Scottish Forum organises a consultation for the Environment Strategy for Scotland

Last month on behalf of the Scottish Government, we at the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital organised a consultation to allow our members to feed into the Environment Strategy for Scotland. The session, which brought together over 20 representatives from business, science, academia and conservation, was held at Scotland’s Rural College in Edinburgh and was chaired by Ian Jardine, National Advisor on Environmental Policy, and Susie Turpie, Head of the Future Environmental Policy Team. 

What we wanted to do with this roundtable session was give members of the Scottish Forum a chance to provide input and feedback to help inform the development of an Environment Strategy for Scotland. There was a particular focus on the ‘Vision’, ‘Outcomes’ and ‘Knowledge Accounts’ drafted in the Discussion Paper published in June.

On the whole, the Scottish Forum’s represented members showed a great deal of support for the Environment Strategy and it’s potential to provide clarity to the business sector and civil society. Members helped to address some possible gaps in the ‘Outcomes’ of the Strategy, such as also prioritising ‘quality of life’ and ‘education’, along with providing a series of suggestions on the Strategy’s ‘Knowledge Accounts’.

The Scottish Government will consider the issues and suggestions raised by members of the Scottish Forum, and the Secretariat will continue to work with the Environment Strategy’s team to support them in creating this defining and pivotal document.

For more details on the key issues discusses, a set of minutes can be viewed here.