A just response to the biodiversity and climate crises
The twin nature crises are of central importance to us and our members. We recognise and strongly support the pressing need for action to address both the climate emergency and linked biodiversity crisis. We are working to highlight and support community-led action on these crises.
We are at the forefront of promoting the community-led response to ecological crisis and demonstrate the good work our members are undertaking. We focus on the following areas to achieve this:
- Work with a broad range of allies to demonstrate that community landownership and empowered communities can and should be at the heart of our response to the nature crises
- Ensure that large-scale interventions based upon natural capital ventures do not work against the policy objectives of diversifying land ownership, building community wealth, ensuring a Just Transition to Net Zero and furthering community landownership
- We need to work at landscape scale to address the crises, but collaboratively and across multiple landholdings, as many of our members and colleagues on the European mainland do
- We need to hold government to account on its pledge for a ‘just transition' and ensure that the rush toward carbon markets, renewables and rewilding does not undermine other key policy objectives outlined above
We will continue to advocate for community-led action on the climate emergency and biodiversity loss, as evidenced by rural and urban community landowners in Scotland, in ways which support the sustainable development of individual communities and of Scotland as a whole.
Climate and Biodiversity Resources
Climate and Biodiversity News
Natural capital in the South of Scotland
One of our Board members, Grace Murray from Stow Community Trust, writes about the natural capital potential in the South of Scotland.
Amendment to our Scotsman opinion piece – 31st October 2024
In an opinion piece in The Scotsman our Policy Manager Josh Doble commented about land value uplifts on Highlands Rewilding estates, these comments have been retracted with a full explanation below.
Natural capital markets in Scotland are at a crossroads
This article was published as an opinion piece by The Scotsman on 31st October 2024: How ‘Green Lairds’ with dreams of vast profits are pricing out local Highland communities.
Guest blog: Is the private financing of rewilding a threat to community empowerment?
We are delighted to share a guest blog from Dr Caitlin Hafferty, University of Oxford who shares some of her recent research on communities and the nature finance markets.