With more than a million species at risk of extinction, our planet’s life-support system is in crisis and the time to act is now. Globally, extinction rates are at least 100 times higher than ‘normal’ background rates. In Scotland, 49 per cent of species have declined in number and a staggering one in nine species is threatened with extinction. Some species are gone from Scotland completely and many are on life support.

At the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), we have pledged to reverse the decline of at least 50 species over the next decade. So far this year, we have reached important milestones with our native species work. This includes the first release of wildcats into the Scottish Highlands as part of the Saving Wildcats project and releases of invertebrates, like pine hoverflies and dark-bordered beauty moths, in the Cairngorms.

Although we are making great progress with partners to safeguard and restore wildlife in Scotland and around the world, this needs to be considered and supported at a government level. The Scottish Government’s biodiversity strategy must identify and commit to specific actions with measurable targets, focusing on the three levels of biological diversity: ecosystems, species and genes.

RZSS is calling for the government to consider a national programme of species recovery alongside a national programme of ecosystem restoration. Species depend on habitats, and together they form our planet’s essential ecosystems – both habitats and species must function in harmony to create a sustainable, abundant and diverse life on Earth.

Without a focus on species and the genetic diversity they carry, we could find ourselves in a situation where we have restored habitats but have lost their rarer and more vulnerable inhabitants. At-risk species require long-term, sustained and joined-up conservation efforts to support their recovery and it is vital that the structure of the Scottish biodiversity strategy supports this.

As recognised in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) during the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) earlier this year, genetic diversity within populations of wild species must also be maintained, safeguarding their adaptive potential. Support of genetic diversity needs to be considered in addition to that of habitat restoration and rewilding efforts.

All living organisms are closely interlinked, and it is deep connectivity over time which allows biological diversity to evolve. Diversity begets yet more diversity, creating resilience and allowing adaptations to survive in ever-changing environmental conditions, caused by climate change, habitat loss and emerging diseases.

In the 1970s, the UK was home to around 20,000 capercaillie. Now fewer than 600 may be left (Picture courtesy of RZSS)

Tucked away behind the rhino house at our charity’s Edinburgh Zoo sits the RZSS WildGenes laboratory. There, our expert teams conduct cutting-edge, conservation-related, genetic and genomic research on a large range of threatened species. Projects range from monitoring animals in the wild, supporting species reintroduction and helping to control the illegal wildlife trade. We work alongside government agencies and other conservation charities and zoos across the world to deliver data, advice, training and capacity building.

One of the many projects the team works on is estimating the genetic diversity of the Scottish capercaillie population and investigating its origins to inform conservation management decisions. In the 1970s, the UK was home to around 20,000 capercaillie, a large woodland grouse. Now only found in Scotland – with over 80 per cent of them in the Cairngorms National Park – both their numbers and geographical range have reduced drastically. In the last five decades we've lost the equivalent of one capercaillie every single day and now fewer than 600 may be left – making this bird one of Britain’s most vulnerable species.

As a partner in the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, the RZSS WildGenes team has been able to use DNA extracted from over 1,000 capercaillie feathers to highlight the low levels of genetic diversity in the Scottish population and provide the first fine-scale picture across the landscape. Reinforcing the population with birds from Europe could potentially benefit the species given their low genetic diversity but only if work continues at pace and scale to tackle the other challenges the birds face including habitat availability, predation, and human disturbance. We hope the new tools developed by this project will aid conservation planning, not only in Scotland but throughout Europe.

A little further away from home, our RZSS WildGenes experts have been working with Dr Geraldine Werhahn on the Himalayan Wolves Project to gather scientific evidence to support the conservation of these wolves, and their prey, in the high-altitude habitats across the Himalayas.

These animals are incredibly elusive, so researchers collect their scat and extract DNA to learn more about their lives and behaviours. To get a more detailed understanding of what the wolves eat, the team in the Himalayas are now conducting a diet analysis through genetic sampling. The cutting-edge method for this was developed and tested by the RZSS WildGenes lab, using scat collected from our wolf pack at Highland Wildlife Park. By sharing this method with scientists in the wolves’ native range, we have been able to work together to learn a lot about this rare and beautiful carnivore, as well as share conservation skills with partners across the globe.

The reality is that the world’s biodiversity is vanishing fast, but by working together, inspiring and empowering communities, we can make a difference. Through our zoos and our global reach, we want to help people realise the benefits to mental and physical health of being close to nature and inspire others to protect, value and love it as much as we do at RZSS.

Nature and nature-based solutions must be upheld and recognised by our politicians, with ambitious and measurable targets set to restore our natural world. The current agenda for a reduction in environmental policies will only serve to add to our problems. Now is the time to collaborate, adapt and use nature as our solution.

David Field is the chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

Global extinction crisis: With more than a million species at risk, politicians must stop backtracking on environmental policies – David Field

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