Government says no money left for nature – so let's fnd some

I WAS born the year the Kyoto Protocol was signed – a major positive turning point in the global fight against the climate crisis. Since then, we, as a human species, have achieved exactly … nothing.

In fact, things have become worse. We now emit roughly 30% more destructive greenhouse gases than when I was born. For my whole life, I have witnessed those in charge doing too little, too late.

So, when this week the Scottish Government decided to delay its commitment to consult on one of the John Muir Trust’s flagship policies to tackle the nature and climate crises, I felt my chest tighten because this isn’t the first time that nature has been left behind.

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Last year, the Scottish Government cut funding to plant trees. Last spring, it dropped its climate target. Last month it raided the trailblazing Nature Restoration Fund. Last Tuesday it raided it again. While the Trust welcomes the Natural Environment Bill, even with targets it can achieve little without funding to back it up.

The Scottish Government tells us they can’t do much more, that there is no money left for nature.

This misses a critical point – failing to tackle the climate and nature crises makes the bill exponentially higher for future generations. Yet, there is a solution that the Scottish Government could implement very quickly.

And here’s the thing – it won’t cost the public purse a penny. In fact, it will bring in new cash for nature restoration.

It’s time for a carbon land tax

WHEN the Scottish Government dropped its climate targets, it also announced a range of measures to tackle emissions. One of those was a commitment to consult on a carbon land tax for very large estates.

My colleagues and I at the John Muir Trust, the UK’s charity for wild places, have pushed for this tax to be implemented as soon as possible, and with good reason. Part of the solution to reaching our climate targets is often ignored entirely despite being right under our feet.

Scotland’s land is part of the solution to the nature and climate crises we face. Indeed, our country is rich in land that could lock up vast amounts of carbon, while contributing to biodiversity and rural community regeneration.

To its credit, the Scottish Government has partly recognised this. There are (some) public subsidies (left) to plant native woodlands and restore peatlands. There is a Nature Restoration Fund (for now). There are even lucrative carbon markets that should be more closely regulated, but that is a story for another day.

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There are plenty of carrots out there to encourage landowners to do the right thing. The problem is those carrots aren’t enough. Sadly, much of our land is still in a very poor state. It has become depleted, scarred, and trampled upon, emitting greenhouse gases when it should be a huge carbon sink, home to thriving, diverse habitats.

Our native forest cover is struggling to expand because of grazing pressure from unsustainably high deer numbers and financial incentives to plant fast-growth tree monoculture. Meanwhile, 80% of peatlands – our largest carbon sink – are damaged or degraded.

Today, Scotland’s land is a net emitter of polluting greenhouse gases. But it has the potential to soak up enormous amounts of carbon.

Our land can soak up the emissions equivalent of every car in the country, restoring just 75% of our damaged peatland and allowing native forest cover to reach 20% of its maximum capacity would take out the emission equivalent of every Scottish car on every road in the country, plus some more.

In addition, the expansion of native woodlands and peatlands would have many additional public benefits – increased biodiversity; new jobs and increased economic activity in sparsely populated areas; reduced flooding and better water quality, and more attractive and accessible landscapes. So how do we make sure the country’s largest landowners manage the land to lock up carbon, boost biodiversity and strengthen rural communities?

We ask that the Scottish Government introduce a Carbon Emissions Land Tax, based on two fundamental principles. First, that large estates have a responsibility to manage land in the public interest – for nature, climate, and communities. And second, that polluters should pay.

Very large estates would be liable for the Carbon Emissions Land Tax, which they could then reduce by applying for rebates as a reward for good land management practices.

If large landowners protect Scotland’s unique rainforest or restore our precious peatlands, they will get a rebate. But if they decide to supress tree growth by encouraging deer numbers to proliferate for sport, or fail to care for critical habitats like riverwoods, they will pay the tax.

This is such a powerful proposal that when we commissioned YouGov to ask Scottish voters if they support the Carbon Emissions Land Tax, a five-to-one majority said yes.

There is also that more than 50 organisations, groups, churches, businesses, trade unions and coalitions have joined the call for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax. Together, we represent more than a million people in Scotland. Together, we are one of the largest groups of organisations to back one specific climate action measure in the history of this country.

Our message to government

Scotland's civil society and Scotland’s people are clear – we need to take meaningful action to tackle the climate and nature crises at the pace and scale required.

We therefore call on the Scottish Government to trade rhetoric for real action and deliver a Carbon Emissions Land Tax that soaks up emissions, boosts biodiversity and strengthens rural communities, and which won’t cost a penny. We urge our politicians to get this done.