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Green Giants
Thursday 3 January 2008
2007 was in many ways a landmark year for environmental issues, with headline grabbing conferences, controversies, and genuine co-operation on a range of issues contributing to ever-increasing profile of "green" issues.
WWF Scotland's Acting Director, Dr Dan Barlow said: "2007 has been a landmark year for the environment, with public awareness of green issues among people in Scotland at a big high.
With a real appetite from people across the country for action on matters such as climate change and protecting the marine environment, as well as greater understanding of how our everyday choices affect global issues, WWF wants 2008 to be a year of action."
Below, WWF Scotland looks at the issues that have kept environmental issues in the Scottish headlines in 2007, and we set out our green wish list for 2008.
2007
2008: If Santa could bring us anything for next year…
2007
Flooding
Heavy rains and swelling rivers caused chaos across the UK, flooding thousands of homes. The national debate as to how we protect ourselves from predicted higher water levels, related to land and river management and climate change escalated. In February, WWF Scotland launched the landmark Slowing the Flow and Flood Planner reports, detailing how natural flood management techniques can alleviate freshwater flooding. Aimed at restoring natural processes to contain water levels, these techniques can be seen at WWF's River Devon demonstration site, the only site of its kind in the UK. This year the Scottish Government pledged to introduce a flooding bill incorporating many natural flood management principles.
Scottish Parliamentary Elections
In May, the environment became a hot campaign topic like never before, as WWF Scotland witnessed at its series of hustings around the country, attended by hundreds of members of the public and senior politicians, including the now First Minister. Public pressure and the importance of tackling these issues produced strong manifesto commitments across the parties on climate change, consumption and marine management. During the campaign, WWF produced the first Eco-footprint of the political party manifestos.
Climate Change
The reality of climate change cannot be ignored, even by the Nobel peace prize judges who in October awarded it jointly to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In Scotland, bold commitments came from the SNP to slash emissions by 80% by 2050 and for annual cuts of 3%. A Minister for Climate Change was appointed, and we received a pledge to introduce a Scottish Climate Change Bill by September 2008. Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made his first speech on the environment at a WWF event in November, and laid out plans for a UK climate bill setting a target of a 60% emissions cut by 2050. However, the science suggests this will not go far enough.
Ecological Footprint
The word "footprint" became common currency. Individuals are increasingly aware of how their lifestyle choices impact the planet, particularly in the areas of food, transport, and home energy efficiency. In May WWF launched its innovative and user-friendly online footprint calculator, which is hugely popular, and widely considered one of the best products for people to calculate and reduce their Ecological Footprint. In October, WWF's Footprinting Cities report hit the headlines, as it compared how the citizens of Scotland's six cities measured up. Meanwhile the Scottish Government announced in October it would begin using Ecological Footprint as a performance indicator.
Marine
Controversial issues such as proposed ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Forth, scientific advice and high-profile newspaper campaigning highlighted the need for more joined-up management of Scotland's marine environment. The Scottish Government recognised the environmental and economic value of our waters with a commitment to introduce a Marine Bill for Scotland. Meanwhile the Scottish Parliament voted to support WWF calls for moves towards sustainable fisheries
Education
You're never too young to learn how to help the planet, or reduce your footprint, as kids at Scotland's many Eco Schools know. Not only is Scotland a world leader, with the highest proportion of registered Eco Schools anywhere in the world, but in 2007 the education authorities made a serious commitment to developing sustainability education, making it a focus of the newly-published science section of A Curriculum for Excellence.
2008: If Santa Claus could bring us anything for 2008…
Scottish Climate Bill with teeth
With a consultation expected in the New Year, Scotland has a chance to back the government on its commitment to 80% emissions reductions and push the SNP to stick to their manifesto commitment of 3% annual cuts targets in statute, as well as including emissions from aviation and shipping. Scotland has the opportunity to show global leadership on the international effort to tackle climate change.
A flood of answers to rising water levels
Due to be introduced to Parliament in May, it's essential the Scottish Flooding Bill tackles flood management in an integrated way, adopting a sustainable flood management approach that will provide a suite of flood management measures – not just hard engineering, which is expensive and ineffective on its own. Funds should be moved away from relying solely on hard engineering, to being administered by groups of stakeholders and experts including landowners, local authorities and communities who can work out the best integrated set of measures.
Plain sailing to marine bill
Scotland needs real progress on a Scottish Marine Bill enshrining the protection of our valuable waters in law. Key to this will be a system of planning for managing the vast range of activities that occur in Scottish waters and introducing effective protection for Scotland's marine species and habitats.
Further Education going green
Scottish schools lead the pack, with over 90% of schools participating in the Eco Schools programme and a new sustainability-friendly curriculum. In 2008, WWF would like to see universities and colleges aspiring to similar heights by putting sustainability education in their curricula and reducing their Ecological Footprint too.
Councils take steps to green future
So far three quarters of Scotland local authorities have registered with the groundbreaking Local Footprints Project, which provides support and training to councils aiming to reduce their Ecological Footprint. WWF would like to see all councils taking steps to reduce their area's footprint through all services – including housing, planning, transport, waste and procurement.
One million footprint pledges
With Scotland's citizens currently consuming and polluting as if we had three planets instead of one, WWF would like to see loads of us log on and work out our Ecological Footprint on WWF's innovative calculator, where you can also get useful tips on how to reduce it. With a few changes most of us could significantly reduce our footprint and move towards a one planet future. So what are you waiting for?
Cod Comeback
This December the Council of fisheries Ministers and the Commission gave the green light to voluntary measures to be brought forward by fishermen to address the wasteful situation of cod bycatch and discarding. This is the fishing industry's big chance to show they can deliver on their claims of being able to fish more selectively and sustainably. Ensuring that young fish remain in the sea to reproduce will be critical to cod recovery and the challenge is firmly at the industry's door to deliver.
With a real appetite from people across the country for action on matters such as climate change and protecting the marine environment, as well as greater understanding of how our everyday choices affect global issues, WWF wants 2008 to be a year of action."
Below, WWF Scotland looks at the issues that have kept environmental issues in the Scottish headlines in 2007, and we set out our green wish list for 2008.
2007
- Scottish Parliamentary Elections: green issues further up the agenda than ever before
- Flooding: debate on how we protect ourselves escalates as severe floods deluge UK
- Climate Change: dominates the political agenda at home and abroad
- Ecological Footprint: measuring your impact on the planet becomes hip for the first time
- Marine: Cross-cutting support for Scotland to deliver effective marine management
- Education: Scotland leads the world in sustainable development education
2008: If Santa could bring us anything for next year…
- Scottish Climate Bill with Teeth
- Flood of Answers to Rising Water Levels
- Plain Sailing to Marine Bill
- Further Education Going Green
- Councils Take Final Steps to Green Future
- One Million Footprint Hits
- Cod Comeback
2007
Flooding
Heavy rains and swelling rivers caused chaos across the UK, flooding thousands of homes. The national debate as to how we protect ourselves from predicted higher water levels, related to land and river management and climate change escalated. In February, WWF Scotland launched the landmark Slowing the Flow and Flood Planner reports, detailing how natural flood management techniques can alleviate freshwater flooding. Aimed at restoring natural processes to contain water levels, these techniques can be seen at WWF's River Devon demonstration site, the only site of its kind in the UK. This year the Scottish Government pledged to introduce a flooding bill incorporating many natural flood management principles.
Scottish Parliamentary Elections
In May, the environment became a hot campaign topic like never before, as WWF Scotland witnessed at its series of hustings around the country, attended by hundreds of members of the public and senior politicians, including the now First Minister. Public pressure and the importance of tackling these issues produced strong manifesto commitments across the parties on climate change, consumption and marine management. During the campaign, WWF produced the first Eco-footprint of the political party manifestos.
Climate Change
The reality of climate change cannot be ignored, even by the Nobel peace prize judges who in October awarded it jointly to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In Scotland, bold commitments came from the SNP to slash emissions by 80% by 2050 and for annual cuts of 3%. A Minister for Climate Change was appointed, and we received a pledge to introduce a Scottish Climate Change Bill by September 2008. Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made his first speech on the environment at a WWF event in November, and laid out plans for a UK climate bill setting a target of a 60% emissions cut by 2050. However, the science suggests this will not go far enough.
Ecological Footprint
The word "footprint" became common currency. Individuals are increasingly aware of how their lifestyle choices impact the planet, particularly in the areas of food, transport, and home energy efficiency. In May WWF launched its innovative and user-friendly online footprint calculator, which is hugely popular, and widely considered one of the best products for people to calculate and reduce their Ecological Footprint. In October, WWF's Footprinting Cities report hit the headlines, as it compared how the citizens of Scotland's six cities measured up. Meanwhile the Scottish Government announced in October it would begin using Ecological Footprint as a performance indicator.
Marine
Controversial issues such as proposed ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Forth, scientific advice and high-profile newspaper campaigning highlighted the need for more joined-up management of Scotland's marine environment. The Scottish Government recognised the environmental and economic value of our waters with a commitment to introduce a Marine Bill for Scotland. Meanwhile the Scottish Parliament voted to support WWF calls for moves towards sustainable fisheries
Education
You're never too young to learn how to help the planet, or reduce your footprint, as kids at Scotland's many Eco Schools know. Not only is Scotland a world leader, with the highest proportion of registered Eco Schools anywhere in the world, but in 2007 the education authorities made a serious commitment to developing sustainability education, making it a focus of the newly-published science section of A Curriculum for Excellence.
2008: If Santa Claus could bring us anything for 2008…
Scottish Climate Bill with teeth
With a consultation expected in the New Year, Scotland has a chance to back the government on its commitment to 80% emissions reductions and push the SNP to stick to their manifesto commitment of 3% annual cuts targets in statute, as well as including emissions from aviation and shipping. Scotland has the opportunity to show global leadership on the international effort to tackle climate change.
A flood of answers to rising water levels
Due to be introduced to Parliament in May, it's essential the Scottish Flooding Bill tackles flood management in an integrated way, adopting a sustainable flood management approach that will provide a suite of flood management measures – not just hard engineering, which is expensive and ineffective on its own. Funds should be moved away from relying solely on hard engineering, to being administered by groups of stakeholders and experts including landowners, local authorities and communities who can work out the best integrated set of measures.
Plain sailing to marine bill
Scotland needs real progress on a Scottish Marine Bill enshrining the protection of our valuable waters in law. Key to this will be a system of planning for managing the vast range of activities that occur in Scottish waters and introducing effective protection for Scotland's marine species and habitats.
Further Education going green
Scottish schools lead the pack, with over 90% of schools participating in the Eco Schools programme and a new sustainability-friendly curriculum. In 2008, WWF would like to see universities and colleges aspiring to similar heights by putting sustainability education in their curricula and reducing their Ecological Footprint too.
Councils take steps to green future
So far three quarters of Scotland local authorities have registered with the groundbreaking Local Footprints Project, which provides support and training to councils aiming to reduce their Ecological Footprint. WWF would like to see all councils taking steps to reduce their area's footprint through all services – including housing, planning, transport, waste and procurement.
One million footprint pledges
With Scotland's citizens currently consuming and polluting as if we had three planets instead of one, WWF would like to see loads of us log on and work out our Ecological Footprint on WWF's innovative calculator, where you can also get useful tips on how to reduce it. With a few changes most of us could significantly reduce our footprint and move towards a one planet future. So what are you waiting for?
Cod Comeback
This December the Council of fisheries Ministers and the Commission gave the green light to voluntary measures to be brought forward by fishermen to address the wasteful situation of cod bycatch and discarding. This is the fishing industry's big chance to show they can deliver on their claims of being able to fish more selectively and sustainably. Ensuring that young fish remain in the sea to reproduce will be critical to cod recovery and the challenge is firmly at the industry's door to deliver.
