Green recovery
in amongst this awful situation, which we do need to hold on to.” The message is that by investing in nature now, we can create a more diverse and resilient economy that is better able to cope with some of the shocks that have been seen in the past.
LEADERSHIP ROLE
many more who did not have the luxury of access to nature and who felt its absence more acutely, often with dire consequences for their mental health. And what of the drop in emissions, with fewer cars on the road and planes in the sky, or the sightings of animals emboldened by the lack of human disturbance? It’s hard to imagine a more powerful collective epiphany around the value of nature and our impact upon it. Amid the pause of lockdown, there has been an opportunity to ask important questions around what we want our lives to look like afterwards. We have already slipped back in some regards; people have become busy again, and there now seem to be more cars on the road than ever before (albeit in part due to fears over use of public transport). At this key moment of reset when governments are looking to stimulate the economy, there are parallels with the most recent economic crash. “In 2008, there were green stimulus packages but they were insufficient and failed to deliver the long-term change needed for climate and nature,” says Isobel. But challenge also brings opportunity. “If we learn from some of the mistakes and make this a green recovery, we can invest in industries and sectors that accelerate action around the climate and biodiversity crises, rather than investing in areas that hold us back.”
Sheila George couldn’t agree more. “Nature-based and outdoor jobs are among the things that we can roll out first, upskilling people be it in planting trees, managing deer, restoring peatland, and so on,” she says. “The opportunity is there for transformative change, but we need to maintain the focus on what kind of recovery we would like to see. We’ve had some positive experiences
NOVEMBER 2020 SCOTTISH WILDLIFE 21
But what of Scotland’s leadership role that was predicted at the turn of the year? The signs are that the Scottish Government still wants to demonstrate its leadership credentials, although action now needs to follow words. “There remains an appetite to lead the way internationally, but that absolutely needs to be followed up with sustained effort and investment,” stresses Bruce. “We are chronically underfunded across the environment spectrum in Scotland, so funding is a huge issue and so is backing for this within all levels of government.”
With a disproportionate number of vulnerable species and amount of vitally important habitat – including 60% of the UK’s peatlands – Scotland has the ingredients to make a difference. But one concern is that action on biodiversity lags behind action on climate. “On the climate side, the Scottish Government has legally binding, and deliberately ambitious, targets that are not going away, so that helps keep the focus,” notes Sheila. It feels different on the biodiversity side, however. “We have warm words that biodiversity will be linked in to the climate crisis, but what we don’t have are these being backed up by legally binding targets, or resourcing, or the sectoral plans for business that will help us recover nature. In the absence of such
Nature-based jobs can play a major role in a green recovery
Scotland is home to 60% of the UK’s peatlands
targets, there is a risk that biodiversity will be left behind.”
One challenge, of course, lies in the complexity of identifying a single overarching target for nature. “It’s much more difficult, so we are always going to be talking about lots of different actions that are connected to each other and that probably holds us back a bit,” admits Sheila.
“We need a route map to identify what the actions are and that’s exactly what we have tried to contribute to with this nature recovery plan.”
And the importance of the call for transformative change that underpins the plan cannot be understated. “When we do emerge from this [Covid], we still have a nature and biodiversity crisis waiting for us and that is going to require change,” says Sheila. “The longer we delay the more painful it will be, so the more we build into the recovery now the better it will be for us all in the long term.”
Rich Rowe is contributing editor of Scottish Wildlife.
© Peter Cairns/2020VISION
© Peter Cairns/2020VISION
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
