Recent reports at the Scottish and global levels reveal the scale of the threat to nature and the economy from invasive species, a threat that is only growing as our climate changes. An invasive non-native species (INNS) is defined as …
Big step forward on controlling grouse moors
This month the Scottish Parliament passed the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill into law, marking a very big step forward in curbing the impacts of grouse moors on wildlife and the environment. The new law follows several years of clever, dogged and …
Getting a grip on grouse moors
Today, proposed amendments to the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill will be debated and voted on by the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee. Scotland has a chance to outlaw many of the cruel practices of the hunting and shooting …
Making Ecocide a crime in Scotland
Last week Labour/Co-operative Party MSP for Central Scotland Monica Lennon launched proposals for a bill to make ecocide a crime in Scotland, to act as a major deterrent to those who might create severe damage to the environment. Ecocide is defined as “unlawful or …
Ocean rescue
There was much coverage over the weekend about the creation of an historic UN agreement to protect the world’s international oceans. There is also much to do to protect Scotland’s seas. The world’s nations agreed in 2012 at the Rio+20 meeting …
Climate and collective insanity
If aliens are watching our antics on climate change from afar they can surely only conclude that our species is collectively insane… Report to the Galactic Accession Committee, from the Chief Anthropologist Background – we have been observing the planet …
The environment in 2022
In the midst of war and a cost of living crisis, some good things were achieved for the environment but we also went backwards in 2022. The climate scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change produced a report on …
Global nature protection takes a big step forward
After working through the night and dramatic last minute hitches the UN talks on biodiversity have a new deal for nature, with the aim of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. Early on Monday morning the gavel came down …