Scottish Government dragging their heels rather than taking action on biodiversity

Scottish Liberal Democrat climate emergency spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today called for ambitious action on boosting biodiversity after it emerged that the Scottish Government is planning to delay plans for action while it conducts a second consultation.

After a round of consultations, the Scottish Government published its draft Biodiversity Strategy last December, with a commitment to publish a final version following the 2022 COP15 international summit.

Today, nine months later, the Scottish Government has announced that rather than proceeding they are going to hold a second consultation on the strategy, meaning new policies will be delayed until a full consultation process has taken place.

Mr McArthur said:

"I can see why the SNP would feel burned after the disastrous handling of the deposit return scheme and highly protected marine areas but that is not an excuse for the nationalists to drag their heels in the midst of a nature emergency.

"We've already had a nine-month delay to this strategy and now they’re announcing another delay and another consultation, even though they have already consulted on the Strategy.

“Scotland is a beautiful country and we should be working to protect and enhance its natural assets.

“The government should be pressing ahead with investment in long-term peatland restoration projects; rewarding sustainable agriculture through payment schemes and ensuring that EU biodiversity and climate change funding is fully replaced."