Chamber and committees

I will follow up on that. It was not many years ago that vast tracts of Aberdeenshire countryside that was good arable land were bought up and planted in trees. That was done because the grants were such that they encouraged tree planting and discouraged agriculture. We have seen bits of Scotland planted in wind turbines, if that is the right description. I looked at the figures for 2021, I think, for the deaths of birds of prey, and, if I remember rightly, something like four buzzards, four sea eagles and eight ospreys had been chopped up by wind turbines.

Therefore, we cannot use land for all purposes; there must be more of a zonal approach. As you have indicated, what works in the Cairngorms might not work elsewhere. Has the Government considered taking a more zonal approach to land use? Land resource is finite, but the uses are not.

Before you go on, minister, I note that some people might argue that one of the biggest threats to birds at the moment is avian flu. However, I understand that, in the long term, it may be climate change. I just wanted to put that on the record.

We have another question from the deputy convener.

Do not touch a button. The microphone will come on for you.

Yes—keep going. I will stop you when we run out of time.

It does not look like you are going to get an answer on newts, Collette. Perhaps the minister could write to you about that afterwards, or you could write to her about that constituency-specific issue.

I am looking round the table to see whether anyone has any other questions. As no one else does at the moment, I have a couple of questions for the minister.

Are you happy with the use of carbon credits and their being attached to land across Scotland?

Would you be happy to see parts of the land and estate that are owned by the Scottish people through the Scottish Government being used to generate carbon credits and finance for the Scottish Government?

You do not have a view on it. Has it been discussed at all? It seems quite fundamental, given the forestry estate that we have, that the Government should be considering or discounting the use of that.

This is an interesting subject, which will continue to vex us. The problem is that short-term gain could come at a long-term cost, whether for individuals, communities or whoever is sold the obligation and takes it on. That was a very interesting question.

We have come to the end of this evidence session, and I suggest that we have a pause until 10.35 before starting the next one, which I am sure will be equally interesting.