Hansard

I thank members across the chamber, from all five parties, for supporting the motion, which celebrates the relaunch of Scottish Environment LINK’s species champion initiative, and I welcome to the visitors gallery Eleanor Harris and Daphne Vlastari from Scottish Environment LINK.

I am delighted to advise members that 57 of us have now taken on the role of species champion. We are participating in a programme that asks MSPs to lend political support to the protection of Scotland’s threatened wildlife and to work alongside 15 organisations through Scottish Environment LINK. The figure falls some way short of the figure that was achieved in the previous session, when the initiative was launched but, given that we are just six months into the current session and that retirals have robbed us of stalwarts such as Rob Gibson, Jamie McGrigor and Mary Scanlon, it is fair to say that we are well on course to better the previous total of 76 species champions. That is important because, given the scale of the challenge that we face in protecting threatened species and our wider biodiversity, it is incumbent on all of us—not just those of us who serve on the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee—to provide leadership in the area.

I invite colleagues who have not yet signed up to come along to the introduction event that I will host in the Parliament at lunch time on Thursday and make the commitment. Scottish Environment LINK hopes to have more than 100 champions in the Parliament, and I offer fair warning to the remaining 72 members that it is persistent.

It is good to see again MSPs from urban as well as rural areas participating, because nature, as with the threats to its variety, is not restricted to the countryside. Although we have wonderful countryside in my constituency and in wider Scotland, there is wildlife and the natural environment in our towns and cities, too.

It has been great to see MSPs diving right into their new roles. Maree Todd did that literally in trying Scotland’s new snorkel trail with the Scottish Wildlife Trust in order to learn more about flame shells. I note that Ruth Maguire and Angus MacDonald got up close and personal with their species. However, I have to say gently to Tavish Scott, who is the orca champion, that being filmed holding a toy replica, even at the waterside, really does not count.

I became the species champion for the woolly willow in 2013. That role has taken me to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Corrie Fee in Glen Doll in my constituency and the Ben Lawers nature reserve to learn more about the challenges that have to be overcome if we are to restore the damage that has been done to the woolly willow by overgrazing and climate change. Those visits helped to inform a newsletter that I sent around all the primary schools in my area. I hoped that it would prompt nature projects or at least help to inform nature projects that were taking place.

To prove that I was listening when I was out and about, I will tell members a wee bit about the woolly willow. It is a low shrub with woolly, grey-green leaves that is now restricted to ungrazed areas at high altitude. In all non-arid mountain systems, montane scrub, which consists of species such as the woolly willow, is an important habitat above the tree line. Montane scrub supports a range of unusual plants and invertebrates and is an important foraging area for birds and mammals. In Scotland, that habitat is now virtually absent because of historical grazing by red deer and sheep.

Woolly willow formerly occurred in the scrub zone at the upper limit of forest on mountains with the richest soils, but it has more recently become largely restricted to cliffs. Mountain hares now get in on the grazing act thanks to reduced snow lines, courtesy of climate change.

Nearly all the present localities for the woolly willow are in the central Highlands. Only four of its 13 remaining populations have more than 100 plants. It is estimated that the total number across Scotland is about 1,800 plants. That is why the species is on the endangered list, along with many other species, and that is why Scottish Environment LINK needs MSPs to help to raise awareness of the situation.

The “State of Nature 2016—Scotland” report, which was published in September, detailed work by a number of environmental organisations. It revealed that in Scotland, despite undisputed progress being made in a majority of the areas that are covered by the biodiversity route map to 2020, more than half—I repeat half—of the plant and bird species are declining. A great deal more is required to be done by all of us and not least by us species champions.

With your agreement, Presiding Officer, I will conclude there, because although in the normal course of events, I would happily take up my allocated time in a members’ business debate, in this instance I think that my role is more that of scene setter than being centre stage. I know that a considerable number of colleagues are seeking the opportunity to highlight their allotted species, the challenges that those species face and what actions we as MSPs intend to take to make constituents much more aware and mindful of the threats that are posed to our biodiversity.