Importance of natural assets included in the Scottish Government’s new Economic Action Plan
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Today, the Scottish Government released their new Economic Action Plan, which sets out a number of new and existing actions which they believe will “work together to build a strong, vibrant and diverse economy that promotes wellbeing and attracts investment.”
Within this new plan, it is recognised that Scotland’s high-quality natural assets, such as water, soil and nature, “are the cornerstones of [Scotland’s] economy, culture and quality of life”.
Amongst the Scottish Government’s commitments to restoring natural capital is to plant 10,000ha of woodland per year (increasing to 15,000ha by 2025), reviewing the ‘Cleaner Air for Scotland’ strategy, and continued investment in green infrastructure.
The plan follows the publication of the State of the Economy Report which found that Scotland’s economy has continued to strengthen in the first half of 2018, with annual GDP growth the strongest since 2014 and above the UK as a whole, and the labour market continues to perform strongly with unemployment falling over the past year and remaining close to its record level.