Hansard

We are undertaking a programme of research, and the Government is commissioning work. The timescale for producing that is unlikely to be as early as this summer, but the decision will be for my colleague the Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Paul Wheelhouse, who will close the debate. He might have more to say about those aspects.

We are protecting our water. Scottish Water has benefited from investment of £3.6 billion to deliver significant improvements to drinking water and waste water services for people the length and breadth of Scotland.

Scotland has established itself as a hydro nation, in recognition of our world-class ability to look after and maximise the value of our abundant water resources. We need to build on that experience—domestically and globally—by sharing our knowledge and expertise.

We must also focus on tackling flooding to make Scotland more resilient to that challenge. We are all aware of the terrible impact of flooding, which is devastating to the individuals and communities affected and which causes wider disruption. In December, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency published the first suite of flood risk strategies, identifying the causes and consequences of flooding and key actions to reduce future risks. Next month, delivery plans will be published by local authorities, in partnership with agencies including Scottish Water, that will make a real difference to how we plan for future flooding.

Managing flood risk is not just about hard infrastructure; we need to invest in natural flood management as well, such as through peatland restoration and tree planting. That enables us to achieve benefits for communities prone to flooding and for biodiversity: working with nature helps us to build resilience in our environment and our communities. That ambition underpins the objectives of our second land use strategy, published on 22 March, on which I intend to deliver during this session of Parliament.

Working with nature is also at the core of our commitment to continuing action on biodiversity protection and habitat restoration. Scotland provides the major part of the United Kingdom’s contribution to Natura 2000, the European Union’s network of protected sites, with over 15 per cent of our land area designated for a wealth of habitats and species. Our country remains a stronghold for a number of species such as Atlantic salmon and freshwater pearl mussel. We have led the way in creating a statutory framework to prevent the introduction and spread of non-native species that are invasive, and we will continue to take action to protect our biodiversity, in line with our biodiversity strategy.

No natural asset presents a greater opportunity to fulfil our nation’s potential than our seas. They are home to more than 6,000 species and have around 25 per cent of the potential renewable energy resource in European waters. Unlocking that resource will help us to achieve our climate change targets and will contribute to our ambitions for growing the rural economy.

The Government published Scotland’s first national marine plan last year, marking an important step in the implementation of national and European legislation. The plan seeks to balance the competing interests of different marine industries with protecting the marine environment. We aim to complete the marine protected area network over the next two years and to ensure that it is well managed.

We must also manage and support land use and wildlife sustainably. The uplands are areas with challenges and—as we discussed during the passage of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016—we have hastened the 2016 review of deer management so that it will be completed by October. I will consider fully the findings from Lord Bonomy’s review of current measures to protect wild mammals, such as foxes, from being hunted with dogs. If those measures need to be improved and modernised, we will do that. I also intend to carry out a wider review of legislation and policy to address and prevent wildlife crime.

Perhaps the biggest threat to our social and economic ambitions comes from climate change. That is why the Government has worked to make Scotland a world leader on climate change, and we have a record of which we can be proud. However, we are ambitious to achieve more. I intend to work closely with ministerial colleagues to drive activity to meet our targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are on track to exceed our 2020 target for a 42 per cent reduction from baseline levels, and I look forward to presenting the next set of figures that cover emissions in 2014 to Parliament after their release on 14 June.

The historic agreement that was reached at the United Nations climate talks in Paris last year has, as we hoped and argued for, established certainty about the global low carbon future and presented Scotland with an opportunity to continue to lead the world. As the First Minister announced last week, we will establish a new and more testing target for 2020 of reducing actual Scottish emissions by at least 50 per cent. We will look for support from across the chamber for the actions that we will need to take to reach that target.

We also recognise the need to empower communities to adapt to meet future climate challenges. We will continue to support communities across Scotland to reduce their carbon emissions through our climate challenge fund by targeting projects that deliver the greatest reduction in carbon emissions.

Many of the projects supported by the climate challenge fund encourage the reuse of everyday items and the extension of their life through repair and maintenance. That is at the heart of our approach to create a more circular economy, in which we aim to keep valuable materials and products in circulation for as long as possible, preventing waste and reducing emissions while creating business and career opportunities in the food, drink, construction, energy and remanufacturing sectors. I also intend to lead activity to meet our new target to reduce food waste by one third by 2025—the first such target in Europe.