This week brings the Scottish Budget. Public spending is the bedrock of ecological restoration. So what do we hope for?
Tomorrow, we will present our ‘pathway to a Rewilding Nation' to the Scottish Government.
This will be a route map for creating the world's first Rewilding Nation – in more than just name.
Scotland is one of the world's most nature-depleted countries. While it is also one of the world's most beautiful countries, centuries of overexploitation of our natural resources, decades of misguided public spending, and a global collapse in biodiversity have all left their mark.
This nature crisis has huge consequences. As actor Brian Cox CBE said this week in The Guardian, in a letter calling on people to sign the Rewilding Nation Charter: “This fails our hills, glens and rivers. It fails the animals we share our land and seas with. We’ve upset nature’s balance. That has a terrible impact on wildlife, but also on us. Scotland’s broken natural processes undermine our ability to cope with climate breakdown, affect food production, and threaten our health.”
This week also brings the Scottish Budget, the final full budget of this parliamentary term. Public spending is the bedrock of ecological restoration. The government's spending decisions underpin the fate of our land and seas. So what do we hope for, from this Budget?
We hope for no more cuts to nature funding and the public bodies tasked with stewarding Scotland's ecosystems, and for a funding system that supports the restoration of Scotland’s broken natural processes.
We hope to see farmers, crofters and other land managers rewarded for playing their part in ecological restoration, and to see local authorities properly resourced to deliver on the establishment of ‘nature networks’.
Above all, we hope for urgent action to address the nature crisis.
All this year, the Rewilding Nation campaign has shown us that despite the damage to our natural environment, hope is surging all over Scotland.
We’ve heard from grandparents who want to leave a more nature-rich country to their grandchildren, from walkers who want to ramble through wilder hills, and from young people who see the return of nature as the defining mission of their lives.
We’ve heard from local communities who want more nature-based economic opportunities and jobs, from families who know more nature means better health and wellbeing, and from farmers and growers who know that agriculture depends on properly functioning natural processes and that restoring nature and growing sustainable food go-hand-in hand.
These are voices that sometimes struggle to be heard. Will the First Minister listen?