution and its deposition onto vegetation, soil and water can damage vegetation directly or indirectly through the addition of nutrients or changes in acidity levels within a habitat. These can lead to a shift in the competitive balance between species, changes in plant species composition or subtle changes in vegetation structure, which can affect the use of a habitat by an animal species.

Air pollution also has significant effects on public health and animal health. Exposure to air pollution is harmful to health in terms of premature mortality and morbidity, mainly related to respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Water

Existing environmental protection objectives

Objectives for the protection and improvement of Scotland's water environment are set out in a policy and regulatory framework, including through the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (as amended) which governs objectives for rivers, lochs, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater resources. Objectives and action programmes are set out in River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), produced by SEPA every six years.

Activities that may affect Scotland's water environment, including discharges of wastewater or industrial effluent; abstractions for irrigation, hydropower or drinking water; and engineering activities in or near rivers are controlled by The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (as amended).

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

The water environment supports diverse species and habitats of national and international importance. Water also provides numerous benefits including drinking water provision, water for use in industry and agriculture, hydropower, wave and tidal energy, fisheries, aquaculture, recreation from, for example, wildlife watching, angling and water sports, and carbon storage.

Scotland has a wide range of water bodies including two thirds of British river systems and streams, varying from mountain burns to wide lowland rivers such as the Tay. There are over 30,000 lochs in Scotland, Loch Ness holds the most water with 7.4 million m³, more than all English and Welsh lakes combined. Scotland's coast stretches 18,000 km with marine waters out to 12 and 200 nautical miles making up Scotland's territorial and offshore waters, which combined make up 13% of all European seas. There are also 1,526 protected areas associated with the water environment.

Much of the water environment in Scotland is in good condition. However, there are still significant problems affecting water quality, physical condition, water flows and levels, and the migration of wild fish. Invasive non-native species are also damaging aquatic plant and animal communities. The RBMPs for Scotland set out a range of actions to address these impacts.

Soil

Existing environmental protection objectives

Nationally, the protection of prime quality agricultural land and peatlands is set out in the Scottish Soil Framework. Soil objectives include national commitments to sustainable soil management that protect valued soils including prime quality agricultural land and those with a high carbon content, such as peat (for example via the Scottish Soil Framework, Scotland's National Peatland Plan).

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

Soil is a non-renewable resource and is one of Scotland's most important assets. Soils support a wide range of functions and provide many environmental, economic, and societal benefits including:

• Providing valued habitats and sustaining and supporting biodiversity
• Providing the basis for food and biomass production.
• Storing carbon and maintaining the balance of gases in the air as a major store of terrestrial carbon.
• Providing raw materials such as the use of sand and sand gravel in construction.
• Providing a platform for buildings and roads.
• Controlling and regulating environmental interactions such as water flow and quality – for example, soil sealing can change the rate at which water enters rivers and other water functions.
• Preserving cultural and archaeological heritage by providing records and protective cover.

Soil quality is defined as the ability of soil to carry out the above functions. Soils contribute to ecosystem services such as food provision, fibre, and raw material (a provisioning service), provision of clean water (a regulating service), protects and is part of Scotland's cultural heritage (a cultural service) and soil formation itself (a supporting service).

Scotland has a diverse range of soils, which are generally more organic, more acidic, more leached, and wetter than those of most other European countries. Over 25% of Scotland is used for arable crops (mostly in the eastern half of the country) and improved grassland, mostly on the more mineral soils of the central belt and in lowland areas, and predominantly found in the south west. The remainder of the country is occupied by semi natural habitats over more organic soils and minerals with over 20% of Scotland being covered in peatland habitat on peat soils.

Scotland's soils play a key role as the main store of terrestrial carbon, acting as "carbon sinks", most of it being held in soils under peatland habitat, estimated to store 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon. As with all soils, those under peatland habitat are at risk from land use change and the effects of climate change, and their loss or degradation (and the associated loss of carbon) has the potential to be a significant contributor to Scotland's GHG emissions. The role of healthy peatland in sequestering soil carbon, helping to reduce downstream flood risk and providing benefits to biodiversity is recognised in Scotland's National Peatland Plan.

There is a strong interrelation between soil deterioration and the increased number of extreme floods as soils sealing, soil compaction and capping exacerbates flooding as the capability of soils to absorb water decreases and water runs off more quickly. Appropriate soil management therefore is a central plank for the development of a sustainable approach to flood risk management.

Cultural heritage

Existing environmental protection objectives

Existing cultural heritage objectives are set out in legislation including the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended, the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 and the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

These objectives are focused primarily on the protection of valued sites and features, including townscapes (i.e., places, buildings, and open spaces), buildings, archaeological sites, battlefields, wrecks, and landscapes that have been recognised at the international, national, and local levels through a hierarchy of designations. Policies such as the current NPF4 aim to improve the quality of settlements and built environment with a national level focus. These are complemented by the Historic Environment Policy for Scotland which defines how the historic environment in Scotland should be managed. Together, they emphasise the importance of preserving recognised sites, avoiding negative impacts on them and their wider setting, and contributing to their enhancement where possible.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

Scotland's many and varied historical sites are unique and irreplaceable. These sites and features are regarded as making a valuable contribution to quality of life, cultural identity, education, and economy. While these assets are distributed widely throughout Scotland, there are clusters of sites in and around Scotland's settlements and coastlines.

The majority of Scotland's historic environment is undesignated, with estimates that the scale of the undesignated resource is around 90-95% of the total resource. There are more than 56,000 designated/protected historic assets across Scotland. These are protected through the process of designation, which aims to identify the most important parts of the historic environment, to recognise their significance and enhance protection.

Designations include world heritage sites, listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, historic marine protected areas, and conservation areas.

Landscape

Existing environmental protection objectives

Landscape objectives, including those from the European Landscape Convention, recognise and protect special landscapes but also aim to improve degraded landscapes and highlight the importance of all landscapes. Areas identified as having outstanding scenic value in a national context are designated as National Scenic Areas, which protects the special qualities of nationally important landscapes and seascapes.

Policies include a commitment to protecting the special qualities of nationally important landscapes, with planning also recognising and protecting regional and locally important landscapes. The importance of local places for population and human health and areas without statutory protection (e.g., wildland), are recognised.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

Scotland's diverse and distinctive landscapes are a significant part of the country's natural and cultural heritage contributing to the economy and the population's wellbeing and providing a range of benefits.

Scotland is internationally renowned for its varied and dramatic landscapes including impressive mountain ranges, broad plateaus, expansive lowlands, and striking coastal features. Many of these landscapes are the result of ancient glacial and periglacial activity as well as changes in sea level. The primary classifications are the Central Lowlands, the Highlands and Islands to the north and west, and the Southern Uplands. Situated among these natural features are the many iconic built landmarks and townscapes that give Scotland its reputation as a tourist destination.

Landscapes of the highest quality have been designated and include 40 National Scenic Areas (NSA) and two National Parks (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, and the Cairngorms). There is a high concentration of wildland areas, NSA, and other designations along the west coast of Scotland, and in the Highlands.

The NatureScot presents a detailed Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) of Scotland through a digital national mapping system. This was published in 2019 and brings together earlier LCA work. It shows Landscape Character Types (LCTs) – i.e. areas of consistent and recognisable landscape character.

The Scottish Landscape Character Types Map and Descriptions can be accessed at:
(The following url will open a page of the NatureScot website hosting a digital map showing landscape character types in Scotland.)
https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/landscape/landscape-character-assessment/scottish-landscape-character-types-map-and-descriptions

Material assets

Existing environmental protection objectives

Objectives and policies related to material assets are wide-ranging, taking into account the broad nature of the topic. Multiple policies and plans address built material assets including the programme for long-term infrastructure investment in Scotland set out in the Infrastructure Investment Plan, and practices and commitments for action against climate change such as the Climate Change Plan and updates to the Climate Change Plan are also relevant. Making Things Last: A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland sets out Scotland's ambitions for changing how waste is considered in the economy, including promoting a circular economy.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

The 2005 Act requires material assets as a topic to be addressed in SEA but does not set out a specific definition of the factors it should encompass. SEPA guidance notes that consideration of material assets in SEA is usually taken to cover a wide variety of both natural and built assets.

As Scotland's energy mix continues to change, the electricity transmission network (grid) that supports the balance between energy generation and demand will change significantly, for example, as a result of the increased electrification of the transport and heat network. Infrastructure will play a key role in ensuring security of supply and decarbonising Scotland's energy systems in the most cost effective and affordable way. This is partly because the spatial pattern of electricity generation is changing from a centralised system focused on small number of large power stations to a decentralised system with development in areas with a previously weak network.

Blue-green infrastructure is an interconnected network of natural and semi-natural areas, ranging in size from small rain gardens and green streets to larger parks and greenspace including ponds and watercourses. These features can perform several functions and provide a range of benefits within the same spatial area. Benefits of blue–green infrastructure include a reduced potential for flooding, improved water quality, reduced infrastructure costs, reduced urban heat island effect, and increased space for communities and wildlife.

Population and human health

Existing environmental protection objectives

A wide range of environmental protection objectives are relevant to population and human health. Protection against environmental effects such as impacts to air, water, land, and disturbance, particularly from noise and vibration are established in legislation at International, UK and national levels. The provision of access to the outdoors for recreational and educational purposes, sustainable transport, and housing, green infrastructure and the role of the environment and place in mental and physical health and wellbeing are also well established.

Baseline conditions, pressures, and trends

The population of Scotland was estimated at 5,479,900 in 2021. Projections forecast that the population will continue to rise until around mid-2033, peaking at 5.53 million. It is then projected to fall by 0.6% to 5.49 million by mid-2045. Whilst life expectancy is projected to increase by 2045, the expected rate of increase will be slower than previous projections.

Compared to 2019, the findings from the Scottish Health Survey 2020 found that 20% less adults undertook at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity, 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or an equivalent combination per week. Frequency of participation in visits to the outdoors between mid-August and early September 2021 was higher than recorded during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period and broadly similar to that recorded at the same time of year in 2020 (77%, 80% and 71% in waves 3, 2 and 1 respectively).

Scotland has the lowest life expectancy in western Europe. There is a strong relationship between deprivation and life expectancy, with people living in more deprived areas expected to have shorter lives. In the most deprived 10% of areas in Scotland in 2019-2021, life expectancy at birth was on average 68.6 years for males and 75.0 years for females. In contrast, in the least deprived areas, it was 82.3 years and 85.5 years respectively.

The physical environment can influence health directly (e.g., through air quality or water pollution) and more widely through how people interact with the natural and built environment (e.g., enjoying well-designed public and/or green spaces within our towns and cities). The impact of environmental factors such as climate, geography, geology, topography, and environmental hazards on health is termed the environmental burden of disease, much of which (in theory) could be preventable. Key service areas such as social care, housing, education, employability, and leisure also have a relationship with health inequalities and health improvement.

Nature provides physical, consumable goods and services that humans cannot live without, such as breathable air, drinkable water and food. Beyond these, there are additional benefits including trees which provide fuel and plants which provide medicines.