Biodiversity in Scotland. Page :1

FOREWORD

Biodiversity matters because it has an important role to play in our wider strategy for sustainable development in Scotland, and because the health and variety of the natural world is a key indicator of our success in achieving sustainable development.

The Government is determined to pursue integrated policies for rural, urban and maritime Scotland. This will be a major opportunity for the Scottish Parliament, and will mean giving due weight to economic, social and environmental objectives. We must not follow one set of objectives in a narrow way. Too often in the past, policies have encouraged changes which have led to a reduction in the richness of our wildlife and habitats. This diminishes the quality of our lives, and we are all the poorer for it. Equally, environmental objectives must not be pursued without regard to the economic and social implications. This is a key message in the 1997 Report from the Secretary of State's Advisory Group on Sustainable Development.

Despite past mistakes, we still have a very rich natural heritage in Scotland, one which is the envy of many other countries, and one which brings important economic opportunities as well as being valuable in its own right. The golden eagle, the otter, the red deer, the salmon and the Scots pine, to take just five special examples, are emblems of Scotland. We must protect our threatened species, such as the corncrake, just as strongly as we call for the conservation of tropical rain forests, the tiger, or the giant panda. I am determined to protect and, where possible enhance, Scotland's biodiversity as part of an integrated approach to sustainable development.

If this is to be achieved, it must be done in partnership with the full range of organisations and individuals whose actions and decisions will jointly determine the richness and variety of life in the world we live in. That is why I have endorsed the Scottish Biodiversity Group, which brings together representatives from many of the key sectors in Scottish life, and whose work is described in this publication.

But if a strategy for biodiversity is to be fully effective, it must be shared and owned by everyone in Scotland. We all have a part to play, whether it is in our daily work perhaps as managers of land or other resources, as consumers sensitive to environmental issues when exercising our choice, or even in our leisure time where pursuits as diverse as gardening or walking can all affect biodiversity.

This report is intended to help raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity in Scotland as a first step in the process of changing attitudes, and to invite others to consider how they can best contribute to enhancing biodiversity. It describes something of the background to biodiversity in Scotland, outlines the current action underway through the Scottish Biodiversity Group, and sets out some pointers towards a strategy for the new century. We intend to follow up publication of the report with a series of meetings with different sectors of Scottish life to discuss in more detail what they can bring to this important partnership initiative. I hope you will join us.

SEWEL

Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries