F E AT U R E By Dilraj Sokhi-Watson
’Tis the season of ‘emergencies’ The LI’s Policy and Partnerships Manager in Scotland reflects on current priorities in the run up to Parliamentary elections in May.
T
he title of this piece is more than a passing nod to Donovan’s 1966 cult classic ‘Season of the Witch’. For starters, not enough can be written about the year that was 2020. In March 2020, less than a year into the Scottish First Minister’s declaration of a ‘climate emergency’,1 Scotland along with several countries, embarked on a long arduous journey of dealing with the mother of all emergencies: a global pandemic. While COVID-19 and the ensuing response measures have resulted in the twin public health and economic crises, a number of other touchpoints have also come to light during this time: the fragility of our global public health system, the connections between biodiversity loss and increase in the risk of pandemics2 and exacerbation of pre-existing inequalities3. When we review the impact of the pandemic through the lens of inequalities, COVID-19 has not been the great leveller. In fact, if the pandemic has highlighted anything at all, it is that we are not in this together. There are multiple causes of inequalities and a combination of these have resulted in restricting positive, social, health and environmental outcomes for many during lockdown. Donovan’s words ‘When I look out my window, many sights to see, and when I look in my window so many different people to be’ may hold a different meaning, are however, still relevant in describing the unequal experience of the pandemic. For some, the experience of lockdown 54
for something as basic as access to nature has been simply availed by looking out of one’s window or stepping out into a nearby green space, whereas for many it has been about being crammed with others in urban spaces, with no green space within reach. Limited access to good quality landscape has further led to poorer physical and mental health outcomes. In Scotland, health inequalities from the perspective of green spaces are caused by poor landscape quality and deprivation. One of the reasons for poor landscape quality is under investment. In the post COVID-19 era, to tackle persistent inequalities in our communities and augment positive outcomes for health, public parks, and greenspaces, the government should focus green infrastructure investment in those places which have the greatest need. Currently, through the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention (GISI) funding programme, for the period of 2016 to 2023, £40 million (a mix of European Regional Development Fund and match funding) has been committed to improve multifunctional green infrastructure on a major scale in Scotland’s urban spaces, while the GISI funds green infrastructure in deprived areas of Scotland to improve habitats and biodiversity, transforming derelict land, addressing flood risk and creating new community spaces. The Scottish Government has now officially published its finalised Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) 4 for the next five fiscal years. The inclusion of ‘natural infrastructure’ and ‘nature assets’
within the plan widens the scope of the definition and, by extension, the scope of the plan. However, investment decisions on infrastructure needs and priorities, including natural infrastructure, have not been made yet. This has been deferred until an assessment is done. As this has implications on the future of green infrastructure spend, it is a key area of interest for landscape practitioners in the coming parliamentary sessions. In addition to the health, economic and climate emergencies, our natural environment is also in a state of crisis. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published a report5, which was the most comprehensive assessment of its kind. It found that nature is declining globally, at an ‘unprecedented rate’, with a million species threatened with extinction, and stated that we need to bring about a ‘transformative change’ to halt the global decline. In late 2019, the ‘State of Nature Scotland’6 report provided a health check on the status of Scotland’s wildlife. The key findings were that of the 8,431 species assessed, 15% are now at risk of extinction. Some of the notable pressures recorded on Scotland’s large scale green infrastructure and directly affecting habitat and wildlife wereland use change, climate change and urbanisation. Incidentally, earlier in the year, the Scottish Parliament passed the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. The Planning Act was introduced to reform the planning system in Scotland. The planning system has an important
... nature is declining globally, at an ‘unprecedented rate’, with a million species threatened with extinction...
