Chamber and committees

The answer referred to does not relate to renewable energy developments. Current policy on renewable energy developments and nature conservation is available on the websites of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting its obligations under the Ramsar Convention and to providing a high level of protection for Ramsar sites in Scotland, through co-designation with Natura 2000 sites and/or Sites of Special Scientific Interest and protection under the relevant statutory regimes. The guidance published in January 2019 on the implementation of Scottish Government policy on protecting Ramsar sites restated and explained existing policy contained within Scottish Planning Policy 2014, and did not change the level of protection for Ramsar sites.

The Scottish Government published guidance in January 2019 on the implementation of Scottish Government policy on protecting Ramsar sites. This guidance restated and explained existing policy contained within Scottish Planning Policy 2014.

Ramsar sites have been protected through co-designation with other regimes since they were first designated in Scotland.

The vast majority of Ramsar designated land in Scotland is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and all land within Ramsar sites is designated as a SSSI and/or as a Natura 2000 site (a Special Protection Area and/or a Special Area of Conservation), appropriate to the site. Our policy remains that Ramsar sites are also Natura 2000 sites and/or SSSI sites and are protected under the relevant statutory regimes.

The projects receiving funding in 2019/20 can be found here: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/sustainability-climate-change/climate-challenge-fund/ccf-in-action/funded-projects-map/ .

The total overall spend for 2019-20 is £8 million, from which a total of 87 projects will receive funding.

Emissions associated with wildfires are captured as part of the greenhouse gas emissions inventory, reported annually in the Scottish Greenhouse Gas statistics publication and are therefore included in the emissions used to evaluate Scotland’s performance against its statutory emissions targets. Wildfires represent a minor component of total greenhouse gas emissions; contributing less than 0.1 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions on average over the last 10 years.

Table 1: Scottish wildfire emissions (1990-2016) in Kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-23115 and S5W-23116 on 22 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

As this is a delegated matter, this responsibility lies with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). SNH requires users of these general licences to report on the numbers of birds killed or taken for those species which may have suffered notable declines in number or range. SNH is satisfied that the use of General Licences is not causing any such declines.

In view of the legal challenge in England, SNH is consulting with legal advisers and will consider if any changes may be required to its licences. SNH has also decided to bring forward its consultation on general licensing, originally planned for 2020, to later this year.

A total of 5 incidents of non-target capture were reported to Scottish Natural Heritage in 2018 by operators using meat bait in Larsen mate and Larsen pod traps under the terms of General Licences 01, 02 and 03.