This page is the beginnings of a portal for Scotland community action in response to Ecological emergency.
River Dee Trust’s Million Trees Campaign, a project to save threatened salmon in the River Dee, wins one of the country’s most prestigious nature restoration awards, riverdee.org.uk (Nov 23, 2023) — More than 460,000 trees have already been planted.
Biodiversity[edit | edit source]
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (Scottish Gaelic: Urras Fiadh-bheatha na h-Alba) is a registered charity dedicated to conserving the wildlife and natural environment of Scotland.
Description
The Scottish Wildlife Trust has well over 46,000 members. The Scottish Wildlife Trust acquired its first wildlife reserve in 1966 and now has more than 120 reserves throughout Scotland with visitor centres at Loch of the Lowes (Perth and Kinross), Montrose Basin (Angus), and the Falls of Clyde (South Lanarkshire). As well as providing homes for wildlife these sites are valuable places for people to interact with and enjoy wildlife. The trust also seek to influence and challenge legislation for the benefit of wildlife.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust was involved in a trial reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver to Scotland. Begun in 2009, the trial ran at Knapdale until 2014. The beaver was given native species status in 2016.
Another of the Scottish Wildlife Trust's major projects is the protection of the red squirrel in Scotland. With project partners, the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project aims to stop the advance of the grey squirrel into the North and North East of Scotland, as well as protecting pockets of red squirrel habitat in South Scotland and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
The trust is one of 46 Wildlife Trusts operating in the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies.
Selected reserves
- Bemersyde Moss
- Handa Island
- Falls of Clyde
- Montrose Basin
- Loch Fleet
- Loch of the Lowes
- Pease Dean, Scottish Borders
See also
- Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
References
External links
- Official website
- "Scottish Wildlife Trust, Registered Charity no. SC005792". Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
- Scottish Wildlife Trust, registered charity dedicated to conserving the wildlife and natural environment of Scotland.
Rewilding[edit | edit source]
This article is an offshoot of our Ecological restoration Scotland page and focuses on community led rewilding or initiatives involving local communities.
- Rewilding Nation declaration call for Scotland as Charter launched, scotlandbigpicture.com (Mar 15, 2024) — More than 2% of Scotland’s land now rewilding according to new figures
Environment quality[edit | edit source]
Keep Scotland Beautiful is an environmental charity based in Scotland, which aims “to make Scotland a cleaner, greener and more sustainable place to live, work and visit.” The organisation campaigns and educates on a range of environmental issues including climate change and litter reduction.
Keep Scotland Beautiful is an environmental charity based in Scotland, which aims “to make Scotland a cleaner, greener and more sustainable place to live, work and visit.” The organisation campaigns and educates on a range of environmental issues including climate change and litter reduction.
History
Keep Scotland Beautiful was founded as an independent Scottish charity in 2000, bringing together several environmental initiatives, including Waste Aware Scotland, Eco-Schools Scotland, People and Places Programme, Beach Awards and Beautiful Scotland.
The organisation’s origins lie in the 1960s, with the "Beautiful Scotland in Bloom" campaign run by the Scottish Tourist Board and the Scottish Women's Rural Institute. After this, under the auspices of Keep Britain Tidy, its focus in Scotland included educating young people about the environment through the Eco-Schools programme. Since becoming an independent Scottish charity, it has continued to campaign on environmental issues, including local environment quality and climate change.
Timeline
2000s
- 2000: Keep Scotland Beautiful is founded, bringing together a number of environmental campaigns, initiatives and awards.
- 2002: The charity launches "Have Some Pride", a campaign aimed at reducing litter by encouraging people to take pride in their local area.
- 2003: The charity's Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS) becomes a national benchmarking tool for local authorities to audit the quality and cleanliness of their local environments.
- 2004: Along with the Scottish government and SEPA, Keep Scotland Beautiful launches the national fly-tipping campaign Dumb Dumpers, voiced by Richard Wilson.
- 2005: Former chief executive John Summers is awarded an OBE for services to the environment.
- 2008: Keep Scotland Beautiful takes on management of the Scottish government's Climate Challenge Fund, providing funding for community projects taking action on climate change.
- 2008: Scotland's first "Litter Summit" is hosted by the charity, attended by MSPs and members of the Scottish government. One of the outcomes was to investigate a deposit return system for Scotland.
- 2008: In partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, the charity launches "It's Your Neighbourhood", a community initiative aimed at helping gardening groups make improvements to their local environments.
2010s
- 2010: Keep Scotland Beautiful presents the 1000th first-time Green Flag for Eco-Schools Scotland, celebrating the work of young people to protect the environment.
- 2012: The charity's flagship Clean Up Scotland campaign is launched at the Scottish parliament.
- 2013: Keep Scotland Beautiful awards its first Green Flags for parks, intended to recognise well-kept green spaces.
- 2014: The organisation creates Scotland's first National Award for Environmental Excellence, allowing organisations to benchmark their environmental performance.
- 2015: Following the launch of the One Planet Picnic initiative the previous year, the charity launches their national Pocket Garden design competition for schools in Scotland.
- 2016: The charity publishes a report revealing growing levels of litter, dog fouling and other antisocial environmental behaviours across Scotland. An update report was published in October 2017, detailing how these trends had developed over the preceding year.
- 2016: The charity launches its "Give Your Litter a Lift" campaign to tackle litter along Scotland's roadsides.
- 2018: Keep Scotland Beautiful becomes the first Climate Literate organisation in Scotland, as recognised by The Carbon Literacy Project.
- 2018: The charity launches several behaviour change campaigns aimed at tackling unsustainable consumption and its effects: Upstream Battle, My Beach Your Beach and Cup Movement.
- 2019: The charity launches, with funding from the Scottish government, Climate Ready Classrooms, a programme aimed at secondary school pupils and teachers to help them understand climate change and the actions they can take to combat the climate crisis.
Programmes
Keep Scotland Beautiful manages several environment-related campaigns and programmes in Scotland. These include Eco-Schools Scotland, Climate Ready Classrooms, Clean Up Scotland, the Green Flag Award, the Beach Awards, Beautiful Scotland, the Climate Challenge Fund, the National Award for Environmental Excellence, Carbon Literacy Training and Heritage projects and Canal College.
See also
- Keep Britain Tidy
- Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful
- Keep Wales Tidy
- Scottish Environment Protection Agency
- Scottish Natural Heritage
References
External links
- Official website
- Keep Scotland Beautiful, ksbscotland on youtube.com, added 12:22, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
Open spaces[edit | edit source]
- greenspace scotland, social enterprise supporting communities in many ways through grant funding, information, advice and training ,and working with communities for example via community placemaking projects. added 14:56, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
Rivers[edit | edit source]
- River Dee Trust, community-based charitable company, set up in 1998. added 12:50, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
Trees, woodland and forest[edit | edit source]
Scotland is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. As of 2019 about 18.5% of the country was wooded. Although this figure is well below the European Union (EU) average of 43%, it represents a significant increase compared to the figure of 100 years previously: in 1919 (at the end of the Great War) it was estimated that only 5% of the country's total land area was covered in forest. The Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan has set an aim of increasing coverage to 21% of Scotland by 2032, with the rate of afforestation rising to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024.
Approximately 4,700 km2 of Scotland's forests and woodlands are publicly owned by the Scottish Government via Forestry and Land Scotland, and these are termed the National Forest Estate. As of 2015, forestry contributed almost £1 billion to the Scottish economy, and the industry employed over 25,000 people. W
Wetlands[edit | edit source]
Cairngorms Cranes, scotlandbigpicture.com
Coasts[edit | edit source]
- Coastal Communities Network, "community-led network comprising local groups committed to the preservation and safeguarding of Scotland’s coastal and marine environments." added 14:29, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
- The Scottish Coastal Clean Up, facilitating and assisting with beach cleans across Scotland
Rural sustainability[edit | edit source]
- Scottish Rural Action, "Our vision is for vibrant and connected rural and island communities which have control over their future, and which contribute to building a society that is inclusive, just and sustainable." Video: Scottish Rural Action on youtube.com
- Rural Housing Scotland, national charity supporting community action on rural housing issues, providing practical support for community-led housing initiatives and campaigning to secure more affordable housing in rural Scotland. Community Led Housing, information from ruralhousingscotland.org, added 15:01, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
Scottish rural parliament[edit | edit source]
Rural parliaments are forums for discussion and debate, often established to give voice to rural populations of the country, to influence policy and practice and to develop networks between those in rural areas. They have been established in Estonia, Swedish-speaking Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, and Scotland and will soon be established in Romania.
List of rural parliaments
- Landsbygdsriksdag (Eng: Swedish Rural Parliament; literally Countryside Parliament)), organised by Hela Sverige ska leva (HSSL; Eng: Swedish Village Action Movement; literally: All Sweden Shall Live), Sweden, established 1989
- Landsbygdsriksdag, Finland, established 1990
- Maapäev (Eng: Rural Parliament of Estonian Villages), established 1996, organised by Kodukant( literally, Home Area), Estonia, established 1997
- Vidék Parlementje (Eng: Hungarian Rural Parliament), Hungary, established 1998
- Vidiecky Parlament (VIPA), Slovakia, established 2000 informally, 2001 formal NGO
- PlattelandsParlement, the Netherlands, established 2005
- Slovenski podeželski parliament, Slovenia, established 2011
- Parlamentul Rural din România (Eng: Romanian Rural Parliament ), established 2014 informally
Scotland
In March 2012 Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead announced that the Scottish Government was moving ahead with its plans for a Scottish rural parliament, as outlined in Programme for Scotland 2011–2012.
The inaugural Scottish Rural Parliament was held from 6–8 November 2014, in Oban, Argyll & Bute.
An independent organization, Scottish Rural Action, was formed to take forward the proposals. Directors include the chair, John Hutchison of Community Land Scotland, who is a Community Advocate based in the West Highlands. He also chairs the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust and is former Chairman of the John Muir Trust.
The themes or topics for the Rural Parliament will be decided by people who live and work in rural Scotland using a survey.
References
Further reading
- ‘Rural Parliaments: emerging participative democracy’, 2011, PREPARE network
External links
- Official website of the Swedish Rural Parliament (in English)
- Official website of the Swedish Village Action Movement (in English)
- Official website of the PlattelandsParlement (in Dutch)
- Official website of the Vidiecky parlament (in Slovak)
- Official website of Slovenski podeželski parlament (in Slovene)
- Official website of the Scottish Rural Parliament
- Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament, Video: Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament on youtube.com
News and comment[edit | edit source]
2022
- These Scottish villagers bought a nature reserve - now they are fundraising to double its size, euronews.com (Jun 10, 2022)
2021
Coastal saltmarsh 'engineered' to fight climate change, Nov 11[1]
Vast area of Scottish Highlands to be rewilded in ambitious 30-year project, Sep 24...[2]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Topic overview: Ecological restoration, Biodiversity, Environment quality, Open spaces
- UK context: Ecological restoration UK, Biodiversity UK, Environment quality UK, Open spaces UK, Community river action UK
References
