Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 07 June 2022
I thank the Scottish Government for bringing such an important debate to the chamber. Scottish Conservatives broadly agree with the sentiments expressed in the motion, but we feel that they have been painted with a broad brush. Our amendment seeks to develop the point of the motion somewhat, while also noting that it is the clear desire of people behind the campaigns for new national parks, and the wider public, to move faster on designating Scotland’s next national park.
We note that the motion makes a number of references to the evaluation process and stakeholder engagement. However, across Scotland there is a clear sense that the Scottish Government has been dragging its feet on the issue.
Similarly, we are of the view that the value and importance of Scotland’s rural landscape and communities deserve greater recognition than they receive. Although designation of one or—it is to be hoped—more new national parks could go some way towards addressing that, we feel that it will not go far enough towards recognising the many areas across Scotland that, although perhaps not suited to be national parks, deserve greater access to support and opportunities to preserve and capitalise on their natural assets.
Scottish Conservatives will support Labour’s amendment, in the name of Colin Smyth. It is clear that, across the chamber, there is broad agreement about the value of national parks and their potential to make a substantial contribution not only to their local areas but to meeting the wider twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity.
It is on the subject of biodiversity that I want to begin my contribution, not least because it is often overshadowed by climate change in discussions, although it is no less important. There has been little change in the decline of biodiversity in the past 10 years, under the current Scottish Government. The 2019 report “State of Nature: Scotland” found that the overall abundance and distribution of Scotland’s species have declined, including in the past 10 years, and that the pressures that drive biodiversity loss collectively continue to have a negative impact on nature. It said:
“There has been no let-up in the net loss of nature in Scotland.”
It should come as no surprise that, in 2021, RSPB and the Natural History Museum found that Scotland is in the bottom 25 per cent of nations and territories for biodiversity intactness, ranking in the lowest of the G7 countries.
We require integrated land management that park authorities can use to encourage a co-operative framework between sectors and break down silos. Farming and forestry can be viewed as sectors that narrow biodiversity. However, with proper support, those sectors can deliver on their biodiversity targets as well as their commodity markets.
In her Scottish Government priorities statement, the First Minister announced the aim to
“protect and enhance our natural habitats”
by increasing
“woodland creation”—[Official Report, 26 May 2021; c 13.]
by 50 per cent. However, planting non-native Sitka is not increasing woodland, nor is it addressing biodiversity. We need a more robust forestry plan, as a diversity of native trees has been shown to store more carbon emissions than Sitka alone and lead to a more resilient ecosystem.