Biodiversity Programme Advisory Group - nature restoration target topic recommendations: final advice

2. Workshop

A workshop was deemed the best format to obtain consensus from the PAG on their high-level target topic recommendations. The purpose of the workshop was to recommend target topics in answering the following two questions:

1. What is the minimum selection of target topics that will demonstrate whether Government is delivering the ambition of halting biodiversity decline by 2030 and, restoring and regenerating biodiversity by 2045?

2. Accounting for the target topics selected in Question One, are there any other outcome or output target topics that are critical to driving the action needed?

Prior to the workshop a ‘long list’ of target topic options (see annex 1) were developed by SG officials and colleagues from NatureScot. In the week leading up to the workshop PAG members were sent a questionnaire asking them to prioritise target topics by asking them to select a maximum of ten target topics from the long list for each of the workshop questions. They were also given the opportunity to provide justifications for their selections and suggest additional target topics not in the long list.

The results of the pre-workshop questionnaire (see annex 2) were used to inform the order of target topics discussed in the workshops, so that target topics deemed highest priority were discussed first. For the workshop the PAG were split into two groups and asked to answer the first question in the morning session and the second question in the afternoon session. At the end of each session the two groups were brought together and asked to form a consensus on the recommended target topics. At the end of the workshop a final recommended list of target topics was agreed upon.