That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the success of the Nature Restoration Fund, which, it understands, has granted nearly £40 million worth of funding to over 140 projects across all of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas; understands that the funding supports a wide range of nature restoration work, including nature-based solutions to climate change, habitat and species restoration, biosecurity and health and wellbeing projects for local communities, including in the Lothian region; understands, with concern, that Scotland is one of most nature-depleted countries in the world according to the Biodiversity Intactness Index, and that nature is in crisis, with one in nine species at risk of national extinction; notes, with alarm, reports that the Nature Restoration Fund allocation to local authorities for 2024-25 has been re-allocated to cover an increase in staff pay, and expresses the hope that a way forward can be found to pay staff fairly and equitably in line with the cost of living while also conserving and restoring the natural world on which all human life depends, in line with the Scottish Government’s stated priorities on Net Zero and its Biodiversity Strategy.
Supported by:
Ariane Burgess, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Monica Lennon, Carol Mochan, Paul Sweeney