SCOTLAND is “critical to achieving the goal” of “restoring biodiversity globally” says NatureScot, as the COP16 summit gets under way.
Kath Leys, NatureScot’s head of biodiversity and geodiversity, believes Scotland has an opportunity to show leadership.
The COP16 summit is being held in Cali, Colombia, and will run until November 1.
There, representatives and leaders from around the world are trying to stop the falling populations of planets and animals – and the damage done to Earth’s oceans, rivers, and forests.
A key part of this in Scotland would be through the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to strengthen natural ecosystems and increase the size and quality of protected areas – as well as better educating people on biodiversity.
Leys says that the strategy would also “work towards halting biodiversity loss by 2030 and towards restoring and regenerating nature across our lands and seas by 2045”.
She continues: “Although Scotland covers a small part of the Earth, we are committed to our responsibility to protect our internationally important nature, such as our temperate rainforests and our outstanding blanket bog in the Flow Country, recently recognised as a World Heritage Site.”
An investigation from Carbon Brief and The Guardian found that 80% of countries have failed to submit their plans to preserve nature ahead of the COP16 summit – including the UK Government, with Labour set to publish it in the new year.
While Scotland can lead the way in this important area, Arina Russell, senior policy manager at WWF Scotland, believes this action must come sooner rather than later.
She says: “Scotland has shown leadership at previous global nature summits, particularly through the Edinburgh Declaration, which secured agreement that all governments must do more to halt biodiversity loss.
“However, as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with one in nine Scottish species at risk of extinction, the Scottish Government must step up to the plate with adequate nature funding, urgently implement its stalled biodiversity strategy and bring in without further delay a Natural Environment Bill that sets out legal targets and ends nature loss for good.”
Bruce Wilson, head of policy and advocacy at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, has stressed the importance of this event, but has also shown concern that Scotland’s biodiversity plans could be scaled back.
“The climate and nature emergencies are now being seen as priorities on the global stage – and rightly so, given that our natural environment fundamentally underpins our economy, society and culture,” he says.
“We need to see that discussions at both the climate and nature COPs are driving ambition at the global level and action from national governments.
“In Scotland, the Government has promised a new biodiversity strategy, associated delivery plans and an investment plan to coincide with the end of COP16.
“There is currently concern among environmental organisations that we will see a roll-back of commitments that mirror recent political changes but if the Government is to meet national and international targets, it is imperative that this strategy and its delivery plans are both ambitious and mindful of the economic risks posed by not acting now.”
Biodiversity measures the variety of life on Earth, ranging from animals to plants to fungi.
These provide us with the essentials we need for survival, like clean air, water, food and medicine.
This summit is expected to be the biggest of its kind, as it is the first chance to hold world leaders to account for an ambitious agreement nearly 200 countries signed up to during the last event in 2022.
This agreement comes down to a commitment to reverse nature loss by 2030 through various means, such as restoring natural ecosystems and stopping species extinction.
