We’ve all seen and heard the news of the big break-up in Scottish politics. The shared policy programme of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group is no more.

Beyond the political gossip about who dumped whom and why, what will truly concern many in the environmental movement is whether Scotland’s political leaders will continue with pace and urgency to effectively tackle the biggest challenge facing us all: the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

There is concern that in today’s politically black and white era we will see a swing away from perceived “green” issues. But we cannot let action on nature and climate become a party-political issue.

The vital importance of nature for our economy was starkly underlined today by the Green Finance Initiative who revealed that the impact of nature degradation in the coming years will, at a minimum, surpass the economic fallout of the Global Financial Crisis with a 6% hit on UK GDP. In one scenario, they project a staggering 12% reduction in GDP in the years ahead, an impact even greater than that of the Covid-19 pandemic. This stark warning underscores the vital importance of protecting and preserving our natural environment.

We now need a new Programme for Government which outlines how the SNP are going to help Scotland’s people and communities get to get to grips with reversing declines in nature and curbing climate emissions. We need to know what real action the SNP want to keep, or introduce, and what do they plan to ditch from the Bute House Agreement.

For the Scottish Wildlife Trust, we absolutely must see a revived and urgent commitment to the Natural Environment Bill. Our natural environment provides the basis for our entire economy and society, so failure to take forward this crucial Bill in the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration will see us lag behind the rest of the UK and Europe, far from the global exemplar Scotland deserves to be.

A note of caution however – failure to engage and involve communities in the transition required to restore and protect our natural environment can be, and has been, disastrous. We only need to look at the failure of the Highly Protected Marine Areas pledge in the Bute House Agreement for an example of this. Government should therefore also commit to working with environment organisations and community groups to listen to and engage people and their communities.

Environmental charities such as the Scottish Wildlife Trust will leverage our huge memberships to play our part in this.

Bruce Wilson
Head of Policy and Advocacy