Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s Land Use Strategy sets out the importance of applying an ecosystems approach to policy making and we aim to do that as we develop future CAP Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 systems. We support the principle of greening the CAP and we are actively negotiating for Greening measures that provide genuine public benefits without stifling farmers’ productive capacity. It is also essential that Scottish farmers are adequately rewarded for the environmental and other benefits they provide. We are therefore arguing strenuously for a fairer share of CAP Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 budgets as Scotland currently receives the 4th lowest Pillar 1 and lowest Pillar 2 per hectare share in Europe.

Scottish Natural Heritage already publishes a report on the Scottish Natural Capital Asset index annually. This is a good indicator of change in the quality and value of Scotland's ecosystems at a national level.

The Scottish Government’s consultation paper published in June 2012 on the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, “the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity”, calls for a suite of ecosystem health indicators to help guide adaptive management. This suite of indicators will be finalised once the revised Strategy is published, with preparatory work already underway.

The ecosystem health indicators will be used both to inform priorities for action and also to assess progress in delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, at a river catchment or regional scale. We plan to adopt the suite of indicators in 2013, with analysis of data and publication of assessments soon thereafter.

The Scottish Government and partners undertake a wide range of actions help to ensure that Scotland's ecosystems are resilient, including

reducing other pressures on ecosystems, such as pollution and invasive non-native species;

Making space for natural processes, for example on coasts and floodplains;

Enhancing opportunities for species to disperse by reducing habitat fragmentation; and improving habitat management and enhancing habitat diversity.

Funding available to support these actions includes.

The Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is the main source of Government (and EU) funding for rural land management, including management to maintain and restore ecosystems such as woodlands, peatlands, grasslands and wetlands, and tackling existing pressures such as controlling invasive non-native species. This includes funding for improving the condition of designated sites, an important part of Scotland’s ecosystems. It also includes Forestry Challenge Funds administered by Forestry Commission Scotland.

Scottish Natural Heritage grants provides funding for actions, not funded through the SRDP, that aim to get more people and communities actively involved in and caring for Scotland's ecosystems. Priorities include better planning and management of landscapes, better wildlife management and better management and use of natural resources.

Funding from Scottish Government and SEPA (The Water Environment Fund) supports the restoration of catchments from the source, down through rivers, lochs, floodplains into the estuaries and out to sea. This work enhances the resilience of freshwater ecosystems.

Funding for peatland restoration. From October 2012 new funding from Scottish Government was made available as part of the Government’s Green Stimulus package to support plans to restore Scotland's peatlands.

The Central Scotland Green Network Development fund, provided jointly by Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, supports actions to improve the quality and connectivity of the green network including woodland creation, enhancement or management, and the development of integrated habitat networks, which will enhance the resilience of ecosystems in Central Scotland.

LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity is a European Union fund providing support for environmental and nature conservation projects throughout the European Union. It supports large scale projects in Scotland that contribute to the implementation of the European Union's Birds and Habitats Directives and halting biodiversity loss. Some support is also available through EU Structural Funds. There will be a new programme and priorities for European funding from 2014.

Other funding available that supports actions which improve ecosystem resilience in Scotland includes the Heritage Lottery Fund, Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, BIFFA Award, WREN Biodiversity Action Fund and various charitable trusts.

Public bodies including Forest Enterprise Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and local authorities use their own budgets to support the management of public land, including the National Forest Estate, National Nature Reserves, local nature reserves and parks, in ways that enhance ecosystem resilience to climate change.

Environmental NGOs, through member subscriptions and donations (as well as funding from sources mentioned above), support the management of their own wildlife reserves which help ecosystem resilience. Living Landscapes and Futurescapes are flagship initiatives of the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, aimed at ecosystem restoration on a landscape-scale.

Private businesses provide funding that enhances ecosystem resilience through support for environmental NGOs, through making space for habitats as part of new developments, and through investing in managing their own land and estates (as well as using funding from SRDP and other sources).

The two principle strategies in place to ensure that Scotland’s ecosystems are resilient to attacks by novel pathogens are:-

The Invasive Non-Native Species Framework Strategy for Great Britain, which is carried forward in Scotland by a Scottish Working Group;

The Plant Health regime. Plant health controls in Scotland are based on the EU Plant Health Regime. This is set out in the EU Plant Health Directive, 2000/29/EC and adopted into Scottish legislation through the Plant Health (Scotland) Order 2005. The Directive and Order set out detailed requirements for many plant species entering or moving within the Community and are regularly amended to keep these controls up to date.

The National Planning Framework (NPF) and Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) play key roles in delivering economic growth in a balanced and sustainable way. We are currently considering responses to the engagement on potential revisions to both documents.

The findings of the statutory strategic environmental assessment will be set out in an environmental report, which will be published for public consultation alongside the main issues report for Scotland’s third NPF and the Draft SPP in March 2013.

A wide range of Scottish Government transport policy initiatives are currently underway in line with the objectives set out in the Report on Proposals and Policies. The first report, published in March 2011, sets out the strategic approach to reaching the Scottish annual emissions abatement targets for the period 2010-2022. This work includes:

• promotion of fuel-efficient driving;

• development of new networks such as E-cosse to develop the strategic direction towards widespread uptake of electric vehicles, including vans;

• the Scottish Green Bus Fund incentivises the purchase of low carbon vehicles by providing funding towards the price difference between said vehicles and its diesel equivalent; and

• on-going work with the freight sector around modal shift including:

  • partnership working with freight stakeholders on the Scottish Freight and Logistics Advisory Group;

  • provision of the Freight Best Practice Programme; and

  • support for freight mode shift grants.

The Scottish Government works in partnership with freight stakeholders through the Scottish Freight and Logistics Advisory Group to address a range of issues, including carbon reduction. This includes subgroups considering climate change; and the movement of goods from road to rail.

Additionally the Scottish Government runs the web based Freight Best Practice Programme which has the aim of reducing the logistic sector’s carbon emissions. It provides a range of free material, including case studies on moving goods by rail or water.

The Scottish Government also operates four freight mode shift grant schemes, which encourage modal shift of freight from road to rail or water thereby reducing emissions.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act requires the Net Scottish Emissions Account to include emissions and sinks from all existing anthropogenic activity in Scotland, (together with a “Scottish share” of greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping and international aviation). The transport emissions total reported for Scotland in the Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, published annually by AEA, therefore includes an estimate of emissions arising from commercial vehicles. Changes to emissions from these vehicles thus affect Scotland’s performance against its emissions targets.