Scotland’s Draft Climate Change Plan – have your say

The Scottish Government have launched a call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s draft Climate Change Plan, which was published last week.  The text of the call for evidence is available online: https://spark.adobe.com/page/kVYa4FTVbWjCX/

Soil Association Scotland sit on the Agriculture and Climate Change Strategic group, and were also part of the wide ranging consultation that informed the agriculture section.  We are delighted that many good farming practices that are requirements within the Soil Association certification standards have been recognised as ways that can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.  The tricky bit will be finding a way of making these policy outcomes happen, and we hope to make some suggestions about this.  Supporting organic food and farming is one key way that this can be achieved.

A summary of the policy outcomes are below.  Details of the policies that can be used to achieve these outcomes can be found within the text of the draft Climate Change Plan (pp.137-138).

Policy outcome 1: Farmers, crofters, land managers and other primary food producers are aware of the benefits and practicalities of cost-effective climate mitigation measures.

Policy outcome 2: Emissions from nitrogen fertiliser will have fallen through a combination of improved understanding, reduced application and better soil.

Policy outcome 3: Work with Quality Meat Scotland and others to reduce emissions from red meat and dairy through improved emissions intensity.

Policy outcome 4: Emissions from the use and storage of manure and slurry will have been reduced.

Policy outcome 5: The carbon content of soil and agricultural land will have improved through carbon sequestration and expanded woodland/forestry and hedgerows.

If you would like to have your say about this then please get in touch with Lillian at lkelly@soilassociation.org, and let her know what your thoughts are.  The deadline is 10 February 2017. 

You can follow the work of the Committee in scrutinising this report via the Committee’s website or Twitter feed.