Scottish Government must act on Attenborough warnings
The Scottish Government has been urged to step up to protect Scotland’s nature in the wake of the harrowing ‘Extinction’ documentary by veteran conservationist Sir David Attenborough.
The impactful programme warned that an eighth of the planet’s species are at risk, and the situation is getting worse.
Scottish Green environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell raised Sir David’s urgent call for action to governments at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament.
Commenting, Mark Ruskell said: “This documentary dramatically laid bare the collapse of the natural world in which we all depend. The Scottish Government's own figures show there has been no slowing in the rapid decline of Scotland’s nature.
“Frankly, the First Minister gave me no assurance whatsoever that this government will take the three examples I gave her of action they could start now. Farmers must be funded to recover nature, not degrade it, the dredging of our nature-rich sea beds must be stopped immediately, and the hugely destructive activity of driven grouse shooting must come to an end once and for all.
“The decline in Scottish species is not slowing down. We are in a nature emergency as well as a climate emergency and it is alarming that the Scottish Government don’t see the urgency in this.”