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Froglife’s Scottish Green Pathways project Shortlisted for RSPB Nature of Scotland Award

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Froglife’s Scottish Green Pathways Project (Scottish GP), working across Clackmannashire, Dundee, Falkiirk, Fife, Glasgow and Renfrewshire has been shortlisted in the Youth and Education category at RSPB Scotland’s prestigious Nature of Scotland Awards.

The Scottish GP project works with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people aged 8-18 (or up to age 25 for those with additional support needs) to improve their local greenspaces for wildlife through practical and educational outdoor learning sessions.

We work with groups or individuals during a range of one-off or longer term projects to improve young peoples confidence, social skills and positive behaviour as well as their knowledge and appreciation of wildlife, especially amphibians and reptiles, and their transferable skills through practical and educational projects such as pond creation and building bog gardens and hibernaculum.

“We are honoured to have been shortlisted in the the Youth and Education category at the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland Awards this year. We are proud of every young person we have worked with since the project began in 2017 and of all the improvements to local greenspaces we’ve been able to help them make dring that time. It’s amazing to be able to showcase this through the Awards.” Said Louise Smith, Development Officer for the Scottish GP project.

Scottish GP was announced as a finalist in the Youth and Education category at a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, the first in-person celebration for the Nature of Scotland Awards since 2019.

On 17 November, the finalists will gather at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre to enjoy a night of celebration, where the winners of all 10 categories will be announced.  

The awards ceremony, now in its 11th year and co-sponsored by NatureScot, will be hosted by wildlife presenter Iolo Williams and radio and tv presenter Arlene Stuart. They will recognise the individuals and organisations making a difference in their local communities, businesses and schools to support Scotland’s wildlife and special places.

Following the success of the public vote for Nature Champion of the Decade in 2021, Nature-lovers are being invited to vote for this year’s Citizen Science Award, which will honour those who engage with volunteers to further our understanding of the natural world.

Anne McCall, Director of RSPB Scotland said: “Chairing the judging panel for the Nature of Scotland Awards is easily one of the best jobs I get to do as part of my role as Director of RSPB Scotland.

“I am so inspired by the number of new, exciting projects we hear about each year, working hard to conserve Scotland’s important habitats and wildlife. The judging process seems to get harder and harder every year! My fellow judges and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to apply and we look forward to meeting and celebrating with everyone from the conservation community at the ceremony in November.”

Young people taking part in pond dipping with Froglife’s Scottish Green Pathways project

Mike Cantlay, Chair of Awards co-sponsor NatureScot, said: “We are delighted to be the co-sponsor of the Nature of Scotland Awards with RSPB Scotland. We are joined in our national endeavour to tackle the biodiversity crisis in Scotland so that we can secure nature’s benefits and deliver on net zero. This year’s shortlisted Nature for Scotland nominees are the people, businesses, organisations and communities who work tirelessly to take positive action for nature and we wish them every success for November’s final.”

Anyone with an interest in Nature is welcome to attend the Awards, tickets are available at https://rspb.org.uk/natureofscotlandawardsceremony  

 

Nature Positive Scotland

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We are facing a nature and climate emergency.

The signs are all around us.

It’s clearer than ever the climate is in crisis with temperatures in Scotland reaching record highs again last week – the UK’s 10 warmest years since 1884 have been in the last two decades – and wildfires in England, Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, California and even Alaska. 

And the same is true for nature. This year, avian influenza has killed tens of thousands of seabirds across Scotland and pushed a number of species into severe decline. But many of Scotland’s seabirds (and other wildlife) were already in severe trouble due to other pressures caused by human activity.  

Globally, nature is being lost faster than ever. In Scotland, historical nature loss means we live in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and we are still losing nature now: since 1970 half of Scotland’s species have declined and 1 in 9 is currently estimated to be at risk of national extinction. 

Solving the twin nature and climate crisis requires twin goals: Net Zero and Nature Positive.

A Nature Positive Scotland by 2030, adapted from the Global Goal for Nature. For more information please visit https://www.naturepositive.org/

 

A Nature Positive Scotland is one where by 2030 there is more nature than there is today, and by 2045 Scotland’s nature is well on its way to full recovery.

Net Zero and Nature Positive can and must be achieved together: restoring nature can be a huge part of the climate solution, as restoring habitats like peatlands, native woodlands, saltmarsh and our oceans to a healthy state will help lock up carbon, as well as helping wildlife to thrive.

But we also need action to help species, the building blocks of ecosystems, which are in peril.

The challenges nature faces are too big for individual action alone to solve. All parts of government, the economy and society must work together to protect and restore nature.

Right now, the Scottish Government is consulting on its new Biodiversity Strategy which should define how Scotland will respond to the global nature crisis here at home from now until 2045. It’s a key opportunity for the Scottish Government to make good on their ambitious words and show they are taking action for nature.    

The consultation is also an excellent opportunity for us to use our voices and come together to ask, or perhaps demand, that they take the action that is needed.  

Until 12 September, you can take part in the consultation directly at www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-biodiversity-strategy-consultation. There are 40 questions you can respond to. If this sounds like a lot, don’t worry, the RSPB will write a future blog about feedback which you might find helpful.

You can also take part in the e-action to send a letter to the consultation team and Lorna Slater, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. The letter sets out the key changes we think are needed (read more below) and is editable for you to add your own thoughts. Click here to send yours. 

We think the draft strategy is a start but doesn’t yet match the scale of the challenge. To do that, we believe some key changes are needed.

Credit- Flow Country: Andy Hay

 

We believe the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy should have three things at its heart:

Species recovery – Species are the building blocks of our natural environment, but nearly half our species have declined since 1970. We need the Strategy to include a national programme of species recovery that reverses this loss of wildlife and allows species such as puffins, beavers, oak trees, bumblebees, butterflies and toads to thrive.

 

Ecosystem regeneration –too many of our rivers, mountains, native forests, lochs, coasts and seas are degraded. We need the Strategy to include a national programme to restore these wild places with our most important nature sites protected and nurtured, and wider nature networks to be created so nature thrives everywhere.

 

Targets – There’s not much point of a strategy that doesn’t set clear goals that are meaningful and measurable. We need the Strategy to set ambitious, specific targets that will drive nature’s recovery by 2045. And we need them to be legally binding.

 

We’re expecting the outcome to be published in autumn and hopefully by then we will have a strategy that will mean no more loss of nature by 2030 and set us on the path to nature’s recovery by 2045 in Scotland.

 

Nature is in crisis. Together we can save it, but we must act now!

 

 

Call for a strong Circular Economy Bill for Scotland.

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Read ScotLINK’s full paper here. 

 

Research shows global consumption of natural resources has tripled since the 1970s and is set to further double by 2060, and 90% of biodiversity loss is caused by resource extraction and processing. Material flow accounts for Scotland, published in 2021, show our material footprint to be more than double sustainable levels and carbon footprint data shows that 82% of Scotland’s carbon footprint is derived from emissions embedded in goods we consume. Addressing the quantity of raw materials used in our economy is therefore key in meeting climate and biodiversity goals.

The best way to reduce the quantity of raw materials that we use is to make our economy more circular, with repairable products designed to last as long as possible; made of materials that can be safely reused or recycled. Such an economy should be regenerative, replenishing natural systems through returning biological materials as composts to the soil and restoring and nurturing biodiversity. Scotland has a Circular Economy Strategy, Making Things Last, and there has been some valuable work, for example, in supporting innovative enterprises and banning some single use plastics. It is encouraging to see circular economy principles increasingly embedded in other policy areas such as the draft National Planning Framework. However, overall progress in converting the high-level commitments into on-the-ground reality has been slow with, for example, missed household recycling targets.

Our climate and nature emergencies demand systemic change across our economy to really address the impact from the way we make and use products. Such systemic change needs to be driven by targets to focus minds – in all areas of the economy – on reducing our use of raw materials. In the same way that our climate change targets are driving policy to decarbonise energy and heat production, a material footprint target could drive policy to ‘circularise’ our economy. The Scottish Government has committed to bring forward a Circular Economy Bill in the current parliamentary term. This bill must establish a shared vision, set ambitious targets and a framework for implementation. We urge the Scottish Government to bring forward a bold bill to do this, which will galvanise action in all sectors of the economy.

Healthy Environment Petition: Scotland

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Sign the petition for a human right to a healthy environment in Scotland

Everyone in Scotland deserves to live in a healthy environment. That is why the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland has launched a petition for an enforceable human right to a healthy environment to become part of Scots law.

The Scottish Government will consult on a new Human Rights Bill in the coming year. The right to a healthy environment must remain a top priority and be included as robustly as possible. We are proud to have signed up to the petition as an organisation.

The petition will stay open throughout 2022 and will be used to show the Scottish Government the strength of support. 

How You Can Help:

Please take a moment to sign the petition.

Once you have signed it, please feel free to share it among your networks.

Scotland’s Secret Lizards

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Sand Lizards are one of the UK’s rarest and most elusive reptiles. They are restricted to sandy heathland and sand dune habitats in the south and west of the UK which provide the warm microclimates that they need. They also bury their eggs in hot sand to incubate until they are ready to hatch, so open, sunny, and undisturbed sandy areas are essential. Even in these warmer habitats, Sand Lizards will typically hibernate for longer than other reptiles to avoid cooler conditions, sometimes even from the end of August.

Given Sand Lizards are so reliant on warm, sunny microclimates, it’s hard to imagine that they could ever survive or breed on a Scottish island. Yet, there is a single population of Sand Lizards which has been thriving on the Isle of Coll off the west coast of Scotland for 50 years. In the 1970s, scientists released a population of Sand Lizards on Coll in an experiment to see how they would cope so far north, and they have fared surprisingly well. Coll has plenty of open sandy dunes which are largely undisturbed given the low number of visitors to the island, with patches of vegetation to hide in should a predator appear. Furthermore, Coll is known for being extremely sunny, and as a result, the island may be far better suited to Sand Lizards than we would first think.

Sand Lizards seem to be very dependent on habitats which are being degraded and lost due to factors such as increased urbanisation, human disturbance, dune erosion, and heathland fires. However, if their UK range were extended, perhaps there is still some hope for this rare lizard. Sand Lizards are often thought to be limited by latitude, yet they appear to be thriving on Coll and other more northerly ranges outside of the UK such as Sweden. So why are they so rare here? Well, in addition to limited habitat, it is very difficult for Sand Lizards to colonise new areas due to a lack of habitat corridors and unsympathetic land management. Reptiles generally tend to be an overlooked group, and land management rarely takes their needs into consideration.

The Sand Lizards of Coll demonstrate that they do have the potential to occupy a wider range in the UK than we might think, but achieving this would require more wildlife corridors, and more reptile-friendly approaches to habitat management. This would enable increased movement and give Sand Lizards more opportunities to colonise new habitats, and perhaps provide some hope for this dwindling species.

Artists inspired by Scotland’s messages to COP26

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A set of nine artworks depict why the people of Scotland care about the climate and nature emergency. This is part of a climate change campaign that has gathered support from people around Scotland to send a message to leaders attending COP26 in Glasgow.

Climate Scotland has collected over 7,000 voices from across the nation, to show that the people of Scotland want meaningful action to protect the things they love, and create a better future for people everywhere. 

Nine new mural artworks have been created to depict the messages of the people of Scotland gathered so far, and are on display at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens during COP26. 

Ida Henrich with her mural responding to Health and Wellbeing

The UN climate summit COP26 is a major opportunity to re-energise efforts to tackle the climate emergency. 

Through this campaign, everyone in Scotland has the opportunity to show how much they care about the climate and nature emergencies. The messages gathered online have been shared in the COP26 Green Zone and at the Scottish Government space at The Lighthouse, Glasgow.

Individuals visiting the Climate Scotland website are able to add their voice to the campaign by selecting a theme that is most relevant to them or by writing their own reason. The themes cover a broad range of perspectives, which are depicted in the artwork:

  • Flourishing communities 
  • Future generations
  • Greener, fairer livelihoods
  • Wildlife and nature
  • Sustainable food systems 
  • Protecting the world’s resources
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Beautiful places
  • Solidarity with global neighbours.

Ida Henrich, a freelance illustrator and mural artist based in Glasgow, said: 

“Alongside Kaitlin Mechan and Indrė Šimkutė, I am thrilled to have created these artworks for Climate Scotland. I believe that murals start conversations, and chats about topics we care about, often reveal that other people also care. I’m proud of the artworks we have created and can’t wait to share them with the public.” 

Indrė Šimkutė with her artwork that represents ‘Wildlife and Nature’

Over 40 non-profit organisations, including WWF Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), have come together to create the Climate Scotland campaign.

Anna Fowlie, chief executive at SCVO, said: 

“Thousands of Scots have spoken out about why climate change matters to them. They recognise that strong action is essential for Scotland’s nature, our health and wellbeing, and for future generations. SCVO is proud to be part of Climate Scotland, showcasing these messages in Glasgow during COP26 and demanding climate justice now.”

Aedán Smith, Head of Policy and Advocacy RSPB Scotland, said:

“1 in 9 species in Scotland is at risk of extinction. We must address this by protecting and restoring nature, increasing access to nature for everyone and making decisions that support nature, our climate and people. The Climate Scotland campaign is a way for people in Scotland to show how much they care about these things.” 

Sally Foster-Fulton, Head of Christian Aid Scotland, said:

“The Climate Scotland campaign is a fantastic opportunity for people in Scotland to show leaders and decision-makers that they care about our global neighbours. We stand together against the climate crisis, raising our voice as one to create lasting change and to ensure that communities are equipped to adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change.”

To add your voice to the campaign, visit climatescotland.org.