Karen Adam: We are facing a climate and nature emergency
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This week in the Scottish Parliament, a lot of my work has been focussing on the impact of climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis on our country.
Across Banffshire and Buchan Coast, we are already seeing the alarming impacts of these twin crises. We are hit hardest by storms, rising tides, and coastal erosion.
Acres of forestry have been lost across my constituency as a result of never-before-seen gale-force winds. And the migration of cod and urban gulls have had a notable impact on the lives and livelihoods of my constituents.
And while many recognise we have a climate emergency, not all of us know that we face a nature emergency too.
Professor Des Thompson, Principal Adviser on Biodiversity and Science at NatureScot told me at the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee that while “there is a growing realisation of the nature emergency, we’ve got a long way to go.”
He told me: “What’s happened with gulls is a catastrophe, but it’s because of what’s happened at sea. The food base for gulls has declined for a great many reasons, so gulls have had to move inland. So they’re moving into towns and cities not adapted to breeding.
“Gulls are now very good at tracking schoolchildren where they know there will be ready food for them.”
What we are seeing with gulls is just the symptom of climate change. The broader realisation of climate change contributing to the nature crisis and therefore to the problems we have on our doorstep cannot be overstated and our farmers, more so than anyone else, get it. They are witnessing these changes in real time and understand the changes that are taking place.
Sustainable and regenerative farming is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision for agriculture. And rightly so. The twin biodiversity and climate crises are existential. They will present challenges and opportunities for Scotland’s farmers and crofters and if we are to ensure that there are fewer of the former and more of the latter in the years and decades to come, it is vital that we act with our climate targets and net zero ambitions in mind.
Agriculture makes up around one quarter of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Throughout history, Scotland has been fertile soil for innovation. And our transition to net zero, building infrastructure that is resilient to the twin climate and biodiversity crises and the safeguarding of our food security all depend on innovation.
Feed additives with the potential to reduce methane emissions from dairy cattle and sheep are one such innovation and the £100m investment in Scotland, focussed on reducing methane emissions from farming, will go a long way in reducing agriculture’s contribution to climate change.
But we can and must do more. Speaking to one farmer in my constituency about his efforts to decarbonise, he told me of his attempts to switch his fuel over to hydrogen. One of the sticking points was that the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Prohibitive costs and weighty adaptations to his machinery ultimately led to continuing as before. Our farmers are willing to do their part, but they need our help. Our food security depends on them.
We have witnessed many disruptions to global food supply chains, most recently with Russia’s abhorrent war in Ukraine. The Covid-19 pandemic posed some very difficult challenges to the global food system. And while those impacts were not unique to Scotland, those caused by the hard Brexit imposed on Scotland were entirely avoidable.
The UK Government has done immense and irreversible damage to our world-class food and drinks industries and to rural and coastal communities. I commend the Minister for her continued and tireless engagement in combatting post-Brexit skills shortages in agriculture.
