Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith) Lab

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-08732, in the name of Rob Gibson, on the Scottish Government’s consultation on its draft climate change a...

Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP

Presiding Officer, I crave your indulgence as I try to get all the detail in.Change and adaptation are rarely easy. How many psychiatrists does it take to ch...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

I remind members who wish to speak in the debate that they should press their request-to-speak buttons. I call Paul Wheelhouse. Minister, you have seven minu...

The Minister for Environment and Climate Change (Paul Wheelhouse) SNP

Thank you, Presiding Officer.I thank the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee for its efforts in scrutinising the draft Scottish climate c...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

Minister, will you draw to a close, please?

Paul Wheelhouse SNP

I will, Presiding Officer.I hope to pick up on some additional points in my closing speech. Suffice it to say that Scotland is well placed to respond to clim...

Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) Lab

This committee debate is extremely important and timely as it comes in the immediate aftermath of the recent severe weather and flooding. They focused all ou...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott) Con

Can you draw to a close, please?

Claudia Beamish Lab

That chimes with some of the committee’s recommendations. I ask the minister to take forward those fundamental governance issues in the final adaptation prog...

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) Con

I am not a great fan of the phrase “adopting a holistic approach”, but one thing is for sure: if climate change adaptation is to be successfully mainstreamed...

Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP) SNP

I say at the outset that I am pleased to contribute to the debate. It is an important issue that requires the attention of all parliamentarians and all commi...

Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

I thank the committee and witnesses for their work in getting us to this debate today.I want to focus on the processes and principles of adaptation in relati...

Nigel Don (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP) SNP

I hardly need to point out in the early part of 2014 that climate change is with us. We have clearly reached the point where it does not matter why it is hap...

Nigel Don SNP

Yes; that is long overdue. We cannot do things with land without maps, so I am delighted to hear that we have got that far. I must take issue with what has b...

Jim Hume (South Scotland) (LD) LD

Like many other members, I was proud to put through the Parliament the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill back in 2009. Although at the time there were differenc...

Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP) SNP

I welcome the debate, and I thank the committee for bringing it to the chamber and for the work that it has done in assessing the draft climate change adapta...

Cara Hilton (Dunfermline) (Lab) Lab

We have robust evidence for global warming, as colleagues have already said, but there are still many unknowns and variables involved in predicting exactly h...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green

It is probably fair to say that climate change adaptation often plays second fiddle to the mitigation agenda and the urgent need to reduce our emissions. Tha...

Alex Fergusson Con

The debate has seen a fair amount of consensus throughout the chamber, which is very much as it should be in a debate of this nature. Climate change presents...

Claudia Beamish Lab

I stress that a thread running through the adaptation programme is the value of interconnections and partnerships, showing the need for clear paths of commun...

Paul Wheelhouse SNP

I thank members. I agree with Alex Fergusson that the debate has been consensual. It has been rightly so, because we are talking about a matter that cuts acr...

Alex Fergusson Con

Do targets have a role to play in monitoring and evaluation?

Paul Wheelhouse SNP

I think that they do. Nigel Don made valid points about that. It is important to have a focus that drives effort, and the maxim about what is measured being ...

Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP) SNP

My preparing for the debate prompted me to re-read in detail the evidence on the draft programme that was given during two stakeholder meetings that were hel...

Paul Wheelhouse SNP

I thank the deputy convener for taking an intervention and I apologise for interrupting. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 specified a five-year time ho...

Graeme Dey SNP

I thank the minister for that input. We are aware that they are five-year programmes, but there is a general point that we must look as far beyond that timef...

Sarah Boyack Lab

Graeme Dey has made an extremely useful point about the capacity of institutions to provide practical examples of what we can all do. Institutions such as co...

Graeme Dey SNP

Sarah Boyack has made a very good point. I do not think that there is anything that I can add to that.There is so much more that can be done, as Sarah Boyack...