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RSPB Scotland Parliamentary Briefing Climate Change: Debate on the Environment and Rural Development Committee Report on Inquiry 21/09/05 Introduction RSPB Scotland considers climate change to be the biggest global environmental threat facing humans and the environment. A staggering number of species could be committed to extinction as a result of climate change – a third or more of land based plant and animal species by the 2050s, if we take no action to limit global warming. To avoid catastrophic impacts, the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change will have to be cut rapidly. Scotland should continue with its commitment to emissions reductions but needs to do more to deliver real progress whilst conserving the environment. Summary The Scottish Executive should put in place clear targets for carbon emission reduction within all key policy areas, along with an overall target for Scotland. The Scottish Executive should put in place improvements to the planning of energy development and its transmission to avoid damage to important wildlife. The Scottish Executive should give greater priority to energy efficiency and demand management to deliver emissions reductions. Protection of soil carbon, particularly in peatlands should be given higher priority in land use and development planning. Whilst forestry plays an important role in carbon sequestration, the Scottish Executive should avoid undue reliance on tree planting to meet carbon reduction targets and ensure that the principles of environmentally sustainable forestry are maintained. Wildlife is already responding to climate change Evidence of the ecological impact of climate change is rapidly emerging. Wildlife is responding to the unprecedented rate of temperature change with some bird species arriving earlier in migration, earlier blooming dates for plants and earlier appearance of insects as spring creeps forward and autumn recedes. These changes are not occurring uniformly and imbalances are leading to disruption of the food chain for some species. Climate change may be having a dramatic damaging effect on Britain’s coastal wildlife, through undermining the food supply of seabirds on the North Sea coast. The spectacular seabird colonies on Shetland and Orkney have suffered catastrophic breeding failure. Due to rising sea temperatures, the plankton mix at the base of the food chain has altered radically, reducing the survival of sandeels – the staple diet of many seabirds. These changes threaten an important part of our biodiversity and a key tourist attraction with significant economic value. Targets for cutting carbon emissions RSPB Scotland supports the principle of ambitious targets for carbon emission reduction as a powerful message for Government, industry and others to take action. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution recommended UK targets of 60% carbon dioxide reduction by 2050 if we are to minimise the effects of climate change. The Scottish Executive through its Climate Change Programme has made an important commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are no carbon reduction targets to support the various initiatives and as a result it is hard for any sector to know what it is expected to deliver. Without a strong focus on carbon reduction ‘outcomes’ it is too easy for initiatives to be seen as an end in themselves. With energy generation, for example, progress in renewables does not mean delivery of carbon reductions in that sector if there is a more rapid increase in energy demand from non-renewable power supply. The RSPB is an active member of Stop Climate Chaos1, a coalition of environment, development, faith based and other organisations campaigning to limit climate change. Stop Climate Chaos is calling on the Government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. The ERDC report para 83 called for a ‘route map’ with clear benchmarks for achieving cuts in emissions. The Scottish Executive response to the Inquiry report gives no commitment to developing a national target but simply refers to developing projections for carbon emissions. The Scottish Executive should give a commitment to putting in place clear targets based on carbon emission reduction within all key policy areas, along with an overall climate change target for Scotland. Delivering renewables sustainably Scottish Ministers have emphasised that the Executive’s objective is to deliver renewables without environmental harm. This can be achieved through careful siting of new developments to avoid environmentally sensitive areas and employing a mix of renewables technologies. However, the present planning system does not provide sufficient strategic steer resulting in developers pursuing sites of national and international wildlife importance which because of their legal status results in delay, as well as raising public concern and conflict. The proposal by Lewis Wind Power for a 700 MW windfarm on a Special Protection Area on Lewis has raised over 4000 objections including statutory advisory bodies and NGOs across a range of environmental interests. Such proposals are not necessary to deliver renewables targets and do little to enhance the reputation of the industry as a whole. We urge Scottish Ministers to refuse this application and to use the Environmental Advisory Forum on Renewable Energy to develop strategic locational guidance for windfarm developments. The Scottish Executive should give greater priority to energy efficiency and demand management to deliver emissions reductions. Energy demand-reduction targets should be set high enough so that the scale of renewable energy development need not extend beyond our ability to accommodate it without environmental harm. Conserving soil carbon The carbon balance of peatlands is a key factor in assessing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions and significant carbon emissions are attributed to peatland damage. The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy recognises the importance of peatlands in relation to climate change and incorporates ambitious targets for their restoration over extensive areas. The ERDC report para 145 calls for robust management strategies to avoid emissions from Scotland’s soils. The Scottish Executive’s response suggests that a range of policy measures is already in place. Unfortunately, the policy mechanisms to support peatland restoration such as the SNH Peatland Management Scheme and Agri-environment measures are limited in the funding available and in their extent. As a result, peatland restoration targets are not being met. 1 www.stopclimatechaos.org The Scottish Executive also has a commitment to ‘develop soil management strategies/policies which will promote conservation and enhancement of biodiversity’. It is not clear whether this will include specific policies to protect peatlands against damage from new development. The Scottish Executive should give higher priority to safeguarding and restoring peatland habitats through more targeted support and greater resources to peatland management schemes. Development planning policy should be brought in line with forestry policy to ensure new development avoids damaging areas of active peatland habitat. Forestry and carbon RSPB Scotland does not consider carbon sequestration through reforestation/afforestation as an effective solution to climate change. The area of land required to deliver genuine reductions in carbon emissions would be out of proportion with the Forestry Commission Scotland’s reasonable balance duties under the 1967 Forestry Act, as well as its duty to further biodiversity under the 2004 Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act. The ERDC report para 155 recommends that the Scottish Forestry Strategy should be reviewed with the specific objective of addressing climate change considerations. The Scottish Executive’s response states that climate change will be considered as part of the overall consideration of the outcomes from forestry in Scotland. RSPB Scotland welcomes this wider review of forestry rather than simply pursuing a single purpose of developing forestry for climate change benefits, which could undermine other environmental and social objectives. Furthermore, the carbon benefits of forestry are not clearly understood, with the risk that some management regimes (including thinning, felling, timber transport over long distances and processing) are significant sources of carbon. The Scottish Executive should ensure that any claimed carbon benefits from forestry are accurate and seek proper carbon accounting for the full life cycle of the different types of forest management. The principles of sustainable multi-benefit forestry (already part of government forestry policy commitments) should be maintained in pursuing any carbon reductions from the forestry sector. The RSPB are concerned at the implications of industrial scale electricity generation from wood/short rotation coppice, both in terms of the large area of land required to provide biomass as well as the pressure for intensive woodland management. Figures published by the Royal Society show that a 30MW plant would require an area of woodland of between 69 and 168 sq km to provide a sustainable, annual supply of fuel. Large electricity power stations looking to co-fire using biomass could have even greater demands. We would therefore urge the Scottish Executive to avoid blunt policy incentives for renewable energy from biomass. Measures should instead be employed to encourage small-scale and domestic schemes and to encourage supply from sustainably managed forests, through FSC compliant forest and chain of custody certification. For further information please contact: Clifton Bain, Senior Policy Officer ([email protected]) RSPB Scotland, 25 Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 3TP Tel: 0131 311 6500 Fax: 0131 311 6569 Registered Charity Number: 207076