Scottish biodiversity strategy: report to Parliament 2020 to 2024

Summary

Monitoring trends with a suite of indicators

This report outlines and summarises progress against actions undertaken during the period 2020 – 2024 to address the seven Outcomes and associated Key steps set out in the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity.

Monitoring of progress against the Outcomes has been supported by a suite of ‘biodiversity state’ and ‘people engagement’ indicators originally agreed following publication of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy in 2004. Some of the original indicators have now been archived, discontinued, superseded, or have not been updated during this reporting period.

The Tables below show long-term and recent trends for the remaining suite of active indicators.

Key findings and highlights

Outcome 1: Scotland’s ecosystems are restored to good ecological health so that they provide robust ecosystem services and build our natural capital.

• Since 2012 over 65,000 ha of degraded peatland is on the road to recovery. The Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) supports landscape-scale restoration, including through collaboration between land managers. An estimated 232,640 ha of peatland were managed under AECS contracts in 2023, with £3.8M of capital committed to peatland restoration works such as ditch blocking and removal of scrub since 2015.
• Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund has provided competitive finance across Scotland to support several river and wetland restoration projects. Rivers have seen continuous improvement in condition over the last 25 years. The most recent annual report using 2022 data reports that of the 3,249 rivers, lochs, estuaries and coastal water bodies surveyed 67.1% were classified as either good or high status.
• Funding from the Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) supports actions by farmers to tackle diffuse pollution through capital investment and land management changes, with collaboration between two or more land managers incentivised within the AECS scoring system, as it is under the Forestry Grant Scheme.
• Herbivore impacts, particularly from deer, have been highlighted as a serious issue in relation to native woodland condition, with the Forestry Grant Scheme requiring Deer Management Plans to be produced as a condition of grant.

Outcome 2: Natural resources contribute to stronger sustainable economic growth in Scotland, and we increase our natural capital to pass on to the next generation.

• In July 2024 there were just over 200 projects registered in Scotland under the Peatland Code covering nearly 28,000 ha of peatland restoration and projected to avoid almost 6.5 million tonnes CO2e emissions, and in March 2023 there were over 57,000 ha of woodland projects registered under the Woodland Carbon Code in Scotland, projected to sequester nearly 18 million tonnes CO2e.
• An open access, GIS-based Landscape Scale Natural Capital Tool is under development by NatureScot, funded by the Scottish Government, to help make better informed and standardised decisions on land management by taking a natural capital approach at the landscape-scale in Scotland.
• The Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) is hosted by NatureScot with support from Scottish Government and Crown Estate Scotland to leverage private investment towards projects that recover, restore or enhance the health of marine and coastal habitats and species across Scotland. Since 2021, SMEEF has distributed £3.3 million to 50 projects around our coasts and seas.

Outcome 3: Improved health and quality of life for the people of Scotland, through investment in the care of green space, nature and landscapes.

• The Improving Public Access component of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme provided funding from 2015 - 2018 and 2021 - 2022 to improve access to the countryside, nature and outdoor spaces to improve health, physical and mental wellbeing, and bring social and economic benefit.
• National Planning Framework 4 has established a requirement for developments to contribute to the enhancement of biodiversity, including restoring degraded habitats, and building and strengthening nature networks and the connections between them.
• Scotland’s National Nature Reserves provide several high-quality visitor facilities designed, promoted and managed to ensure that people can actively experience and learn more about nature without harming or disturbing wildlife.
• NatureScot, Scottish Forestry, Public Health Scotland and NHS Assure have helped to develop Scotland’s Natural Health Service through demonstration and pilot projects aimed at mainstreaming nature in health and social care policy and practice.
• NatureScot’s Learning in Local Greenspace demonstration project worked with 115 schools in some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities to show how best to increase outdoor learning provision.

Outcome 4: The special value and international importance of Scotland’s nature and geodiversity is assured, wildlife is faring well, and we have a highly effective network of protected places.

• Since the Agri-environment Climate Scheme opened in 2015 approximately £71 million has been committed to designated sites as 5-year contracts (approximately 21% of the Agri-environment budget).
• Long-term trends in the condition of Protected Areas show some improvement, with little change in the short-term, although the condition of woodland features do show an overall decline. To improve the condition of woodland and other features on Protected Areas changes will be required in approaches to land management, particularly to address landscape-scale pressures. Protected Area monitoring is being reformed to strengthen its focus on the overall health of ecosystems and to help inform the right management interventions at the right scale.
• The NatureScot-led Shared Approach to Wildlife Management sets out how a range of organisations will work together to establish healthy and valued populations of wildlife.

Outcome 5: Nature is faring well, and ecosystems are resilient as a result of sustainable land and water management.

• The Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) continues to support High Nature Value farming systems, with over £273m committed between 2015 and 2024 for contracts of up to five years. The scheme covers around 20% of Scotland’s agricultural land supporting the management of upland habitats, arable land, and other inbye land including management of hedges, species-rich grassland, wetland, lowland bog, corncrakes, and waders.
• The Vision for Agriculture and Agri Reform Route Map set out a Just Transition approach for a move to regenerative and sustainable agriculture in Scotland by developing a framework for supporting high quality food production; climate mitigation and adaptation; nature restoration; and wider rural development.
• Stakeholder engagement in the development of the Flood Resilience Strategy undertaken by SNIFFER clearly identified the need for sympathetic water movement across catchments through among other things, river restoration, appropriately sited woodlands, functioning wetlands and healthy soils.
• The intent of ‘National Planning Framework 4 Policy 3 Biodiversity’ is to protect biodiversity, reverse biodiversity loss, deliver positive effects from development and strengthen nature networks.

Outcome 6: Scotland’s marine and coastal environments are clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse, meeting the long-term needs of people and nature.

• In 2020 Scottish Ministers designated the West of Scotland MPA, the largest MPA in the North-east Atlantic. A further 16 sites were added to the Scottish MPA network: four new inshore MPAs and 12 Special Protection Areas (SPAs).
• Good progress has been made in starting to develop National Marine Plan 2, developing biosecurity plans for seabird islands, and collating information on the location and sensitivity of Priority Marine Features.
• Two of the local authorities considered to be most at risk have begun developing Coastal Change Adaptation Plans, with a further four expected to start in 2024/5. Most local authorities do not yet have plans in place to manage anticipated increases in coastal erosion.
• There has been a significant increase in marine habitat restoration including through community-led projects, most of which are focussed on native oysters and seagrass beds. Progress is now being made in starting to lever in private investment to support nature recovery in Scotland’s seas, for example through the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (see also Outcome 2).
• The indicator linked to this outcome Numbers and Breeding Success of Seabirds highlighted a stable trend between 2011 - 2019. This does not take account of more recent declines including those identified through Seabirds Count (the census of internationally important populations of breeding seabirds conducted by JNCC between 2015 and 2021) and declines related to the recent outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Outcome 7: A framework of indicators that we can use to track progress.

• A new Marine and Terrestrial Species Indicator in Scotland is designed to meet international best practice standards to track progress towards our biodiversity commitments and contribute to monitoring planetary health and wellbeing economy as part of the Wellbeing Economy Monitor.
• Work started in 2019 to use satellite data to generate the first complete and repeatable EUNIS level 2 habitat and land cover maps of Scotland.
• Scotland’s Natural Capital Asset Index (NCAI) relies on 38 habitat indicators gathered by a range of public organisations and citizen science schemes. Work is underway to improve the data underpinning the NCAI.
• Volunteers make an invaluable contribution to understanding the state of nature, with records from volunteers underpinning much biodiversity monitoring and reporting. For example, the State of Nature Scotland Report relies on millions of records collected by citizen scientists, as does the Natural Capital Asset Index.