Blog: From Climate Pressure to Climate Power: Building a Resilient South of Scotland
Natural Resources Strategy Manager, Andy Tharme talks to us this month about Scotland’s Climate Week as an opportunity to celebrate progress made by communities, schools, businesses and individuals across Scotland in taking action on climate change and showing how we can all go further.
It also offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the year so far.
Extreme Weather Impacts
Predictions about El Niño have proved accurate, with Europe enduring a third consecutive challenging summer and the UK recording its hottest summer since records began.
Although Scotland escaped the most extreme conditions, the effects were still felt, including significant water scarcity across several catchments in the Scottish Borders and other parts of eastern Scotland.
In the Cairngorms, another major wildfire devastated more than 3,000 hectares of precious natural habitat; thankfully, the South avoided fires on this scale.
If forecasts are correct, we can expect storms and heavy rainfall through the late autumn and winter, intensified through a super-El Nino event.
The impacts of the hot summer are already beginning to emerge with poor crop yields, lack of grazing and heat stress in livestock likely to impact on food supply and prices this year.
Scotland is now exporting more milk, particularly organic milk, to England and Wales due to a shortfall in production their following the lengthy drought.
It is increasingly recognised that adapting to these changes requires a focus on building resilience in land-based businesses, working with nature, so that they can remain viable and deliver the food, timber and range of environmental benefits that a green and prosperous society needs.
South of Scotland RLUP
The South of Scotland RLUP continues to develop innovative approaches, through collaboration and partnership to help enable this and informing the national Land Use Strategy and its delivery plan as we progress.
Over the coming months, we will be reviewing our priorities by:
- Considering our Natural Capital assets and ecosystem services they provide
- Developing proposals to build climate resilience in catchments
- Launching a Regional Peatland Action Plan to focus partnership action for our important peatland areas
- Providing evidence of the challenge and opportunity for nature recovery with our first State of Nature report for the South of Scotland
Through collaboration and partnership, we can build climate-resilient, nature-positive landscapes while supporting land managers to sustain thriving businesses in the face of the storms and floods ahead.
Our partners will share further progress, insights and opportunities for action in the months to come.
Interested in this item and would like to share your thoughts and ideas? Please contact rlup@sose.scot