Building a Sustainable Scotland: Sustainable Development and the Spending Review 2002
ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
To increase prosperity and quality of life in rural Scotland and to improve the environment and promote sustainable development throughout Scotland
Climate Change
Climate change is widely recognised as one of the world's major environmental challenges and increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly from the burning of fossil fuels, is the main anthropogenic cause of climate change. It is a clear indicator that unsustainable action can lead to environmental, social and economic damage.
The Executive is committed to making an equitable contribution to the UK Kyoto target of a 12.5% reduction in 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The Scottish Climate Change Programme, aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in Scotland through a variety of voluntary, regulatory and educational measures, was published in 2000. The Programme is wide-ranging and a number of the measures it contains feature in the following sections covering the other sustainable development action we are taking.
Raising awareness of the threat of climate change is an important element of the Executive's climate change strategy. Following the success of our launch of the "Do a little, change a lot" public awareness campaign, with climate change as its opening theme, we have committed additional resources to support the promotion, maintenance and further development of an interactive website developed for Scottish schoolchildren. The website was launched on 25 September and may be viewed at www.ltscotland.com/climatechange
Waste Management
The basic premise of the National Waste Strategy, and particularly the Area Waste Plans which are establishing the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for how to deal with waste, is that a whole-life cycle analysis is undertaken to compare the environmental impact of different options as well as the social and economic impact. The emerging picture is that waste minimisation, recycling and composting should form the initial basis for waste treatment, with energy from waste being used, if necessary, to achieve further landfill reduction. As well as the obvious intention to reduce waste and increase recycling, any waste incineration will be carried out only with energy recovery included (preferably with combined heat and power utilisation). The additional resources for the Strategic Waste Fund will allow local authorities to begin implementation of these BPEO plans across Scotland, increasing recycling and composting and reducing landfill. This will enable local authorities to recycle or compost 25% of the waste they collect by 2006.
Waste Minimisation
Current trends indicate that the amount of municipal waste produced in Scotland is increasing at around 2% each year. Unless this growth can be curtailed, there would be around 50% more waste to be dealt with in 2020 than current levels, with a consequent significant increase in cost and number of new waste management facilities. This emphasises the importance of finding ways to encourage waste minimisation and if possible avoid continuation of this growth. The Executive has allocated funds in the spending review to begin to address waste minimisation. This would be used, for instance, to fund research into best practices in waste minimisation and to develop these into practical measures and pilot schemes. Measures may include increasing public awareness of waste issues, possible incentives to householders and businesses, and guidance to local authorities.
Litter
The Scottish Executive is committed to tackling the littering culture in Scotland. Annual core funding of nearly 0.25 million is provided to the organisation, Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), to aid the development of initiatives which raise awareness of, reduce, and prevent litter. In addition to this core funding, the Scottish Executive has, since last year, committed a further 0.55 million to boost KSB anti-litter initiatives. The First Minister's recent initiative which aims to tackle various issues which can have an impact on people's quality of life, has also afforded Scotland's local authorities the opportunity to commit further funding to achieving and sustaining litter reduction.
Water
Between 2002 and 2006, Scottish Water will invest more than 1.8 billion in our public water and sewerage services to ensure that legislative standards are met. The legislation establishing Scottish Water gives it a statutory duty to exercise its functions in a way best calculated to achieve sustainable development. It will produce a sustainable development strategy and key performance indicators will measure progress in this area. The strategy will, in the main, be driven by the need to consume fewer resources in order to deliver the efficiency savings. It is likely to concentrate on three issues: reducing the amount of water treated through a leakage reduction programme; encouraging non-domestic customers to look at ways in which less water can be used and less waste produced, thus reducing their charges; and optimising designs of treatment plants through proper appraisal of the options available so that fewer treatment works need to be built.
Renewable Energy
Energy is one of the three main priority areas for sustainable development adopted by the Scottish Executive. Scotland has the highest renewable energy potential in Europe which can be exploited to benefit jobs and sustainable development. Our current commitment is to achieve 18% of electricity generated by 2010 and support to the market is still necessary to achieve this. However, we firmly believe that our policies and commitment, coupled with Scotland's natural resource and expertise, mean that producing as much as 40% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 is a realistic aim. We are consulting on this.
Farming
All farming policy is aimed towards sustainable development of Scotland's rural areas, economic, social and environmental. Our support to those farming in remote hill areas has explicit objectives, endorsed by the EU, to promote sustainable farming systems, to sustain fragile communities and to maintain the countryside. Our Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture is explicitly committed to achieving an industry that plays a major role in sustainable rural development. Farming is a major determinant of our rural environment and delivers a large number of environmental benefits through, for example, linkage of our support to compliance with Good Farming Practice. The funding of advice to farm businesses will promote the financial and environmental sustainability of this sector.
National Parks and Access
The new National Park authorities will have statutory remits to pursue their objectives having regard to sustainable development. Intrinsically, the idea of a National Park is based on concern for sustainable development. The new framework, however, includes a specific requirement to develop, protect and enhance sustainability. Access to the countryside will give many people a real opportunity to engage with nature, adding to the general awareness of sustainable development. Additional resources will enable the establishment of two National Parks and the completion of a core path network covering 15,000 km of Scotland.
Natural Heritage
Increased resources mean that by 2006 there will be over 1,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in positive management and targeted work will be completed on 75% of all Species and Habitat Action Plans for which SNH is responsible. In all its activities SNH is required to have regard to the desirability of securing that anything done in relation to the natural heritage of Scotland is undertaken in a manner which is sustainable. That requirement is central to the objective of conserving and improving Scotland's natural heritage, including its biodiversity. Work on biodiversity makes an intrinsic contribution to sustainable development through stewardship of the natural resource and promotion of sustainable use. The work on Natura 2000 and biodiversity is delivering real changes to the way in which people view the natural heritage.
Controlling Air, Land and Water Pollution
We must ensure that a degraded environment is not passed on to future generations. SEPA already regulates major industrial processes to ensure they use energy efficiently, minimise the waste they produce and clean up the land they use if it becomes polluted. Additional resources for controlling air and water pollution will improve the way we tackle environmental degradation and waste, and will move that contribution to sustainable development onto the next level, for example by moving on from regulating point-source emissions to a planned approach to protecting the environment based on sustainable management of our natural resources. A key element in delivering the change to sustainable management of our water resources is funding for implementation of the Water Environment and Water Services Bill. The increased level of funding will also allow us to dramatically improve the information available to the public about pollution in Scotland.
Pollution from transport is a major factor in areas of poor air quality. New financial support for the introduction of Clean Up and Vehicle Emission Testing schemes will allow us to help address traffic pollution in the areas in Scotland with the worst air quality problems.
Flood Prevention
Flood prevention schemes using principles of sustainable development look to take advantage of the flood storage within the river basin to reduce flood flows, while at the same time protecting ecosystems and providing opportunities to enhance the environment. Economic appraisals of schemes demonstrate the efficient use of resources which produces savings in costs of flood damage over the life of a scheme. We will allocate additional resources to improve flood defences, protecting communities from the damage, distress and disruption caused by flooding.
Contaminated Land
Funding provided to local authorities and SEPA to clean up contaminated land helps bring sites used for previous development back into productive use. This relieves pressure on the green belt and stimulates urban regeneration. It also helps us to address risks to health and the environment caused by the activities of previous generations that did not act in a sustainable way. New funding being delivered through the Social Justice portfolio to tackle vacant and derelict land will help us to join up our approach to the social, economic and environmental aspects of land reclamation and boost the rate at which damaged land is brought back into productive use in the worst affected areas of Scotland.
Green Housekeeping
SNH and SEPA both have strong programmes on internal green housekeeping.
Forestry
Sustainability is the cornerstone of our forestry policy. The Scottish Executive owns almost 40% of Scotland's forests, managed by the Forestry Commission; all these forests have been independently certified through a process recognised by the Forestry Stewardship Council. The forests are independently certified as sustainably managed as the sustainable management of forests is a cornerstone of our forestry policy. By locking up carbon, forests help to reduce levels of greenhouse gases - thus contributing to delivery of the Scottish Climate Change Programme.
Scientific Research
A considerable part of the SEERAD scientific research programme is aimed at sustainable development issues - from increasing the understanding of ecosystem function to enhancing environmental diversity while maintaining viable rural communities. Recent developments in the research programme have been focussed on increasing the emphasis on protection of natural resources, minimising waste and the use of non-renewable chemicals in agriculture, as well as increasing the sustainability of agriculture and land-based industries generally.
Fisheries Research and Protection
This is wholly targeted on the sustainability of Scotland's marine and freshwater resources and, in particular, the sustainable management and exploitation of fish stocks. The Review of the Common Fisheries Policy, our own review of the management of freshwater fisheries and pressures at EU and UK level to improve the stewardship of marine resources reinforce the key role of our spending on fisheries science and protection in ensuring sustainable development of Scotland's valuable fishery resources.