An historic win for Scotland’s nature!

The passing of Scotland’s Natural Environment Bill earlier this year could be a turning point for nature. It has the potential to move us beyond trying to protect the nature we have left to bringing Scotland’s wildlife and landscapes bursting back to life.  

For the first time ever, the Scottish Government will set legally binding targets for nature’s recovery. The Bill also means National Parks will do more to help nature and should make it easier to achieve sustainable deer numbers to protect iconic landscapes. And, it helped Scotland make history by becoming the first UK country to put Swift bricks in law – providing a much-needed lifeline for this threatened bird once the requirement begins. 

Targets for nature recovery are not a new concept. Global targets have been set every decade since 1992. But they have all been voluntary. And they have all been missed.  

Legally binding targets, however, could play an enormous role in changing the future for Scotland’s species and landscapes, helping to co-ordinate action across all areas of government to tackle the crisis facing Scotland’s nature. 

The Bill contains the broad topics that targets will cover – habitat extent and condition, the status of threatened species and the environmental conditions for regeneration. The next step is further legislation to set out the specific details.  

The Bill updates Scotland’s National Parks legislation, making clear that the aims of these important and celebrated landscapes include restoring and regenerating nature and helping mitigate and adapt to climate change. It also requires the Scottish Government to do more to consider the aims of Scotland’s National Parks whenever it develops policies or makes decisions. It’s a small change on paper, but it could make a big difference. 

Latest estimates suggest that there are 1 million wild deer in Scotland, twice as many as in 1990. For decades, every official Scottish Government review of deer management has said numbers need to be significantly reduced to prevent damage and allow regeneration, recovery and restoration of our ancient woodlands and peatlands, many of which are protected areas for nature.  

The Bill brings in several changes, including new powers for NatureScot to reduce deer numbers where they are harming the delivery of key nature conservation programmes. It also looks at how more locally produced and affordable venison could be supplied to hospitals, prisons and schools as well as made available to everyone else.  

The Bill includes many other positive measures, including: 

• a legal requirement for Swift nesting bricks to be included in suitable new buildings in Scotland. This would provide durable, safe places for Swifts (and other cavity-nesting birds such as House Sparrows) to nest, addressing the loss of nest sites from modern architecture and helping reverse the decline of one of our most threatened species. However, a consultation is required before any changes to building regulations happen. 

• closing an unintended loophole in recent grouse moor licensing legislation to strengthen Scotland’s efforts to tackle the illegal killing of birds of prey; and, 

• requiring legal protection is given to Scotland’s internationally important Ramsar Wetlands, 50 years after the UK signed the Ramsar Convention. 

The Natural Environment Bill is the most significant piece of environmental legislation in Scotland for a decade. It highlights the success of an equally long push from RSPB Scotland and partners in Scottish Environment LINK and shows what we can achieve for nature when we come together. 

But this is also just the latest example of our work to inspire legislation to protect and restore nature, which began in Scotland more than 100 years ago at the start of the 20th Century with legislation to protect wildlife on St Kilda, and to prevent oil pollution around our coasts. 

None of this would be possible without people like you. The backing of thousands of RSPB campaigners, supporters and nature lovers who contacted their MSPs was crucial in helping to make the Natural Environment Bill a huge win for nature. 

Your support was also pivotal in helping defeat a huge threat to Scotland’s nature, after the Scottish Government attempted to use the Bill to introduce new powers that threatened key environmental protections. Following a focused campaign, MSPs voted to remove this entire section of the Bill – an enormous victory for upholding nature protections in Scotland.  

Thanks for helping make history! 

How well the Natural Environment Bill succeeds in driving the change Scotland’s nature so desperately needs will depend on action from the next Scottish Government. Legal nature targets require further (secondary) legislation to set them and funding to achieve them; Swift bricks need a consultation before coming in to force, and further action is needed to give legal protection to our internationally important Ramsar Wetlands. 

Following the Holyrood election in May, we will need your help to keep up the pressure to ensure this all happens without delay. 

There are also other actions that are desperately and urgently needed to help Scotland’s wildlife from more nature-friendly farming to stopping accidental deaths of seabirds in fishing gear. You can read about our top five manifesto asks.