Nature can help economy recover: Anne McCall

It’s been three months since the pandemic and lockdown restrictions arrived in Scotland. The focus of the Scottish Government has rightly been on limiting the loss of life, supporting frontline staff and providing financial aid. Like many other organisations, RSPB has had to change almost every aspect of our work to ensure we protect people and Nature from the threats imposed by the coronavirus.

Anne McCall, Director of RSPB Scotland

I have been inspired by the resilience of our staff during this time. Colleagues have come together to share strategies for coping and connecting to Nature close to their homes. Like many other fortunate people, I’ve been able to take comfort and inspiration from the arrival of spring in my garden and am only too aware that this is a luxury many do not have.

We now start to turn to the challenge of rebuilding our communities, societies and economies. Many conversations have begun about the need to build back better, not to revert to some of the norms we had before which damage Nature and fail to address inequalities. The pandemic has triggered a re-awakening, bringing the cracks within our society, economy and environment out of the dark and into light of day for all to see. Now is the time for a collective reimagining of the world we want to live in.

The Scottish Government has set a welcome aspiration to achieve a Green Recovery and the recently appointed Economic Advisory Group has cast a wide net to gather ideas. For RSPB Scotland three themes have emerged that must be central to recovery:

Nature can and must play a major role in our national recovery

Just as we need Nature, Nature needs us. Recovery means a return to health, and it also means the process of getting something back that was almost lost or destroyed. Nature’s recovery and economic recovery must go hand in hand. Last year the State of Nature report found 49 per cent of species had declined across Scotland and one in nine are faced with national extinction. Environmental standards must not be weakened in the forthcoming months as we try to kick-start our economies. Instead, we must reprogramme our economy to invest in the restoration of Nature and enjoy the widespread benefits this would generate for our economies, societies and collective wellbeing.

For example, creation of Nature-rich greenspace in towns and cities and delivering a Nature Network across Scotland will increase access to Nature and improve public health and wellbeing. Large-scale restoration of ecosystems like peatlands and expanding native woodlands will create green jobs, provide a home for wildlife, help tackle climate change and increase natural flood defences.

A chance to accelerate positive change

Let’s not reinvent the wheel. Many of the solutions to these challenges have already been developed and we have begun to move in the right direction on tackling climate change and the loss of Nature in Scotland.

Solutions now need to be scaled up and delivered: the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic must be used to accelerate a just transition to an inclusive, zero carbon, Nature-rich Scotland.

Recovery should prioritise creation of green jobs and industries, ensuring that sectors and workers are provided with the necessary training, support and infrastructure.

A chance for us to work together

Much in the way that we have seen communities come together during this time, we must start to see different sectors come together. This is a chance for us to start new conversations, share knowledge, skills and resources and work together more effectively to shape and deliver a vision for the future.

Scotland’s strong civil society shares much common ground on the societal objectives we want to achieve: shifting to a wellbeing economy, tackling climate change, restoring Nature, tackling inequality and creating a more inclusive nation. Many of the mechanisms for achieving these goals are deeply interlinked. For example, transforming our food system and improving access to Nature would deliver benefits in multiple areas – public health, inequality and Nature conservation.

RSPB Scotland has set out more detailed proposals for achieving a Green Recovery with Nature at its heart in our response to the Economic Advisory Group’s call for ideas.

Over the past months we have faced tragedy and disruption on a scale most of us would never have imagined. Perhaps there is no greater reminder than Nature that we can, and will, endure what comes next. In the transition from spring to summer, we have been reminded that humans and Nature alike renew, adapt and persevere.

Anne McCall, Director of RSPB Scotland