Conservation and Land use

November 2019

News from Conservation Scotland

As a result of our membership of SCCAN (Scottish Communities Climate Action Network) we have recently received an email from Nathan Roberts of Conservation Scotland

"The aim of Conservation Scotland is to increase engagement in activities which are free, open to all, and good for nature. This could be a public outreach event, training day or workshop, or could be practical volunteering.  Essentially, the website helps organisations and individuals find each other, so that together they can achieve more positive conservation outcomes in Scotland.  Activities go straight into the calendar making it easy for interested individuals to know what good they can do for nature in their area on a particular day.

"Conservation Scotland is a community of organisations, including RSPB Scotland, Pentland Hills Regional Park, Take One Action Film Festivals, and Polbeth and West Calder Community Garden. New organisations are welcome to join and add events which are free, open to all, and good for nature.  I would like to therefore invite you, your colleagues and your volunteers and participants to consider joining this community at https://conservationscotland.interests.me/ to start sharing and finding new opportunities... for free, of course. Events added online will also go out into the weekly email to all interested individuals, as well as out on social media. The Conservation Scotland email is sent out every Friday.
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"A good overview of the initiative and the downloadable Annual Reviews can now be found at www.whyconserve.com/scotland - it shows that our current members want more attention on climate action."

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Scottish Land Reform Bill passed  16 March 2016

Getting the best from our land
A Land Use Strategy for Scotland
2016 - 2021

Laid before the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Ministers on 22 March 2016 
in pursuance of Section 57 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 

In her introduction to the Scottish Government's Land Use strategy, Environment Minister Aileen McLeod writes:

In 2011 we published Scotland’s first Land Use Strategy. We were optimistic about its potential impact and hopeful that stakeholders would begin to embrace the direction of travel. The past five years have exceeded our expectations in terms of just how much we have achieved and the strength of support for our policies. Not only have we delivered against the proposals set out in the first Land Use Strategy, we have initiated and completed two highly successful land use pilot projects and our work has been showcased across the UK and in Europe.
 
The last five years have also seen the Scottish Parliament further develop the policy
framework around land use. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and
the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill build on the Objectives and Principles within the
Land Use Strategy. Together they will put communities at the heart of decision
making and result in real improvements in how land in Scotland is owned, used and
managed. 

Read the full document.