More than four in five Scots are worried about the impact of climate change on Scotland’s nature, a new poll found. The Survation survey, shared with The Daily Record, revealed pollution and ocean warming are also major fears.
An overwhelming 82 per cent majority said they were concerned about the effects of the climate crisis on the country’s environment, according to the research conducted for charities network Scottish Environment LINK. And it found people were twice as likely to think Scottish nature is in decline than improving.
One in nine species in Scotland are currently at risk of national extinction due to climate change and man-made activities - with warnings the nature loss crisis could become “irreversible” without swift action.
Labour’s Monica Lennon said: “It should come as no surprise such a huge majority of Scots are worried about the impact of climate change on our country's environment. All the evidence tells us that impact is already here.
“Scotland’s nature emergency demands an emergency response from the Scottish Government. Our laws and policies must rise to the scale of the challenge.”
Deborah Long, Chief Officer at Scottish Environment LINK, said: “Scots overwhelmingly care about our natural environment and are passionate about our reputation as a country of outstanding national beauty. But there is also deep concern over the significant threats posed to our environment, and the fact that nature has been in decline for some time.
“We are at a really crucial moment – we need to turn things around in this decade, or the crisis of nature loss risks becoming irreversible." Nearly a third (32 per cent) of those polled stated they were “very concerned” about climate change’s impact on Scotland, and 50 per cent said they were “quite concerned”.
Just 14 per cent said they were “not that concerned” and three per cent were “not at all concerned”. The survey, which spoke to 1,033 Scots between October 31 and November 6, also found a plurality of Scots believe the country's natural environment has got worse in their lifetime.
A total of 39 per cent said it had got worse, compared to 31 per cent who said it was the same, and only 19 per cent who believe it has got better. Asked what posed the greatest risk to Scotland’s nature, 82 per cent listed pollution in their top three concerns.
A total of 78 per cent put climate change in their top three list, and 53 per cent said ocean warming and acidification. Around the world, a staggering one million animal and plant species are thought to be under threat due to human activities amid habitat loss and increasingly unstable ecosystems.
And an alarming scientific study this year found 90 per cent of all the world’s marine species could be at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed. Species at risk in Scotland include Atlantic puffins, hedgehogs and mountain hares.
It comes ahead of a major UN summit on biodiversity in Montreal next month – COP15 – where new global targets to protect nature could be set.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is currently developing its next Biodiversity Strategy with plans after that for a new Natural Environment Bill – as ministers are under pressure to enshrine legally-binding measures to prevent nature loss. Scottish Environment LINK said the new strategy and Bill were "incredible opportunities to step up our efforts" on protecting biodiversity.
Lennon - Labour’s net zero, energy and transport spokeswoman - is campaigning to bring in groundbreaking new laws against “ecocide” and make Scotland the first country in the world to explicitly outlaw environmental destruction. The MSP told The Record: “It should worry us all that one in nine species in Scotland are at risk of national extinction.
“Being proud and passionate about Scotland’s landscapes, seas, coasts and wildlife isn’t enough. Bold system change is needed before it’s too late, and that’s why I’m working on proposals to criminalise ecocide and supporting new legal targets on biodiversity.”
The Scottish Government ’s Biodiversity Minister Lorna Slater said she “shared people’s concerns” about the impact of climate change on Scottish nature. She added: “Our consultation on a new Biodiversity Strategy highlighted the 24 per cent decline in nature over the last 30 years, and it is clear that a new emphasis on nature restoration is urgently needed – here in Scotland and across the world.
“In recent years the Scottish Government has begun to scale up investment and action to restore nature – including the £65 million Nature Restoration Fund. But we know we need to do more, and will soon publish a new national strategy that will set out our plans to stop the decline in biodiversity by 2030 and restore it by 2045.
“Statutory nature recovery targets and investing in landscape-scale change will be crucial to our success. That’s why we’ve committed to both protecting 30 per cent of our land for nature by 2030 – the 30x30 target that I hope will be agreed by all countries at COP15.
“In addition to these ambitious targets, we will to ensure everyone plays their part in helping address biodiversity loss - communities, business, farmers, land managers, and decision makers alike. Nature belongs to us all, and to tackle this emergency we must support each other to deliver the change we need to see.”
Last June, a team of international lawyers drew up a historic definition of ecocide, which they now want to be adopted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute the worst environmental crimes. They called it “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.
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