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RD 1.3.4 Biodiversity management

Carrying out stakeholder consultations

Maintaining and restoring biodiversity is fundamental to delivering climate change targets, ensuring we have sustainable production systems (e.g. farming and forestry), adding value to Scotland’s natural assets (e.g. tourism), and delivering benefits of human health and well-being to the Scottish people. The Scottish Government Economic Strategy states that “Protecting and enhancing this stock of natural capital is fundamental to a healthy and resilient economy” and the SBS 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity states Scotland’s natural assets are “a massive financial asset to Scotland, valued at between £21.5 billion and £23 billion per year”. Researchers at the James Hutton Institute, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College are working together to assess current measures for biodiversity conservation implemented in Scotland, identify potential gaps in these measures, develop management measures to enhance biodiversity management and provide insights with regards to biodiversity offsetting.


Aim of Research

To deliver research that helps Scotland meet biodiversity goals as set by the Aichi Targets, the EU Biodiversity Strategy and, specifically, the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. It will do this by considering the effectiveness of alternative biodiversity/land management measures and potential options for safeguarding against biodiversity loss. These measures and options can then be integrated into future policy development.
Our work includes:

  • Reviewing practical experiences on biodiversity management approaches
  • Assessing new management options for agri-environment schemes
  • Analysing the potential effects of habitat and land use change in relation to the types of biodiversity and ecosystem services delivered
  • Quantify the accumulation of biodiversity in woodland habitat over time, and so investigate the temporal dimension of community diversity

Carrying out stakeholder consultations

Further information

General information on the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI) and the Scottish Government funded Strategic Research Portfolio can be found on the SEFARI website.
Within this, there are webpages providing summary overview information for each of the Research Deliverables (RDs) within the Strategic Programme. The page for RD 1.3.4  Biodiversity management is available here and includes annual progress and highlights summaries, key outputs and links to case studies and key research staff.

To complement this, additional information is provided below on specific projects.

Note: as of 31 March 2018, this RD was disbanded as a separate Research Deliverable and the components of the work integrated into RD 1.3.1 (Biodiversity and ecosystem function) and RD1.4.2 (Identifying and understanding multiple benefits and trade-offs).

 

Projects within this area of research

Project Information
Project Type: 
Active Project
SEFARI – Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research InstitutesSEFARI is the collective of six Scottish world-leading Research Institutes working across the spectrum of environment, land, food, agriculture and communities – all topics which affect how we live our lives, in Scotland and beyond.

Research

Areas of Interest


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The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.